Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin
Covering a whole surface of a robot with tiny sensors which can measure local pressure and transmit the data through a network is an ideal solution to give an artificial skin to robots to improve a capability of action and safety. The crucial technological barrier is to package force sensor and comm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/7/2374 |
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| author | Mitsutoshi Makihata Masanori Muroyama Shuji Tanaka Takahiro Nakayama Yutaka Nonomura Masayoshi Esashi |
| author_facet | Mitsutoshi Makihata Masanori Muroyama Shuji Tanaka Takahiro Nakayama Yutaka Nonomura Masayoshi Esashi |
| author_sort | Mitsutoshi Makihata |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Covering a whole surface of a robot with tiny sensors which can measure local pressure and transmit the data through a network is an ideal solution to give an artificial skin to robots to improve a capability of action and safety. The crucial technological barrier is to package force sensor and communication function in a small volume. In this paper, we propose the novel device structure based on a wafer bonding technology to integrate and package capacitive force sensor using silicon diaphragm and an integrated circuit separately manufactured. Unique fabrication processes are developed, such as the feed-through forming using a dicing process, a planarization of the Benzocyclobutene (BCB) polymer filled in the feed-through and a wafer bonding to stack silicon diaphragm onto ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) wafer. The ASIC used in this paper has a capacitance measurement circuit and a digital communication interface mimicking a tactile receptor of a human. We successfully integrated the force sensor and the ASIC into a 2.5 × 2.5 × 0.32.5×2.5×0.3 mm die and confirmed autonomously transmitted packets which contain digital sensing data with the linear force sensitivity of 57,640 Hz/N and 10 mN of data fluctuation. A small stray capacitance of 1.33 pF is achieved by use of 10 μm thick BCB isolation layer and this minimum package structure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:41:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e86ce0eca01547888d2cb6a020184533 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:41:08Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-e86ce0eca01547888d2cb6a0201845332022-12-22T04:04:13ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202018-07-01187237410.3390/s18072374s18072374Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot SkinMitsutoshi Makihata0Masanori Muroyama1Shuji Tanaka2Takahiro Nakayama3Yutaka Nonomura4Masayoshi Esashi5Department of Robotics, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, JapanMicrosystem Integration Center, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, JapanDepartment of Robotics, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, JapanT-Frontier Div., Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota, Aichi 470-0309, JapanToyota Central R&D Labs., Inc., Aichi 480-1192, JapanMicrosystem Integration Center, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, JapanCovering a whole surface of a robot with tiny sensors which can measure local pressure and transmit the data through a network is an ideal solution to give an artificial skin to robots to improve a capability of action and safety. The crucial technological barrier is to package force sensor and communication function in a small volume. In this paper, we propose the novel device structure based on a wafer bonding technology to integrate and package capacitive force sensor using silicon diaphragm and an integrated circuit separately manufactured. Unique fabrication processes are developed, such as the feed-through forming using a dicing process, a planarization of the Benzocyclobutene (BCB) polymer filled in the feed-through and a wafer bonding to stack silicon diaphragm onto ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) wafer. The ASIC used in this paper has a capacitance measurement circuit and a digital communication interface mimicking a tactile receptor of a human. We successfully integrated the force sensor and the ASIC into a 2.5 × 2.5 × 0.32.5×2.5×0.3 mm die and confirmed autonomously transmitted packets which contain digital sensing data with the linear force sensitivity of 57,640 Hz/N and 10 mN of data fluctuation. A small stray capacitance of 1.33 pF is achieved by use of 10 μm thick BCB isolation layer and this minimum package structure.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/7/2374tactile sensorMEMS-CMOS integrationwafer level packagingsensor networkthrough silicon viabenzocyclobutene |
| spellingShingle | Mitsutoshi Makihata Masanori Muroyama Shuji Tanaka Takahiro Nakayama Yutaka Nonomura Masayoshi Esashi Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin Sensors tactile sensor MEMS-CMOS integration wafer level packaging sensor network through silicon via benzocyclobutene |
| title | Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin |
| title_full | Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin |
| title_fullStr | Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin |
| title_short | Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin |
| title_sort | design and fabrication technology of low profile tactile sensor with digital interface for whole body robot skin |
| topic | tactile sensor MEMS-CMOS integration wafer level packaging sensor network through silicon via benzocyclobutene |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/7/2374 |
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