Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Pirani Gauges Prepared by DEP Assembly

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characteristics of the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) Pirani gauge fabricated by dielectrophoretic assembly first which requires simple equipments and process, costs little, and operates at room temperature without limitation on the materials of electrode and substrate. Its theory and design were described in detail. The characteristics were measured and analyzed systematically such as current-voltage, resistance-temperature, thermal response, resistance-pressure, and power consumption properties. The results show that this SWNTs Pirani gauge has rapid thermal response of milliseconds and can operate at very low power consumption down to 15 nW. It reveals a wide linear dynamic range from 0.8 to 80 000 Pa and high sensitivity about 8 kΩ/Pa on average.