US Patent 7312096 - Nanotube wheatstone bridge sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7312096.html

This patent from Kulite Semiconductor Products teaches a method of forming a pressure sensor using nanotubes in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. Claim 1 reads:


1. A method of forming a pressure transducer comprising: providing a substrate; disposing a plurality of nanotube structures on a surface of said substrate, said plurality of nanotube structures having varying resistance values such that each of said plurality of nanotube structures corresponds to one of a conductive nanotube structure having a relatively low resistivity, and a semiconductive nanotube structure having a relatively high resistivity, and wherein at least one electrical property of said semiconductive nanotube structures changes with an applied force; selectively connecting at least some of said relatively high resistivity semiconductive nanotube structures to one another using at least some of said relatively low resistivity conductive nanotube structures to form a bridge circuit having a plurality of force sensitive bridge elements; wherein application of a force to said substrate causes a change in current through said bridge circuit according to the applied force.