Fabrication of semiconductor tactile imager

Abstract

Abstract To realize a robot with a high degree of functions, pressure sensors are essential. In particular, a tactile imager with a high density of pressure sensors must be developed. To efficiently withdraw information from numerous sensors and to minimize wirings from the sensors, it is necessary to install a switching circuit on each sensor. For these reasons, a semiconductor sensor is the most suitable. In this study, we fabricated a semiconductor tactile imager with 64 silicon piezoelectric pressure sensors on a flexible substrate. Although all 64 sensors did not function, the basic characteristics and efficiency of the device were evaluated. The dimensions of each sensor were 2 mm × 2 mm. The sensor contained a switching circuit with diodes and was assembled on a flexible printed wiring board. Therefore, this device could be mounted on a curved surface and have a strong resistance to external force. Because the area of the pressure‐sensitive resistors was air‐tight, the device was resistant to water. This device also could be produced by batch process and did not require any additional fabrication process.