QUANTITATIVE FORMULATION OF RESISTANCE AND STRAIN-GAUGE FACTOR EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCONTINUOUS FILMS

Discontinuous metal film strain gauges have gauge factors of the order of 100-200. This high sensitivity, together with the potential for miniaturization, makes their development worthwhile. A principal problem is their increase in resistance with time. The standard theory of conduction and strain sensitivity ascribed to electron tunneling between grains is given a quantitative formulation, which will make evaluation of experimental data more meaningful than is possible with previous formulations. © 1979.