• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.789-797
• /
• 2004

The nanoscale sensing and manipulation have become a challenging issue in micro/nano-robotic applications. In particular, a feedback sensor-based manipulation is necessary for realizing an efficient and reliable handling of particles under uncertain environment in a micro/nano scale. This paper presents a piezoresistive MEMS cantilever for nanoscale force measurement in micro robotics. A piezoresistive MEMS cantilever enables sensing of gripping and contact forces in nanonewton resolution by measuring changes in the stress-induced electrical resistances. The calibration of a piezoresistive MEMS cantilever is experimentally carried out. In addition, as part of the work on nanomanipulation with a piezoresistive MEMS cantilever, the analysis on the interaction forces between a tip and a material, and the associated manipulation strategies are investigated. Experiments and simulations show that a piezoresistive MEMS cantilever integrated into a micro robotic system can be effectively used in nanoscale force measurements and a sensor-based manipulation.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.76-84
• /
• 2013

The term 'Piezoresistive effect' describes a change in the electrical resistance of the material from deformed to its original shape by the external pressure, e.g., elongation, compression, etc. This phenomenon has various applications of sensors for monitoring pressure, vibration, and acceleration. Although there are many materials which have the piezoresistive effect, rubber (nano)composites with conductive fillers have attracted a great deal of attention because the piezoresistive effect appears at the various range of pressure by controlling the type of filler, particle size, particle shape, aspect ratio of particles, and filler content. Especially one can obtain the composites with elasticity and flexibility by using the rubber as a matrix. This paper aims to review the piezoresistive effect itself, their basic principles, and the various conductive rubber-composites with piezoresistive effect.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.58 no.3
• /
• pp.573-577
• /
• 2009

Piezoresistive pressure sensor have become the successfully-commercialized MEMS product and the related technologies have been well developed over the past decades. Regarding the design methodology, however, the coupled-physics FEM analyses of the transducer itself and the signal-processing circuitry design based on the conventional EDA are separated and both of the analyses were sequentially processed for the full design of the pressure sensor. For the fast and effective R&D, new design methodology is proposed in this paper where the FEM results are linked to the EDA environment and therefore most of the design works can be done in the EDA environments, which means the time-consuming FEM analyses can be minimized. In order to verify the proposed approach, a typical piezoresistive pressure sensor having the silicon diaphragm and piezoresistors was modeled and analyzed based on the proposed methodology. The verification results showed that the simulated results were matched well with the measured data within the 7% difference while the simulation time was reduced less than 5% compared to the conventional methodology. Through the proposed approach, various types of the piezoresistive pressure sensors can be developed in more effective way.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.217-231
• /
• 2016

The present work aims to develop piezoresistive sensors of excellent piezoresistive response attributable to change in nanoscale structures of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) embedded in cement. MWNT was distributed in a cement matrix by means of polymer wrapping method in tandem with the ultrasonication process. DC conductivity of the prepared samples exhibited the electrical percolation behavior and therefore the dispersion method adopted in this study was deemed effective. The integrity of piezoresistive response of the sensors was assessed in terms of stability, the maximum electrical resistance change rate, and sensitivity. A composite sensor with MWNT 0.2 wt.% showed the lowest stability and sensitivity, while the maximum electrical resistance change rate exhibited by this sample was the highest (96 %) among others and even higher than those found in the literature. This observation was presumably attributed by the percolation threshold and the tunneling effect. As a result of the MWNT content (0.2 wt.%) of the sensor being near the percolation threshold (0.25 wt.%), MWNTs were close to each other to trigger tunneling in response of external loading. The sensor with MWNT 0.2 wt.% was able to maintain the repeatable sensing capability while sustaining a vehicular loading on road, demonstrating the feasibility in traffic flow sensing application.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.173-188
• /
• 2023

To improve the shock-resistance of piezoresistive high-g accelerometer, we propose a design of piezoresistive high-g accelerometer. The accelerometer employs special-shaped proof masses system with a cross gap. Four tiny sensing beams are bonded above the cross gap. The expression of the deformation, natural frequency and damping is deduced, and the structural parameters are optimized. The accelerometer structure is simulated and verified by finite element method (FEM) simulation. The results show that the range of the accelerometer can reach 200,000 g, the natural frequency is 453.6 kHz, and the cross-axis sensitivity of X-axis and Y-axis is 0.25% and 0.11%, respectively, which can apply to the measurement of high shock. Contrastively, the cross-axis sensitivity of X-axis and Y-axis is respectively, reduced by 93.2% and 96.9%. The sensitivity of our accelerometer is 0.88 μV/g. It is of great value for the application of piezoresistive high-g accelerometer with high shock-resistance.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.43 no.6
• /
• pp.1036-1038
• /
• 1994

In this paper, a silicon piezoresistive accelerometer is designed and fabricated using a silicon direct bonded wafer. The accelerometer consists of a seismic mass and four cantilevers, and is fabricated mainly by the anisotropic etching method using EPW as an etchant. The measured sensitivity and the resonant frequency are 0.02 mV/V.g and 3.4 kHz, respectively. The nonlinearity is less than $\pm$0.3% of the full scale of the output.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.191-199
• /
• 2002

This paper presents the design concept, theoretical investigation, and fabrication of a six-degree of freedom (6-DOF) turbulent flow micro sensor utilizing the piezoresistive effect in silicon. Unlike other flow sensors, which typically measure just one component of wall shear stress, the proposed sensor can independently detect six components of force and moment on a test particle in a turbulent flow. By combining conventional and four-terminal piezoresistors in Si (111), and arranging them suitably on the sensing area, the total number of piezoresistors used in this sensing chip is only eighteen, much fewer than the forty eight piezoresistors of the prior art piezoresistive 6-DOF force sensor.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.156-159
• /
• 2005

Liposomes are microscopic spherical vesicles that form when lipids are hydrated and have been widely used for biochemical assay, drug delivery and molecular imaging. In particular, they are well known for artificial cell membranes to study cellular functions such as cell fusions and membrane proteins. Here, we firstly report the detection of liposomes by the highly sensitive microfabricated piezoresistive cantilever sensor chip and the phosphatidylserine recognition protein C2A which is chemically immobilized on the sensor surface. The signal created from the bending motion of piezoresistive cantilever after the liposome attachment has been monitored in real time.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 1994.07b
• /
• pp.1422-1424
• /
• 1994

This paper deals with piezoresistive humidity sensor using polycrystalline silicon (Poly-Si ) with membrane in sensors of semiconductor. Poly-Si piezoresistors which have no temperature dependancy are deposited on silicon wafer, membrane is formed with micromachining technology, then polyimide is formed as a hygroscopic layer. Whereas the principle of conventional humidify sensors are based on the change in electrical properties of the material, the humidity induced volume change of a polyimide layer leads to a deformation of a silicon membrane in this case. This deformation is transformed into an output voltage by Poly-Si piezoresistive. Wheatstone bridge. Fabricated piezoresistive humidity sensors showed good linearity, response time, and long term stability.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.205-206
• /
• 2009