Carbon nanotube film piezoresistors embedded in polymer membranes

We present carbon nanotube film (CNF) piezoresistors embedded in polymer membranes. CNFs by vacuum filtration are patterned on an Au-deposited Si-wafer and transferred onto the poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using the weak adhesion property between Au-layer and Si-wafer. Transmittance and I-V characteristic are measured to confirm transferred CNFs as transparent electrodes. The pressure sensor consists of CNF piezoresistors embedded in 130 μm thick circular PDMS membranes. The gauge factor of CNFs at different thickness is obtained around 10–20 when the resistance increases from 2.7 to 5.6 kΩ with applied pressure, which shows that CNFs can be used as transparent piezoresistors in polymer-based microelectromechanical systems.