Fabrication of High Sensitivity Carbon Microcoil Pressure Sensors.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 10034-10041; doi:10.3390/s120810034 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Fabrication of High Sensitivity Carbon Microcoil Pressure Sensors Chih-Chung Su 1, Chen-Hung Li 1, Neng-Kai Chang 1, Feng Gao 2 and Shuo-Hung Chang 1,* 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; E-Mails: .tw (C.-C.S.); auko@ (C.-H.L.); .tw (N.-K.C.) 2 State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China; E-Mail: fengg@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: shchang@.tw; Tel./Fax: +886-2-3366-9421. Received: 1 July 2012; in revised form: 17 July 2012 / Accepted: 17 July 2012 / Published: 25 July 2012 Abstract: This work demonstrates a highly sensitive pressure sensor that was fabricated using carbon microcoils (CMCs) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). CMCs were grown by chemical vapor deposition using various ratios of Fe-Sn catalytic solution. The pressure sensor has a sandwiched structure, in which the as-grown CMCs were inserted between two PDMS layers. The pressure sensor exhibits piezo-resistivity changes in response to mechanical loading using a load cell system. The yields of the growth of CMCs at a catalyst proportion of Fe:Sn = 95:5 reach 95%. Experimental results show that the sensor achieves a high sensitivity of 0.93%/kPa from the CMC yield of 95%. The sensitivity of the pressure sensor increases with increasing yield of CMCs. The demonstrated pressure sensor shows the advantage of high sensitivity and is suitable for mass production. Keywords: carbon microcoils; flexible sensor; chemical vapor deposition  Sensors 2012, 12 10035 1. Introduction Pressure sensors, which are widely applied in automation equipment, robot arms, touch panels, and cell phones, have been developed on the basis of piezo