Russian Researchers Create Inexpensive Pressure Sensor

The new technology created at a Russian university is expected to cut the market price of sensors by 99 percent.

A prototype of a nanostructured ultra-thin pressure sensor, or tensiometer, has been created at the Laboratory of Self-Organized High-Temperature Nanostructures at the Institute of Physics, Nanotechnologies and Telecommunications at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU).

The researchers used a completely new technology based on vacuum coating, which will cut production costs dramatically.

“Our technology for the layered growth of nanofilm is more cost efficient and will thus benefit electronic equipment producers,” laboratory head Pavel Gabdullin told RIA Novosti. He feels the industry is dissatisfied with available sensors because of their size, sensitivity and cost.

Pavel Gabdullin said that even if the new sensors are made of the most expensive materials — gold or platinum, the prime cost of the sensors with their technology will only be about 0.002 Russian Rubles. According to his estimates, the new technology created at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University will cut the market price of sensors by 99 percent.

Olga Kvashenkina, Deputy Director of the Institute of Physics, Nanotechnologies and Telecommunications SPbPU, said Chinese medical equipment manufacturers had indicated an interest in the new technology and plan to use it in electronic medical scales that are used to weigh newborns, as well as laboratory scales that are used in pharmaceutics. The meters are also used in the gas and oil refining sectors and other industries.

“We hope that Russian equipment will compete successfully with foreign analogues on the global market soon,” Kvashenkina said.