Title :
Radioactively powered pressure transducer with RF pulse output
Author :
Hui Li ; Lal, A.
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, USA
Abstract :
We present a self-powered reciprocating cantilever for vacuum sensing with RF pulse transmission realizing an integrated self-powered sensor and information transmission platform. By collecting electrons emitted from a radioisotope, the cantilever realizes a self-reciprocating process and the period of the reciprocation is modulated by the ambient pressure. RF pulse can be generated at the end of each cycle of the reciprocation if a dielectric plate is used as the cantilever, by impulse excitation of the dielectric waveguide. The pressure can be determined by externally detecting the period between RF pulses. Pressure measurements in the range of 15 mTorr to 800 mTorr were made, with a pressure sensitivity of 66 millisecond/mTorr.
Keywords :
lead compounds; micromechanical devices; piezoelectric materials; piezoelectric transducers; pressure measurement; pressure transducers; 15 to 800 mtorr; PZT; PbZrO3TiO3; RF pulse transmission output; dielectric plate; dielectric waveguide; pressure measurements; pressure sensitivity; radioactively powered pressure transducer; radioisotope; self-powered reciprocating cantilever; self-powered sensor; self-reciprocating process; vacuum sensing; Dielectrics; Electrodes; Electron emission; Ionization; Micromechanical devices; Pressure measurement; Pulse generation; Radio frequency; Radioactive materials; Transducers;
Conference_Titel :
TRANSDUCERS, Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, 12th International Conference on, 2003
Conference_Location :
Boston, MA, USA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7731-1
DOI :
10.1109/SENSOR.2003.1215251
