A novel cantilever acoustic sensor with frequency output based on resonant tunneling diodes

Author

Wang, Jian ; Zhang, Wen-Dong ; Xue, Chen-Yang ; Xiong, Ji-Jun ; Liu, Jun ; Tong, Zhao-Min

Author_Institution

National Key Lab. for Electron. Meas. Technol., North Univ. of China, Taiyuan

fYear

2006

fDate

Oct. 2006

Firstpage

599

Lastpage

601

Abstract

This paper reports a novel GaAs cantilever acoustic sensor based on AlAs/In_xGa_1-xAs/GaAs resonant tunneling diode (RTD) with a frequency output. The RTD is incorporated in a 10 mum thick cantilever diaphragm and the fabrication technology of the cantilever diaphragm is based upon the micromachined control holes technology. A relaxation oscillator is obtained with the RTD biased in the negative differential resistance (NDR) region. Pressure applied to the RTD changes the frequency of oscillation due to the shift in current-voltage characteristics. The main feature of this sensor type is the direct frequency output and the sensitivity can be up to 102kHz/kPa

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; acoustic devices; aluminium compounds; cantilevers; gallium arsenide; indium compounds; relaxation oscillators; resonant tunnelling diodes; sensors; 10 micron; AlAs-InGaAs-GaAs; cantilever acoustic sensor; current-voltage characteristics; micromachined control holes technology; negative differential resistance region; relaxation oscillator; resonant tunneling diodes; thick cantilever diaphragm; Acoustic sensors; Current-voltage characteristics; Diodes; Fabrication; Frequency; Gallium arsenide; Oscillators; Resonant tunneling devices; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Thickness control;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology, 2006. ICSICT '06. 8th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shanghai

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0160-7

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0161-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSICT.2006.306387

Filename

4098179