Abstract: The meso-piezoresistive effect of GaAs/AlAs/InGaAs double barrier supper-lattice thin films and some new types of sensor based on this effect are introduced. The four steps of meso-piezoresistive effect are demonstrated, and the GaAs/AlAs/InGaAs resonant tunneling structure (RTS) is processed on [001] crystal orientation semi-insulating substrate. Pressure measurements show that its meso-piezoresistive sensitivity reaches 2.54×10–9 Pa–1, which is an order higher than that of silicon. The Nano-electromechanical sensors, such as membrane pressure sensor, four-beam accelerometer and bionic vector hydrophone, are fabricated successfully by micro control-hole technology, and they are measured in pressure tank, vibration table and standing wave tube respectively. Measurement results show that the membrane pressure sensor has good electro-mechanical coupling characteristics; the piezoresistive sensitivity of four-beam accelerometer can be adjusted by the biased voltage of RTS, and the largest sensitivity is in the negative differential resistance (NDR) region; The vector hydrophone has excellent “8” cosine directivity, and its sensitivity reaches –184.6 dB at 1 000 Hz, which can realize horizontal underwater sound signal detection.

Key words: Meso-piezoresistive effect, Nano-electromechanical, Resonant tunneling structure