Graphene squeeze-film pressure sensors
Themes: High Tech
Early lab scale demonstration
A TRL is a measure to indicate the matureness of a developing technology. When an innovative idea is discovered it is often not directly suitable for application. Usually such novel idea is subjected to further experimentation, testing and prototyping before it can be implemented. The image below shows how to read TRL’s to categorise the innovative ideas.
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Why?
Further miniaturisation of MEMS-based pressure sensors is practically impossible because of size and brittleness of the membrane. This graphene based sensor is 45x more responsive and 25x smaller than state-of-the-art MEMS-based alternatives.
How?
A 10 nm graphene layer is used as membrane. This thinness improves the responsivity, and enables a different design of the sensor (i.e. squeeze-film pressure sensor). This design enables absolute air pressure measurement and does not require a reference pressure.
When?
A 5 μm late prototype is being developed in collaboration with pressure sensor manufacturers. Test cases and end users are now being sought.
Ir. Robin Dolleman