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In biomedical studies as well as in clinical trials, it is often useful to have a reliable measure of the force exerted by the body (e.g., clenching force at the teeth or pinch force at fingertips) or on the body by external stimuli (e.g., taps to elicit reflexes or local pressure for nociceptive stimulation). Thin-film sensors such as FlexiForce® provide a very handy and versatile solution for these applications, but can be easily damaged and offer poor accuracy and repeatability, being heavily affected by the surface material they come into contact with. The aim of the study is the realization of a 3D-printed housing that completely embeds the sensor, thus providing mechanical protection and increasing the reliability of the measurement. The increasing availability of 3D printers and of printing materials for medical use allows the user to shape the housing according to specific needs, with short developing time and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the effect of topological inhomogeneity of very thin metallic conductometric sensors on their response to external stimuli, such as pressure, intercalation, or gas absorption, that modify the material's bulk conductivity. The classical percolation model was extended to the case in which several independent scattering mechanisms contribute to resistivity. The magnitude of each scattering term was predicted to grow with the total resistivity and diverge at the percolation threshold. We tested the model experimentally using thin films of hydrogenated palladium and CoPd alloys where absorbed hydrogen atoms occupying the interstitial lattice sites enhance the electron scattering. The hydrogen scattering resistivity was found to grow linearly with the total resistivity in the fractal topology range in agreement with the model. Enhancement of the absolute magnitude of the resistivity response in the fractal range thin film sensors can be particularly useful when the respective bulk material response is too small for reliable detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of UV-ozone (UVO) treatment on the sensing behaviours of extended-gate field-effect transistors (EGFETs) that use Al2O3 as the sensing film have been investigated. The Al2O3 sensing films are UVO-treated with various duration times and the corresponding EGFET sensing behaviours, such as sensitivity, hysteresis and long-term stability, are electrically evaluated under various measurement conditions. Physical analysis is also performed to characterize the surface conditions of the UVO-treated sensing films using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. It is found that UVO treatment effectively reduces the buried sites in the Al2O3 sensing film and subsequently results in reduced hysteresis and improved long-term stability of EGFET. Meanwhile, the observed slightly smoother Al2O3 film surface post UVO treatment corresponds to decreased surface sites and slightly reduced pH sensitivity of the Al2O3 film. The sensitivity degradation is found to be monotonically correlated with the UVO treatment time. A treatment time of 10 min is found to yield an excellent performance trade-off: clearly improved long-term stability and reduced hysteresis at the cost of negligible sensitivity reduction. These results suggest that UVO treatment is a simple and facile method to improve the overall sensing performance of the EGFETs with an Al2O3 sensing film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thermal stress range analysis of tungsten-rhenium thin film thermocouples based on ceramic substrates is presented to analyze the falling off and breakage problems caused by the mismatch of the thermal stresses in thin film thermocouples (TFTCs) and substrate, and nano-indentation experiments are done to measure and calculate the film stress to compare with the simulation results. Optimal design and fabrication of tungsten-rhenium TFTCs based on ceramic substrates is reported. Static high temperature tests are carried out, which show the optimization design can effectively reduce the damage caused by the thermal stress mismatch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a ferroelectric polymer-based temperature sensor designed for microfluidic devices. The integration of the sensor into a system-on-a-chip platform facilitates quick monitoring of localized temperature of a biological fluid, avoiding errors in the evaluation of thermal evolution of the fluid during analysis. The contact temperature sensor is fabricated by combining a thin pyroelectric film together with an infrared source, which stimulates the active element located on the top of the microfluidic channel. An experimental setup was assembled to validate the analytical model and to characterize the response rate of the device. The evaluation procedure and the operating range of the temperature also make this device suitable for applications where the localized temperature monitoring of biological samples is necessary. Additionally, ease of integration with standard microfluidic devices makes the proposed sensor an attractive option for in situ analysis of biological fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent insulation defects introduced in manufacturing process of gas-insulated switchgears can lead to partial discharge during long-time operation, even to insulation fault if partial discharge develops further. Monitoring of decomposed components of SF6, insulating medium of gas-insulated switchgear, is a feasible method of early-warning to avoid the occurrence of sudden fault. Polyaniline thin-film with protonic acid deposited possesses wide application prospects in the gas-sensing field. Polyaniline thin-film sensors with only sulfosalicylic acid deposited and with both hydrochloric acid and sulfosalicylic acid deposited were prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization method. Gas-sensing experiment was carried out to test properties of new sensors when exposed to H2S and SO2, two decomposed products of SF6 under discharge. The gas-sensing properties of these two sensors were compared with that of a hydrochloric acid deposited sensor. Results show that the hydrochloric acid and sulfosalicylic acid deposited polyaniline thin-film sensor shows the most outstanding sensitivity and selectivity to H2S and SO2 when concentration of gases range from 10 to 100 μL/L, with sensitivity changing linearly with concentration of gases. The sensor also possesses excellent long-time and thermal stability. This research lays the foundation for preparing practical gas-sensing devices to detect H2S and SO2 in gas-insulated switchgears at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As highly sensitive H2S gas sensors, Au- and Ag-catalyzed SnO2 thin films with morphology-controlled nanostructures were fabricated by using e-beam evaporation in combination with the glancing angle deposition (GAD) technique. After annealing at 500 °C for 40 h, the sensors showed a polycrystalline phase with a porous, tilted columnar nanostructure. The gas sensitivities (S = Rgas/Rair) of Au and Ag-catalyzed SnO2 sensors fabricated by the GAD process were 0.009 and 0.015, respectively, under 5 ppm H2S at 300 °C, and the 90% response time was approximately 5 s. These sensors showed excellent sensitivities compared with the SnO2 thin film sensors that were deposited normally (glancing angle = 0°, S = 0.48). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this work was the design and development simple fiber optic Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor devices for relative humidity (RH) sensing with emphasis on high sensitivity and good stability. The RH fiber FPI sensor is fabricated by coating the end of a cleaved standard multi-mode (MM) fiber with hydrophilic Nafion® sensing film. The Nafion® thin film acts as an active resonance cavity of the low-coherence interferometric sensing structure. The fringe pattern, which is caused by interfering light beam in the Nafion® thin film will shift as the RH changes because the water molecules will swell the Nafion® film and thus change optical pathlength of the sensing structure. The operating principle of a FPI sensor based on the adsorption and desorption of water vapour in the Nafion® and the limitations of this sensor type are discussed in this work. The fiber optic hygrometer was tested in the visible (400–900 nm) region of spectra for measurement of relative humidity (RH) in the range of 5.5–80% at room temperature (RT) in air. The fiber optic humidity sensor has a very short response time (t90 = 5–80 s) and a fast regeneration time (t10 = 5–12 s) as good as commercial sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the fabrication of an efficient thin film temperature sensor utilizing chemical vapor deposited carbon nanotube (CNT) film as the sensing element on Si substrates, with diamond-like carbon (DLC):Ni as a catalyst in assisting CNT growth. The fabricated sensor showed good electrical response with change in temperature. Relative linear change in resistance of 18.4% for an increase in temperature from 22 °C to 200 °C was achieved. Various characterizing techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy, were used to characterize the films. In an effort to study device performance, van der Pauw and Hall measurements were carried out to study the dependence of resistance on temperature and magnetic fields. Temperature coefficient of resistance of the sensor was calculated as 1.03 × 10−3/°C. All implications arising from the study are presented. The results establish the aptness of the as-grown CNT film to be used as an active sensing material in thin film temperature sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]