Micromachined biomimetic artificial haircell sensors.

The biological haircell is a modular building block of a rich variety of biological sensors. Using micro- and nanofabrication technology, an engineering equivalent artificial haircell sensor can be developed, imitating the structure and transfer function of the biological haircell. The artificial haircells can be made of hybrid semiconductor, metal and polymers. This paper discusses a number of strategies, using representative material systems, for building artificial haircell sensors and briefly outlines their fabrication method and performance. The motivation for imitating the biological haircell is also discussed to provide a background for this work.