Method for making a transducer, transducer made therefrom, and applications thereof

Abstract

A method for manufacturing or preparing thin-film stacks that exhibit moderate, finite, stress-dependent resistance and which can be incorporated into a transduction mechanism that enables simple, effective signal to be read out from a micro- or nano-mechanical structure. As the structure is driven, the resistance of the intermediate layers is modulated in tandem with the motion, and with suitable dc-bias, the motion is directly converted into detectable voltage. In general, detecting signal from MEMS or NEMS devices is difficult, especially using a method that is able to be integrated with standard electronics. The thin-film manufacturing or preparation technique described herein is therefore a technical advance in the field of MEMS/NEMS that could enable new applications as well as the ability to easily develop CMOS-MEMS integrated fabrication techniques. Also disclosed are: (i) transducers where current flows across a piezo layer from one major surface to the opposite major surface; and (ii) methods of making a transducer the resistivity of a piezoresistive layer is decreased and/or the gauge factor of a piezoresistive layer is increased.