Human skin is a remarkable organ. It consists of an integrated, stretchable network of sensors that relay information about tactile and thermal stimuli to the brain, allowing us to maneuver within our environment safely and effectively. Interest in large-area networks of electronic devices inspired by human skin is motivated by the promise of creating autonomous intelligent robots and biomimetic prosthetics, among other applications. The development of electronic networks comprised of flexible, stretchable, and robust devices that are compatible with large-area implementation and integrated with multiple functionalities is a testament to the progress in developing an electronic skin (e-skin) akin to human skin. E-skins are already capable of providing augmented performance over their organic counterpart, both in superior spatial resolution and thermal sensitivity. They could be further improved through the incorporation of additional functionalities (e.g., chemical and biological sensing) and desired properties (e.g., biodegradability and self-powering). Continued rapid progress in this area is promising for the development of a fully integrated e-skin in the near future.

25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E-Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress

Flexible electronics hold great promise for wearable biomedical sensors. Here, the authors report a pressure sensor composed of gold nanowire-impregnated tissue paper, sandwiched between polydimethylsiloxane sheets, and demonstrate that the design is appropriate for large-area flexible electronics.

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A wearable and highly sensitive pressure sensor with ultrathin gold nanowires

Flexible and stretchable physical sensors that can measure and quantify electrical signals generated by human activities are attracting a great deal of attention as they have unique characteristics, such as ultrathinness, low modulus, light weight, high flexibility, and stretchability. These flexible and stretchable physical sensors conformally attached on the surface of organs or skin can provide a new opportunity for human-activity monitoring and personal healthcare. Consequently, in recent years there has been considerable research effort devoted to the development of flexible and stretchable physical sensors to fulfill the requirements of future technology, and much progress has been achieved. Here, the most recent developments of flexible and stretchable physical sensors are described, including temperature, pressure, and strain sensors, and flexible and stretchable sensor-integrated platforms. The latest successful examples of flexible and stretchable physical sensors for the detection of temperature, pressure, and strain, as well as their novel structures, technological innovations, and challenges, are reviewed first. In the next section, recent progress regarding sensor-integrated wearable platforms is overviewed in detail. Some of the latest achievements regarding self-powered sensor-integrated wearable platform technologies are also reviewed. Further research direction and challenges are also proposed to develop a fully sensor-integrated wearable platform for monitoring human activity and personal healthcare in the near future.

Flexible and Stretchable Physical Sensor Integrated Platforms for Wearable Human-Activity Monitoringand Personal Healthcare.

Printing sensors and electronics over flexible substrates are an area of significant interest due to low-cost fabrication and possibility of obtaining multifunctional electronics over large areas. Over the years, a number of printing technologies have been developed to pattern a wide range of electronic materials on diverse substrates. As further expansion of printed technologies is expected in future for sensors and electronics, it is opportune to review the common features, the complementarities, and the challenges associated with various printing technologies. This paper presents a comprehensive review of various printing technologies, commonly used substrates and electronic materials. Various solution/dry printing and contact/noncontact printing technologies have been assessed on the basis of technological, materials, and process-related developments in the field. Critical challenges in various printing techniques and potential research directions have been highlighted. Possibilities of merging various printing methodologies have been explored to extend the lab developed standalone systems to high-speed roll-to-roll production lines for system level integration.

https://cris.fbk.eu/bitstream/11582/300858/1/Technologies%20for%20Printing%20Sensors%20and%20Electronics%20Over%20Large%20Flexible%20Substrates-A%20Review.pdf

Technologies for Printing Sensors and Electronics Over Large Flexible Substrates: A Review

Bio-integrated wearable systems can measure a broad range of biophysical, biochemical, and environmental signals to provide critical insights into overall health status and to quantify human performance. Recent advances in material science, chemical analysis techniques, device designs, and assembly methods form the foundations for a uniquely differentiated type of wearable technology, characterized by noninvasive, intimate integration with the soft, curved, time-dynamic surfaces of the body. This review summarizes the latest advances in this emerging field of “bio-integrated” technologies in a comprehensive manner that connects fundamental developments in chemistry, material science, and engineering with sensing technologies that have the potential for widespread deployment and societal benefit in human health care. An introduction to the chemistries and materials for the active components of these systems contextualizes essential design considerations for sensors and associated platforms that appear in f...

