Carbon Nanotubes-Based Microwave and Millimeter Wave Sensors

The aim of this paper is to experimentally demonstrate the applications of carbon nanotubes as microwave and millimeter wave sensors. In this respect, two different sensors are presented. The first sensor is a microwave mass sensor termed as RF nanobalance able to detect 1 ng (10
^-9
g) of matter. The nanolabalance consists in a GaN membrane bulk acoustic wave resonator covered with a thin film of carbon nanotubes. The second sensor is a gas sensor which is a micromachined coplanar waveguide filled with carbon nanotubes. When exposed to gas, significantly changes in the modulus and phase of the transmission as observed for a wide range of frequencies up to 110 GHz.