Tunneling transducers: Quantum limited displacement monitors at the nanometer scale

Journal Article · · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.585197· OSTI ID:5254647

Bocko, M F; Stephenson, K A ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)

Displacement transducers based upon quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons can potentially achieve a sensitivity far superior to conventional transducers. The reason for this is that the dynamical influence of the tunneling transducer on a test mass is insignificant compared to that of traditional capacitive, inductive or piezoelectric transducers. Thus the fluctuating back action force becomes dominant as the test mass in miniaturized, thus the tunneling transducer may be especially useful in micro-fabricated sensors. In this paper the authors present an equivalent circuit model for a tunneling transducer including noise and outline a method for calculating the minimum detectable signal in any given application. The authors also discuss some practical limits for tunneling based sensors.

• OSTI ID: 5254647
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena; (United States) Vol. 9:2; ISSN 0734-211X; ISSN JVTBD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440800* -- Miscellaneous Instrumentation-- (1990-)
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROSCOPES
NOISE
SENSITIVITY
SIGNALS
TRANSDUCERS
TUNNELING