Patent · US Active

Thin-film transistor based piezoelectric strain sensor and method

US8519449B2 · kind B2 · utility

15Cited by
5References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 23, 2010
Grant dateAug 27, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 5, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10K85/221
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A piezoelectric strain sensor and method thereof for detecting strain, vibration, and/or pressure. The sensor incorporates a sequence of piezoelectric and semiconductor layers in a thin-film transistor structure. The thin-film transistor structure can be configured on a flexible substrate via a low-cost fabrication technique. The piezoelectric layer generates an electric charge resulting in a modulation of a transistor current, which is a measure of external strain. The sensor can be formed as a single gate field-effect piezoelectric sensor and a dual gate field-effect piezoelectric sensor. The semiconductor layer can be configured from a nanowire array resulting in a metal-piezoelectric-nanowire field effect transistor. The single and dual gate field-effect piezoelectric sensor offer increased sensitivity and device control due to the presence of the piezoelectric layer in the transistor structure and low cost manufacturability on large area flexible substrates.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.