Sensing up to 40 atm Using Pressure-Sensitive Aero-GaN

Abstract

This work reports on the fabrication and characterization of a robust pressure sensor based on aero-GaN. The ultraporous aeromaterial consists of GaN interconnected hollow micro-tetrapods with the wall thickness of about 70 nm. The inner surface of hollow micro-tetrapods contains an ultrathin film of ZnO genetically related to the sacrificial template used for epitaxial deposition of GaN. The pressure sensing measurements disclose a nearly linear dependence of the electrical conductance versus applied pressure up to 40 atm, a stable state signal being attained after an interval of about 10 s.