{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T05:10:43Z","timestamp":1769749843601,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,7,21]],"date-time":"2018-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1532131200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Covering a whole surface of a robot with tiny sensors which can measure local pressure and transmit the data through a network is an ideal solution to give an artificial skin to robots to improve a capability of action and safety. The crucial technological barrier is to package force sensor and communication function in a small volume. In this paper, we propose the novel device structure based on a wafer bonding technology to integrate and package capacitive force sensor using silicon diaphragm and an integrated circuit separately manufactured. Unique fabrication processes are developed, such as the feed-through forming using a dicing process, a planarization of the Benzocyclobutene (BCB) polymer filled in the feed-through and a wafer bonding to stack silicon diaphragm onto ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) wafer. The ASIC used in this paper has a capacitance measurement circuit and a digital communication interface mimicking a tactile receptor of a human. We successfully integrated the force sensor and the ASIC into a 2.5\u00d72.5\u00d70.3 mm die and confirmed autonomously transmitted packets which contain digital sensing data with the linear force sensitivity of 57,640 Hz\/N and 10 mN of data fluctuation. A small stray capacitance of 1.33 pF is achieved by use of 10 \u03bcm thick BCB isolation layer and this minimum package structure.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s18072374","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,7,24]],"date-time":"2018-07-24T02:58:56Z","timestamp":1532401136000},"page":"2374","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Design and Fabrication Technology of Low Profile Tactile Sensor with Digital Interface for Whole Body Robot Skin"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3503-8573","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mitsutoshi","family":"Makihata","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6808-5106","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masanori","family":"Muroyama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Microsystem Integration Center, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shuji","family":"Tanaka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Robotics, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan"},{"name":"Microsystem Integration Center, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Takahiro","family":"Nakayama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"T-Frontier Div., Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota, Aichi 470-0309, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4281-1066","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yutaka","family":"Nonomura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Toyota Central R&amp;D Labs., Inc., Aichi 480-1192, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8779-4306","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Masayoshi","family":"Esashi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Microsystem Integration Center, Tohoku University, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0957-4158(98)00045-2","article-title":"Review Article Tactile sensing for mechatronics\u2014A state of the art survey","volume":"9","author":"Lee","year":"1999","journal-title":"Mechatronics"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sna.2011.02.038","article-title":"Tactile sensing for dexterous in-hand manipulation in robotics\u2014A review","volume":"167","author":"Yousef","year":"2011","journal-title":"Sens. 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