Integrated vertical force transfer structure for high-performance MEMS-based array piezoresistive tactile sensor

Abstract

In the design of a MEMS-based array piezoresistive tactile sensor, the force transfer structure is the key component for efficiently transmitting the force to the sensitive element. In order to reduce the sensitivity and linearity loss of the tactile sensor caused by traditional force transfer structures, a novel force transfer structure is proposed in this paper, which consists of a PDMS film, an array of rectangular micropillars, and a force-acting platform. The sensitive element of the tactile sensor is located between the force transfer structure and the glass substrate, forming a sandwich tactile sensor structure. Verified by simulations and experiments, the sensitive element with the proposed force transfer structure exhibits a good linearity (0.9998) and owns a similar performance to direct applying force on the sensitive element, the sensitivity is 0.0250 V/N.