Device modelling for bendable piezoelectric FET-based touch sensing system

Flexible electronics is rapidly evolving towards devices and circuits to enable numerous new applications. The high-performance, in terms of response speed, uniformity and reliability, remains a sticking point. The potential solutions for high-performance related challenges bring us back to the timetested silicon based electronics. However, the changes in the response of silicon based devices due to bending related stresses is a concern, especially because there are no suitable models to predict this behavior. This also makes the circuit design a difficult task. This paper reports advances in this direction, through our research on bendable Piezoelectric Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (POSFET) based touch sensors. The analytical model of POSFET, complimented with Verilog-A model, is presented to describe the device behavior under normal force in planar and stressed conditions. Further, dynamic readout circuit compensation of POSFET devices have been analyzed and compared with similar arrangement to reduce the piezoresistive effect under tensile and compressive stresses. This approach introduces a first step towards the systematic modeling of stress induced changes in device response. This systematic study will help realize high-performance bendable microsystems with integrated sensors and readout circuitry on ultra-thin chips (UTCs) needed in various applications, in particular, the electronic skin (e-skin)

Device Modelling of Silicon Based High-Performance Flexible Electronics

The area of flexible electronics is rapidly expanding and evolving. With applications requiring high speed and performance, ultra-thin silicon-based electronics has shown its prominence. However, the change in device response upon bending is a major concern. In absence of suitable analytical and design tool friendly model, the behavior under bent condition is hard to predict. This poses challenges to circuit designer working in the bendable electronics field, in laying out a design that can give a precise response in a stressed condition. This paper presents advances in this direction and investigates the effect of compressive and tensile stress on the performance of NMOS and PMOS transistor and a touch sensor comprising a transistor and piezoelectric capacitor

E-skin: from humanoids to humans

With robots starting to enter our lives in a number of ways (e.g., social, assistive, and surgery), the electronic skin (e-skin) is becoming increasingly important. The capability of detecting subtle pressure or temperature changes makes the e-skin an essential component of a robot's body or an artificial limb [1], [2]. This is because the tactile feedback enabled by e-skin plays a fundamental role in providing action-related information such as slip during manipulation/control tasks such as grasping, and estimation of contact parameters (e.g., force, soft contact, hardness, texture, and temperature during exploration [3]). It is critical for the safe robotic interaction - albeit as a coworker in the futuristic industry 4.0 setting or to assist the elderly at home

Modeling of CMOS devices and circuits on flexible ultrathin chips

The field of flexible electronics is rapidly evolving. The ultrathin chips are being used to address the high-performance requirements of many applications. However, simulation and prediction of changes in response of device/circuit due to bending induced stress remains a challenge as of lack of suitable compact models. This makes circuit designing for bendable electronics a difficult task. This paper presents advances in this direction, through compressive and tensile stress studies on transistors and simple circuits such as inverters with different channel lengths and orientations of transistors on ultrathin chips. Different designs of devices and circuits in a standard CMOS 0.18-μm technology were fabricated in two separated chips. The two fabricated chips were thinned down to 20 μm using standard dicing-before-grinding technique steps followed by post-CMOS processing to obtain sufficient bendability (20-mm bending radius, or 0.05% nominal strain). Electrical characterization was performed by packaging the thinned chip on a flexible substrate. Experimental results show change of carrier mobilities in respective transistors, and switching threshold voltage of the inverters during different bending conditions (maximum percentage change of 2% for compressive and 4% for tensile stress). To simulate these changes, a compact model, which is a combination of mathematical equations and extracted parameters from BSIM4, has been developed in Verilog-A and compiled into Cadence Virtuoso environment. The proposed model predicts the mobility variations and threshold voltage in compressive and tensile bending stress conditions and orientations, and shows an agreement with the experimental measurements (1% for compressive and 0.6% for tensile stress mismatch)

Compact Model for Flexible Ion-Sensitive Field-Effect Transistor

This paper presents the theoretical modelling, and simulation of bending effects on an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET), towards futuristic bendable integrated circuits and microsystems for biomedical applications. Based on variations of threshold voltage and drain current under different bending conditions and orientations of the channel of the device, the bendable ISFET macro-model has been implemented in Verilog-A, and compiled into the Cadence environment. The effects of bending on the behaviour of the device have been simulated over a user-defined range of pH, and sensitivities in a standard 0.18-μm CMOS technology. It has been found that the transfer curves (Id-Vg) of ISFET vary up to 4.46% for tensile and up to 5.15% for compressive bending stress at pH 2, and up to 4.99% for tensile and 5.61% for compressive bending stress at pH 12 with respect to its planar counterpart, while the sensitivity of the device has been found to remain the same irrespectively of the bending stress. The proposed model has been validated by comparing the results with those obtained by other macro-models and experimental results in literature

