Novel Micromechanical Tunneling Structures for Sensor Applications

Abstract

Electrostatically controlled micro-cantilevers with integrated tunnel junctions can form the basis of a number of interesting devices with sensor applications. Use of a tunnel junction provides an extremely sensitive way to sense the cantilever position. In its simplest form the device can be used as a high gain, extremely low power amplifier. If the cantilever were fabricated from a bimetallic strip, it becomes a temperature sensor suitable for use as an pixel element in an infrared focal plane array. Other potential applications include acoustic and seismic sensing. Preliminary cantilever fabrication results will be presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA358681

Entities

People

  • A. Dana
  • M. A. Mccord
  • Roger Fabian W. Pease

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplifiers
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electron Beam Lithography
  • Electronics
  • Electronics Laboratories
  • Equations
  • Fabrication
  • Focal Plane Arrays
  • Focal Planes
  • Frequency
  • Integrated Circuits
  • Manufacturing
  • Resonant Frequency
  • Semiconductor Devices
  • Semiconductors
  • Solid State Electronics

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electronics Engineering
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Structural Dynamics.