Scientists at Kiel University have developed a new concept for cantilever sensors that can measure low frequency signals such as heart and brain activity. The small, energy-efficient sensors use electrets, permanently electrically charged material, that can be used in medical applications as well as in hearing aids or mobile phones.
The research team, led by Professor Rainer Adelung and Professor Franz Faupel, developed sensors comprising a thin silicon strip, which in the simplest case has two layers applied: the first responds to magnetic fields (magnetostrictive material), and the second can emit an electrical voltage (piezoelectric material). "If a magnetic field occurs, the first layer deforms and thus bends the whole strip—which vibrates like a diving board at a swimming pool," explained Faupel. Due to the deformation, the second layer emits a measurable voltage signal.
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Adelung added, "With our approach, we were able to make a small bending beam made of hard material behave like a soft material, and vibrate at low frequencies—and what’s more, at an even greater amplitude.”
The key was the electret, which the researchers applied underneath the bending beam. Due to its self-equilibrating stress, the electret pulls the bending beam in the opposite direction, and thereby magnifies the vibration of the beam, and thus the electrical signal of the sensor.
To be able to read this signal as accurately as possible, the research team also integrated a new approach towards noise reduction into its alternative sensor concept. With an extremely fast measurement, the individual signals can be “picked up” in between the noise, according to first author Mona Mintken.