Micro Pirani pressure sensor fabricated by inkjet printing of silver nanoparticles

This paper presents the first micro Pirani gauge fabricated by inkjet printing technology. The device consists in a thin film silver resistor printed on a flexible polyimide substrate. Its sensitivity range is 10^-2 to 10⁴ Pa when driven by a constant DC current. Compared to most micro Pirani gauges, the fabrication process is very simple and the printed pressure sensor delivers performances as good as the best reported gauges. This paper demonstrates through this application the potential of inkjet printing technology on flexible and low cost substrate for manufacturing small-sized physical sensors.