Radioactively powered pressure transducer with RF pulse output

We present a self-powered reciprocating cantilever for vacuum sensing with RF pulse transmission realizing an integrated self-powered sensor and information transmission platform. By collecting electrons emitted from a radioisotope, the cantilever realizes a self-reciprocating process and the period of the reciprocation is modulated by the ambient pressure. RF pulse can be generated at the end of each cycle of the reciprocation if a dielectric plate is used as the cantilever, by impulse excitation of the dielectric waveguide. The pressure can be determined by externally detecting the period between RF pulses. Pressure measurements in the range of 15 mTorr to 800 mTorr were made, with a pressure sensitivity of 66 millisecond/mTorr.