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[ Instrument R & D ] On April 15th, according to foreign media reports, a group of researchers from Oxford University, Delft University and IBM Zurich proved that graphene can be used to build sensitive and self-powered temperature sensors. This discovery paves the way for the design of highly sensitive thermocouples that can be integrated in nanodevices and even living cells.
Researchers create miniature self-powered temperature sensor
Thermocouples are ideal for low-cost temperature measurement because they are self-powered and relatively easy to manufacture. At the same time, their sensitivity tends to change very little because their signals are derived from inherent material properties. Generally, a thermocouple is a combination of two materials with different Seebeck coefficients, which is connected to the sensing end, so that the thermal voltage established between the sensing and the reference and proportional to the temperature difference can be measured. In order to achieve on-chip temperature measurement with conventional thermocouples, two separate manufacturing processes are usually required. However, thermocouples that can be easily integrated into current wafer-level integration have attracted interest, and many efforts have previously been reported to manufacture single metal thermocouples. However, the sensitivity of these thermocouples is very small (about 1μV / K), covers a large area, and has a thickness of about 100 nanometers.
A team of researchers from Oxford University, Delft University, and IBM Zurich University have now shown that graphene can be used to construct sensitive, single-material, and self-powered temperature sensors. They made graphene (a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms) into a U-shaped pattern with a wide and narrow leg connected to the sensing end. By carefully adjusting the geometry of the graphene legs and using the scattering effect of electrons on the edges of the graphene device, the research team obtained the maximum sensitivity ΔS≈39μV / K.
According to the researchers, the results of this study may pave the way for the design of high-sensitivity thermocouples and may be integrated in Van der Waals structures and future graphene circuits. In addition, due to the biological inertness of graphene and the stability under various conditions, these thermocouples can also be used as temperature sensors in harsh or sensitive environments such as cells and other biological systems.
At the same time, the temperature sensor chip has scalability and reliability, and can be installed in nano devices, which will be the key to future CPU thermal management. The temperature monitors distributed along the critical point to determine the local heating of certain parts of the CPU can provide feedback to the control system. In response, thermal management can allow redistribution of thermal loads through point cooling or load distribution (eg between different computing cores), thereby avoiding hot spots, extending equipment life, and saving energy. Such temperature sensors should have smaller Occupies a small footprint, is highly accurate, consumes minimal power, and is compatible with established nanofabrication technologies.