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An alternative tunneling displacement transducer was developed that increases the tunneling gap to about 100 A without sacrificing sensitivity. The increase of the tunneling gap reduces the risk of sensor damage caused by the collision between electrodes. Moreover, it also eliminates the error in apparent displacement caused by short range atomic forces and surface elasticity-induced anomalies.

We report results on the response of a family of displacement sensors, which ar based on the magnetostrictive delay line (MDL) technique, using current conductors orthogonal to the MDL. Such sensing technique is based on the change of the magnetic circuit at the acoustic stress point of origin due to the displacement of a soft magnetic material above it. Integrated arrays of sensors can be obtained due to the acoustic delay line technique and they can be used a tactile arrays, digitizers or devices for medical applications (gait analysis etc.), while absence of hysteresis and low cost of manufacturing make them competent in this sector of sensor market.