Ultra-thin silicon technology for tactile sensors

In order to meet the requirements of high performance flexible electronics in fast growing portable consumer electronics, robotics and new fields such as Internet of Things (IoT), new techniques such as electronics based on nanostructures, molecular electronics and quantum electronics have emerged recently. The importance given to the silicon chips with thickness below 50 μm is particularly interesting as this will advance the 3D IC technology as well as open new directions for high-performance flexible electronics. This doctoral thesis focusses on the development of silicon–based ultra-thin chip (UTC) for the next generation flexible electronics. UTCs, on one hand can provide processing speed at par with state-of-the-art CMOS technology, and on the other provide the mechanical flexibility to allow smooth integration on flexible substrates. These development form the motivation behind the work presented in this thesis. As the thickness of any silicon piece decreases, the flexural rigidity decreases. The flexural rigidity is defined as the force couple required to bend a non-rigid structure to a unit curvature, and therefore the flexibility increases. The new approach presented in this thesis for achieving thin silicon exploits existing and well-established silicon infrastructure, process, and design modules. The thin chips of thicknesses ranging between 15 μm – 30 μm, were obtained from processed bulk wafer using anisotropic chemical etching. The thesis also presents thin wafer transfer using two-step transfer printing approach, packaging by lamination or encapsulation between two flexible layerand methods to get the electrical connections out of the chip. The devices realised on the wafer as part of front-end processing, consisted capacitors and transistors, have been tested to analyse the effect of bending on the electrical characteristics. The capacitance of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors increases by ~5% during bending and similar shift is observed in flatband and threshold voltages. Similarly, the carrier mobility in the channel region of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) increases by 9% in tensile bending and decreases by ~5% in compressive bending. The analytical model developed to capture the effect of banding on device performance showed close matching with the experimental results. In order to employ these devices as tactile sensors, two types of piezoelectric materials are investigated, and used in extended gate configuration with the MOSFET. Firstly, a nanocomposite of Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene), P(VDF-TrFE) and barium titanate (BT) was developed. The composite, due to opposite piezo and pyroelectric coefficients of constituents, was able to suppress the sensitivity towards temperature when force and temperature varied together, The sensitivity to force in extended gate configuration was measured to be 630 mV/N, and sensitivity to temperature was 6.57 mV/oC, when it was varied during force application. The process optimisation for sputtering piezoelectric Aluminium Nitride (AlN) was also carried out with many parametric variation. AlN does not require poling to exhibit piezoelectricity and therefore offers an attractive alternative for the piezoelectric layer used in devices such as POSFET (where piezoelectric material is directly deposited over the gate area of MOSFET). The optimised process gave highly orientated columnar structure AlN with piezoelectric coefficient of 5.9 pC/N and when connected in extended gate configuration, a sensitivity (normalised change in drain current per unit force) of 2.65 N-1 was obtained

Ultra conformable and multimodal tactile sensors based on organic field-effect transistors

Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology related to all the processes by which sensory input is transformed, processed and used. Academic and industrial research has always invested time and resources to develop devices capable to simulate the behavior of the organs where the perceptions are located. In recent years, in fact, there have been numerous discoveries related to new materials, and new devices, capable of reproducing, in a reliable manner, the sensory behavior of humans. Particular interest in scientific research has been aimed at understanding and reproducing of man's tactile sensations. It is known that, through the receptors of the skin, it is possible to detect sensations such as pain, changes in pressure and/or temperature. The development of tactile sensor technology had a significant increase in the last years of 1970s, thanks to the important surveys of Stojiljkovic, Harmon and Lumelsky who presented the firsts prototype of sensors for artificial skin applications, and summarized the main characteristics and requirements of tactile sensors. Recently, organic electronics has been deeply investigated as technology for the fabrication of tactile sensors using biocompatible materials, which can be deposited and processed on ultra flexible and ultra conformable substrates. In general, the most attractive property of these materials is mainly related to their high mechanical flexibility, which is mandatory for artificial skin applications. The main object of this PhD research activity was the development and optimization of an innovative technology for the realization of physical sensors able to detect pressure and temperature variations, which can be applied in the field of biomedical engineering and biorobotics. By exploiting the particular characteristics of the employed materials, such as mechanical flexibility, the proposed sensors are very suitable to be integrated with flexible structures (for example plastics) as a pressure and temperature sensor, and therefore, ideal for the realization of an artificial skin like. In Chapter 1, the basics of humans somatosensory system will be introduced: after a brief description of tactile thermoreceptors, mechanoreceptors and nociceptors, a definition of electronic skin and its characteristics will be provided. In Chapter 2, a wide analysis of the state of the art will be reported. Several and different examples of tactile sensor (in inorganic and organic technology) will be presented, underlining advantages and disadvantages for each approach. In Chapter 3, the firsts experimental results, obtained in the first part of my PhD program, will be presented. All the steps of the fabrication process of the devices will be described, as well as the measurement setup used for the electrical characterization of the sensors. In Chapter 4, the sensor structure optimization will be presented. It will be demonstrated how the presented devices are able to sense simultaneously thermal and mechanical stimuli. Moreover, it will be demonstrated that, thanks to an alternative and innovative fabrication process, the sensors can be transferred directly on skin, thus proving the suitability of the proposed sensor architecture for tactile applications

