A large-area, flexible pressure sensor matrix with organic field-effect transistors for artificial skin applications

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0401918101
• Publication Date: 2004-06-29T00:15:08Z
• Authors: Takao Someya; Tsuyoshi Sekitani; Shingo Iba; Yusaku Kato; Hiroshi Kawaguchi; Takayasu Sakurai
• Keywords: Electronic Skin; Flexible Electronics; Electronic component

It is now widely accepted that skin sensitivity will be very important for future robots used by humans in daily life housekeeping and entertainment purposes. Despite this fact, relatively little progress has been made the field of pressure recognition compared to areas sight voice recognition, mainly because good artificial “electronic skin” with a large area mechanical flexibility not yet available. The fabrication sensitive consisting thousands sensors would require flexible switching matrix cannot realized present silicon-based electronics. Organic field-effect transistors can substitute such conventional electronics organic circuits are inherently potentially ultralow cost even area. Thus, integration rubber sensors, both which produced low-cost processing technology as large-area printing technology, provide an ideal solution realize practical skin, whose feasibility demonstrated paper. Pressure images have taken active drivers mobility reaches high 1.4 cm 2 /V·s. device electrically functional when it wrapped around cylindrical bar 2-mm radius.