Carbon Nanotube Sensors

Professor Christofer Hierold,
ETH Zurich, Micro and Nanosystems,
Tannenstrass 3, CH-8092 Zurich

ABSTRACT: Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are intensively studied as a new functional material for sensors and for nanosystems (MEMS and NEMS). Also they have been identified for novel materials with potential for technology entry in mainstream technologies for nanoelectronics beyond CMOS. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) for example show unique mechanical, electromechanical, and thermal properties, and they change electronic properties by interacting with the environment (e.g. for chemical and biochemical sensing). Therefore, CNTs are very promising candidates for active elements in future nano scaled transducers.

Concepts for carbon nanotube sensors for mechanical and chemical quantities are presented. We focus on single-walled carbon nanotubes as “simple” macro molecular functional structures with an option for integration in MEMS and NEMS, and we discuss topics of relevance for fabrication. Also, a brief overview of the other research topics of the Chair of Micro- and Nanosystems is given.

BIO: Christofer Hierold has been Professor for Micro- and Nanosystems at ETH Zurich, since April 2002. Before, he was eleven years with Siemens AG, Corporate Research, and Infineon Technologies AG in Munich, Germany, working mainly on CMOS compatible microsystems. His major research at ETH Zurich is now focused on the field of nanotransducers, evaluation of new materials for MEMS, and advanced microsystems. Christofer Hierold has been serving in program committees of numerous scientific conferences; he is a member of the International Steering Committee for the European Conference on Solid-State Transducers (Eurosensors) and for the International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers). He is active as subject editor of the IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, JMEMS, and as joint editor of Wiley-VCH's book series on "advanced Micro and Nanosystems."