Telescoping self-aligned metal-catalyzed carbon nanotube piezoresistors as strain gauges

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) bridges, grown using low-pressure, metalcatalyzed, chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique between silicon posts, were used as tiny piezoresistors to monitor vibration and bending/deformation of silicon cantilever beams. The weld strength of the CNTs, measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM), was larger than 100 nN/CNT and their full-scale resistance change was larger than 10 5 V. The effective longitudinal piezoresistivity of these CNTs was larger than 4 x 10(-8) Pa-1, which is larger than that of P44 in silicon.