Investigation on Strain-Sensing Suspended Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Arrays

An electromechanical system is constructed to explore the electrical properties of well-aligned horizontal suspended single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) arrays under the influence of tensile stretching. The suspended SWCNT array sensing structure consists of a well-grown SWCNT array suspended between two separated metal electrodes on top of a silicon (Si) wafer with 500-nm-thick thermal oxide layer. Sensor properties are explored in linear region, including sensitivity (gauge factor ~248), linearity (better than 99%), and hysteresis. Results show that the suspended SWCNT array devices have potential application as strain gauges due to their high sensitivity.