Nanophysics and nanotechnology applied to sensors part 2: Part 26 in a series of tutorials on instrumentation and measurement

This two part tutorial is about new developments in sensors that are based on miniaturization in the semiconductor industry which have led to general improvements in electronic devices. The Moore's Law revolution has been one contributor in the appearance of sensors which operate on quantum mechanical principles and which attain quantum limits of performance. In Part 1 of this tutorial [1], I focused on new principles of device operation based on quantum physics: the quantum mechanical operating principles used currently in the "giant" magnetoresistance and tunneling magnetoresistance devices in disc drive readers. I included a discussion of the limiting size of magnetic domains and described optical sensors of single virus particles and carbon nanotube detectors of polar molecules.