KTH researchers test super sensitive sensor material

A newly released report by Yole Développement predicts graphene will have wide industrial application by 2024. The reason, the report claims, is the material’s ultrahigh electrical and thermal conductivity and mechanical strength, while at the same time being very flexible. These properties make it a promising material for emerging and existing applications in printed and flexible circuitry, ultrafast transistors, touch screens, advanced batteries and supercapacitors, ultrafast lasers, photodetectors and many other non-electronic applications, the report maintains.

Although graphene technology is still in its infancy, fast progress has been made in the last few years in developing graphene production methods and graphene-based components.

KTH researchers Prof. Mikael Östling and Prof. Frank Niklaus together with Max Lemme at the University of Siegen in Germany have put graphene to the test. Their experiments show that graphene can increase the sensitivity of nanoelectro-mechanical system (NEMS) sensors by up to 100 times, while the sensor size can be reduced to below 10 micrometers on the lateral dimension.  

“Graphene provide radically improved sensitivities compared to existing state-of-the-art Micro-ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) sensors currently used in for example smartphones. At the same time smaller sensors can be produced at a much lower cost,” says Frank Niklaus, professor of Micro- and Nanosystems at KTH.

The researchers have also successfully demonstrated that mono-layer graphene membranes can be efficiently implemented as piezoresistive transducer elements for pressure sensors and other emerging NEMS sensors.

Read more in the researchers’ article Graphene outperforms silicon in NEMS sensors .

Yole Dévelopment assesses and evaluates emerging market technology with a focus on applications using silicon and/or micro manufacturing.

For more information, contact Frank Niklaus, frank.niklaus@ee.kth.se , +46-8- 790 9332.