Tactile sensing chips with POSFET array and integrated interface electronics

Dahiya, R. , Adami, A., Pinna, L., Collini, C., Valle, M. and Lorenzelli, L. (2014) Tactile sensing chips with POSFET array and integrated interface electronics. IEEE Sensors Journal, 14(10), pp. 3448-3457. (doi: 10.1109/JSEN.2014.2346742)

Abstract

This work presents the advanced version of novel POSFET (Piezoelectric Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) devices based tactile sensing chip. The new version of the tactile sensing chip presented here comprises of a 4 x 4 array of POSFET touch sensing devices and integrated interface electronics (i.e. multiplexers, high compliance current sinks and voltage output buffers). The chip also includes four temperature diodes for the measurement of contact temperature. Various components on the chip have been characterized systematically and the overall operation of the tactile sensing system has been evaluated. With new design the POSFET devices have improved performance (i.e. linear response in the dynamic contact forces range of 0.01–3N and sensitivity (without amplification) of 102.4 mV/N), which is more than twice the performance of their previous implementations. The integrated interface electronics result in reduced interconnections which otherwise would be needed to connect the POSFET array with off-chip interface electronic circuitry. This research paves the way for CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) implementation of full on-chip tactile sensing systems based on POSFETs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dahiya, Professor Ravinder
• Authors: Dahiya, R., Adami, A., Pinna, L., Collini, C., Valle, M., and Lorenzelli, L.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: IEEE Sensors Journal
• Publisher: IEEE
• ISSN: 1530-437X
• ISSN (Online): 1558-1748
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 The Authors
• First Published: First published in IEEE Sensors Journal 14(10):3448-3457
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License