Carbon nanostructures used in capacitive sensors as the surface increase element

This paper describes a new approach to pressure sensor development using the capacitive principle. The novel pressure sensor consists of an elastic electrode-sensing film fabricated by a wet anisotropic etching process and a solid electrode. The capacitive sensor comprises of two high-doped silicon electrodes with multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) arrays. Between both parts of the body of the sensor there is an insulating spacer made of SIMAX^® glass. The capacitive sensor takes advantage of CNT dimensions to increase the surface. It means that the CNT arrays in the capacitive sensors increase the surface of the electrodes which are similar to a plate capacitor. The CNTs were grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) by using iron as a catalyst in an atmospheric pressure microwave torch.