Applications as diverse as oil-well drilling and robot-driven surgery are driving demand for improved micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensors. As they are made smaller, however, simultaneously achieving high sensor stability and sensitivity becomes progressively more difficult. A research team from Singapore and South Korea has now overcome this technical challenge by producing a miniaturized sensor that couples a key component — a stable diaphragm — with sensitive silicon nanowires (“Optimization of NEMS pressure sensors with a multilayered diaphragm using silicon nanowires as piezoresistive sensing elements ").
