POSFET tactile sensing arrays using CMOS technology

This work presents new tactile sensing chips consisting of 4 × 4 array of POSFET touch sensing devices (or taxels) and 4 diodes to measure contact temperature. In the new version presented here, the tactile sensing chips have been fabricated using CMOS technology. Both, the individual taxels and the array are designed to match spatio-temporal performance of the human fingertips. To detect contact parameters such as contact force, the taxels utilize the contact induced change in the polarization level of piezoelectric polymer (and hence the changes in the induced channel current of MOS). The performance of POSFET device has been evaluated in the dynamic contact forces range of 0.01–3 N. The response of POSFET is linear in the tested range, with the sensitivity (without amplification) of 102.4 mV/N – which is more than twice the response of POSFETs presented earlier. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.