A new dimension for magnetosensitive e-skins: active matrix integrated micro-origami sensor arrays

Abstract

Magnetic sensors are widely used in our daily life for assessing the position and orientation of objects. Recently, the magnetic sensing modality has been introduced to electronic skins (e-skins), enabling remote perception of moving objects. However, the integration density of magnetic sensors is limited and the vector properties of the magnetic field cannot be fully explored since the sensors can only perceive field components in one or two dimensions. Here, we report an approach to fabricate high-density integrated active matrix magnetic sensor with three-dimensional (3D) magnetic vector field sensing capability. The 3D magnetic sensor is composed of an array of self-assembled micro-origami cubic architectures with biased anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) sensors manufactured in a wafer-scale process. Integrating the 3D magnetic sensors into an e-skin with embedded magnetic hairs enables real-time multidirectional tactile perception. We demonstrate a versatile approach for the fabrication of active matrix integrated 3D sensor arrays using micro-origami and pave the way for new electronic devices relying on the autonomous rearrangement of functional elements in space.

Active Matrix Flexible Sensory Systems: Materials, Design, Fabrication, and Integration

“…j) Wheatstone bridge configuration design for differential signal readout. [ 23 ] Copyright 2022, The Authors. Published by Springer Nature.…”

“…[ 41 ] Recently, we have proposed a novel pixel design with Wheatstone bridge configuration for the driving and signal readout of magnetoresistance‐type sensors (Figure 4j). [ 23 ] The pixel has one Wheatstone bridge anisotropic magnetoresistance (ARM) sensor, one driving TFT and two readout TFTs. The three TFTs in the pixel share the same gate line, thus can be activated synchronously.…”

“…The backplanes consist of several key building blocks, where each of the blocks was optimized to realize integrated active matrices with excellent electrical and mechanical performance. We envision that such active matrix sensory systems should integrate heterogeneous sensing elements such as piezoresistors, [ 18 ] thermistors, [ 22 ] magnetoresistors, [ 23 ] photodiodes, [ 24 ] light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), [ 25 ] and electrical field sensors [ 26 ] within individual pixels, providing multifunctional sensing modalities. So far, most of the reported active matrix flexible sensory systems can only perceive one kind of stimulus.…”

“…Published under the PNAS license. “Magnetic sensor.”, [ 23 ] Copyright, The Authors. Published by Springer Nature.…”

Morphological Fabrication of Equilibrium and Auditory Sensors through Electrolytic Polymerization on Hybrid Fluid Rubber (HF Rubber) for Smart Materials of Robotics

“…These materials are considered to belong in the field of smart material or soft robotics [ 1 ] and have been developed as the soft tactile skin that mimic the human senses of robots, such as artificial skin [ 2 ] and auditory materials and systems [ 3 ]. The artificial tactile skin is currently demonstrated as electronic skin (i.e., e-skin) [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ], which is integrated with elastomeric substates and sensibility-induced fillers, and whose structure is assembled through configuration using a predominantly chemical process. Therefore, the production process of e-skin is generally complicated in many cases.…”