Novel Micromechanical Tunneling Structures for Sensor Applications

摘要

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.