MEMS Carbon Nanotubes Field Emission Pressure Sensor with simplified design: performance and field emission properties study

The pressure sensor application gained recently substantial interest in many fields of basic and applied research and applications. In our work microelectromechanical system based pressure sensor contains nanostructured electrode consisting of carbon nanotube array. Carbon nanotubes are directly grown on such electrode by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method using microwave plasma torch at atmospheric pressure. This growth method enables us to use much simple electrode structure without need of buffer layer and time-consuming lithography process. Combination of carbon nanotubes field emission and MEMS membrane mechanical properties make possible to enhance sensitivity of the sensor. Field emission properties of carbon nanotubes are measured by newly developed system enabling us precise measurement of expecting properties such as dependence on diaphragm (upper electrode) distance, applied voltage and stability of the sensor. Measured values are compared to numerical modeling of the membrane system in CoventorWare software by finite element method. We also suggest to encapsulate the sensor using glass frit bonding because such method is more suitable for high vacuum requirements of the field emission operation.