Design and Simulation of a Novel Biomechanic Piezoresistive Sensor With Silicon Nanowires

This paper presents the design of a novel single square millimeter three-axial accelerometer for head injury detection of racing car drivers. The main requirements of this application are miniaturization and medium/high-G measurement range. We propose a new miniature accelerometer to be incorporated into an earpiece. Nanowires as nanoscale piezoresistive devices have been chosen as sensing element, due to their high sensitivity and miniaturization achievable. By exploiting the electromechanical features of nanowires as nanoscale piezoresistors, the nominal sensor sensitivity is overall boosted by more than 30 times. This approach allows significant higher accuracy and resolution with smaller sensing element in comparison with conventional devices without the need of signal amplification. This achievement opens up new developments in the area of implanted devices where the high-level of miniaturization and sensitivity is essential.