Extended width in discontinuously connected polymer-free carbon nanotubes grown between electrodes

Polymer-free carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown between single-gap (SG) and interdigital-gap (IG) electrodes were used to develop miniature strain gauges. The strain and stress of the gauges were approximated according to the distance lift of a screw on a cantilever silicon substrate. In our preliminary study, electrical characterization indicated the gauge factors (GFs) of SG and IG devices to be approximately 36 and 1500, respectively. This result suggests that an extended width in IG electrodes, generating a larger amount of CNTs, provides a smaller minimum tunneling distance than does the width in SG electrodes. The distance shift under a small distance is expected to generate a high ratio of tunneling resistance change. The sparser and denser distributions of CNTs in SG and IG electrodes probably caused the gauges to exhibit capacitive and inductive features, respectively. Despite having substantial GFs, the gauge may require improvement in packaging to resist environmental effects and the growth of homogeneous CNTs and, thus, be reproducible.