Microsensors and Nanosensors

By Prof. Ravindra Kumar Jha | IIT Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 4318 | Exam registration: 132

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The course is a basic course on microsensors and nanosensors. The students will be introduced to basic understanding of sensors and interface circuit. The course will start with classification of sensors and its characteristics such as transfer function, hysteresis, nonlinearity, accuracy etc. followed by discussion on humidity, chemical, force, tactile, and motion sensors including basic introduction on position and displacement sensors.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergraduate

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Companies which specialized in sensors domain such as Many sensors companies like ST Microelectronics, 3M, Texas, Freescale semiconductor, Honeywell, TE Connectivity

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering VLSI design
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	15 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction and Classification of Sensors

Week 2: Characteristics of Sensors

Week 3: Principle of Sensing

Week 4: Interface Circuit

Week 5: Humidity and Chemical Sensors

Week 6: Temperature Sensors: introduction to thermos resistive sensors including, RTD, p-n junction sensor, and thermistors

Week 7: Force Sensors : understanding the basic strain gauge based force sensor, advance micro force sensors like capacitive, piezoresistive force sensor etc.

Week 8: Tactile and Pressure Sensors: introduction and concepts

Week 9: Occupancy and Motion sensors: Ultrasonic, microwave, and triboelectric motion sensors, mid and far-IR sensors

Week 10: Displacement Sensors, and accelerometers: Basic principle, characteristics and types

Week 11: Smart building Sensors (Smoke & occupancy sensors)

Week 12: Sensors for healthcare (Glucometer, ECG & MRI)

Books and references

S Nihtianov, and A. Luque, Smart Sensors and MEMS, 2nd Ed., Springer, 2018;
J. Vetelino and A. Reghu, Introduction to Sensors, 1st Ed., CRC Press, 2011;
Jacob Fraden, Handbook of Modern Sensors, 4th Ed., Springer, 2010;
E.G.Bakhoum, Micro- and Nano-Scale Sensors and Transducers, 1st Ed., Taylor & Francis, 2019.

Instructor bio

Prof. Ravindra Kumar Jha

IIT Guwahati

Dr. Ravindra Kumar Jha is an assistant professor in the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Guwahati. He served as a scientist at CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute at Pilani, Rajasthan in the Nano-Bio Sensors group and Microsystems Packaging Group before accepting his current responsibility. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from IIT Kharagpur in the area of semiconductor devices and worked at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru in the solid state sensors area. His Nano Sensors & Devices Group, at IIT Guwahati focuses on the development of electrical sensors for physical and chemical applications. He has published about fifty peer-reviewed articles out of which some have received various accolades. He has delivered around fifty invited talks including plenary talks at various institutions and several major conferences.

Ravindra is a senior member of IEEE and a life member of the Electron Microscopy Society of India, IETE etc. He is the governing council member of the Institute of Smart Structures & Systems (ISSS) which is a professional society that helps to keep pace with the advances being made in Micro and Smart Systems Technologies in India. He is the founding chair of the IEEE Sensors Council Kolkata Section and Guwahati Subsection chapter.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.

Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team