Bio-Integrated Wearable Systems: A Comprehensive Review

This paper presents a novel method to fabricate temperature sensor arrays by dispensing a graphite-polydimethylsiloxane composite on flexible polyimide films. The fabricated temperature sensor array has 64 sensing cells in a 4 × 4 cm 2 area. The sensor array can be used as humanoid artificial skin for sensation system of robots. Interdigitated copper electrodes were patterned on the flexible polyimide substrate for determining the resistivity change of the composites subjected to ambient temperature variations. Polydimethylsiloxane was used as the matrix. Composites of different graphite volume fractions for large dynamic range from 30 oC to 110 oC have been investigated. Our experiments showed that graphite powder provided the composite high temperature sensitivity. The fabricated temperature sensor array has been tested. The detected temperature contours are in good agreement with the shapes and magnitudes of different heat sources. Keywords: composite; temperature sensor array; flexible substrate

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Flexible Temperature Sensor Array Based on a Graphite-Polydimethylsiloxane Composite

This paper presents the design, fabrication and measurement of a flexible 8 × 8 temperature and tactile sensing array which will be used as the artificial skin for robot applications. The temperature and tactile sensing elements are heterogeneously integrated on a flexible copper-PI film using micromachining techniques. The tactile sensing elements are formed by dispensing conductive polymer on the pre-defined interdigital copper electrodes. This novel fabrication method can effectively reduce the crosstalk between each sensing element. The strategy and the verification for reducing crosstalk currents are described. The mechanical and electrical properties of tactile sensing elements are measured. Also, discrete temperature sensor chips are employed as the temperature-sensing cells. Scanning circuits are implemented. Finally, measured temperature and tactile images have been successfully obtained by using the integrated 8 × 8 sensing arrays. The flexible sensor arrays are bendable down to a 4-mm radius without any degradation in functionality.

An integrated flexible temperature and tactile sensing array using PI-copper films ☆

In this work, we present the development of a polymer-based capacitive sensing array. The proposed device is capable of measuring normal and shear forces, and can be easily realized by using micromachining techniques and flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) technologies. The sensing array consists of a polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) structure and a FPCB. Each shear sensing element comprises four capacitive sensing cells arranged in a 2 × 2 array, and each capacitive sensing cell has two sensing electrodes and a common floating electrode. The sensing electrodes as well as the metal interconnect for signal scanning are implemented on the FPCB, while the floating electrodes are patterned on the PDMS structure. This design can effectively reduce the complexity of the capacitive structures, and thus makes the device highly manufacturable. The characteristics of the devices with different dimensions were measured and discussed. A scanning circuit was also designed and implemented. The measured maximum sensitivity is 1.67%/mN. The minimum resolvable force is 26 mN measured by the scanning circuit. The capacitance distributions induced by normal and shear forces were also successfully captured by the sensing array.

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A Polymer-Based Capacitive Sensing Array for Normal and Shear Force Measurement

In this work, we present the development of a capacitive tactile sensing array realized by using MEMS fabrication techniques and flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) technologies. The sensing array, which consists of two micromachined polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) structures and a FPCB, will be used as the artificial skin for robot applications. Each capacitive sensing element comprises two sensing electrodes and a common floating electrode. The sensing electrodes and the metal interconnect for signal scanning are implemented on the FPCB, while the floating electrode is patterned on one of the PDMS structures. This special design can effectively reduce the complexity of the device structure and thus makes the device highly manufacturable. The characteristics of the devices with different dimensions are measured and discussed. The corresponding scanning circuits are also designed and implemented. The tactile images induced by the PMMA stamps of different shapes are also successfully captured by a fabricated 8 × 8 array.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0960-1317/19/11/115001/pdf

A flexible capacitive tactile sensing array with floating electrodes

This paper presents a fully implantable 100-channel neural interface IC for neural activity monitoring. It contains 100-channel analog recording front-ends, 10 multiplexing successive approximation register ADCs, digital control modules and power management circuits. A dual sample-and-hold architecture is proposed, which extends the sampling time of the ADC and reduces the average power per channel by more than 50% compared to the conventional multiplexing neural recording system. A neural amplifier (NA) with current-reuse technique and weak inversion operation is demonstrated, consuming 800 nA under 1-V supply while achieving an input-referred noise of 4.0 μVrms in a 8-kHz bandwidth and a NEF of 1.9 for the whole analog recording chain. The measured frequency response of the analog front-end has a high-pass cutoff frequency from sub-1 Hz to 248 Hz and a low-pass cutoff frequency from 432 Hz to 5.1 kHz, which can be configured to record neural spikes and local field potentials simultaneously or separately. The whole system was fabricated in a 0.18-μm standard CMOS process and operates under 1 V for analog blocks and ADC, and 1.8 V for digital modules. The number of active recording channels is programmable and the digital output data rate changes accordingly, leading to high system power efficiency. The overall 100-channel interface IC consumes 1.16-mW total power, making it the optimum solution for multi-channel neural recording systems.

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Ming-Yuan Cheng

Papers

Flexible Temperature Sensor Array Based on a Graphite-Polydimethylsiloxane Composite

An integrated flexible temperature and tactile sensing array using PI-copper films ☆

A Polymer-Based Capacitive Sensing Array for Normal and Shear Force Measurement

A flexible capacitive tactile sensing array with floating electrodes

A 100-Channel 1-mW Implantable Neural Recording IC