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Low Power Strain Sensor Based On Mos Tunneling Current., Li Zhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sensors, such as pressure sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes, are very important components in modern portable electronics. A limited source of power in portable electronics is motivating research on new low power sensors. Piezoresistive and capacitive sensing technologies are the most commonly utilized technologies, which typically consume power in the µW to mW range. Tunneling current sensing is attractive for low power applications because the typical tunneling current is in the nA range. This dissertation demonstrates a low power strain sensor based on the tunneling current in a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure with a power consumption of a couple of nano-Watts (nW) …