Inorganic micro/nanostructures-based high-performance flexible electronics for electronic skin application

Electronics in the future will be printed on diverse substrates, benefiting several emerging applications such as electronic skin (e-skin) for robotics/prosthetics, flexible displays, flexible/conformable biosensors, large area electronics, and implantable devices. For such applications, electronics based on inorganic micro/nanostructures (IMNSs) from high mobility materials such as single crystal silicon and compound semiconductors in the form of ultrathin chips, membranes, nanoribbons (NRs), nanowires (NWs) etc., offer promising high-performance solutions compared to conventional organic materials. This thesis presents an investigation of the various forms of IMNSs for high-performance electronics. Active components (from Silicon) and sensor components (from indium tin oxide (ITO), vanadium pentaoxide (V2O5), and zinc oxide (ZnO)) were realised based on the IMNS for application in artificial tactile skin for prosthetics/robotics. Inspired by human tactile sensing, a capacitive-piezoelectric tandem architecture was realised with indium tin oxide (ITO) on a flexible polymer sheet for achieving static (upto 0.25 kPa-1 sensitivity) and dynamic (2.28 kPa-1 sensitivity) tactile sensing. These passive tactile sensors were interfaced in extended gate mode with flexible high-performance metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) fabricated through a scalable process. The developed process enabled wafer scale transfer of ultrathin chips (UTCs) of silicon with various devices (ultrathin chip resistive samples, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitors and n‐channel MOSFETs) on flexible substrates up to 4″ diameter. The devices were capable of bending upto 1.437 mm radius of curvature and exhibited surface mobility above 330 cm2/V-s, on-to-off current ratios above 4.32 decades, and a subthreshold slope above 0.98 V/decade, under various bending conditions. While UTCs are useful for realizing high-density high-performance micro-electronics on small areas, high-performance electronics on large area flexible substrates along with low-cost fabrication techniques are also important for realizing e-skin. In this regard, two other IMNS forms are investigated in this thesis, namely, NWs and NRs. The controlled selective source/drain doping needed to obtain transistors from such structure remains a bottleneck during post transfer printing. An attractive solution to address this challenge based on junctionless FETs (JLFETs), is investigated in this thesis via technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulation and practical fabrication. The TCAD optimization implies a current of 3.36 mA for a 15 μm channel length, 40 μm channel width with an on-to-off ratio of 4.02x 107. Similar to the NRs, NWs are also suitable for realizing high performance e-skin. NWs of various sizes, distribution and length have been fabricated using various nano-patterning methods followed by metal assisted chemical etching (MACE). Synthesis of Si NWs of diameter as low as 10 nm and of aspect ratio more than 200:1 was achieved. Apart from Si NWs, V2O5 and ZnO NWs were also explored for sensor applications. Two approaches were investigated for printing NWs on flexible substrates namely (i) contact printing and (ii) large-area dielectrophoresis (DEP) assisted transfer printing. Both approaches were used to realize electronic layers with high NW density. The former approach resulted in 7 NWs/μm for bottom-up ZnO and 3 NWs/μm for top-down Si NWs while the latter approach resulted in 7 NWs/μm with simultaneous assembly on 30x30 electrode patterns in a 3 cm x 3 cm area. The contact-printing system was used to fabricate ZnO and Si NW-based ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) with a Wheatstone bridge (WB) configuration. The assembled V2O5 NWs were used to realize temperature sensors with sensitivity of 0.03% /K. The sensor arrays are suitable for tactile e-skin application. While the above focuses on realizing conventional sensing and addressing elements for e-skin, processing of a large amount of data from e-skin has remained a challenge, especially in the case of large area skin. A Neural NW Field Effect Transistors (υ-NWFETs) based hardware-implementable neural network (HNN) approach for tactile data processing in e-skin is presented in the final part of this thesis. The concept is evaluated by interfacing with a fabricated kirigami-inspired e-skin. Apart from e-skin for prosthetics and robotics, the presented research will also be useful for obtaining high performance flexible circuits needed in many futuristic flexible electronics applications such as smart surgical tools, biosensors, implantable electronics/electroceuticals and flexible mobile phones

Large-Area Soft e-Skin: The Challenges Beyond Sensor Designs

Sensory feedback from touch is critical for many tasks carried out by robots and humans, such as grasping objects or identifying materials. Electronic skin (e-skin) is a crucial technology for these purposes. Artificial tactile skin that can play the roles of human skin remains a distant possibility because of hard issues in resilience, manufacturing, mechanics, sensorics, electronics, energetics, information processing, and transport. Taken together, these issues make it difficult to bestow robots, or prosthetic devices, with effective tactile skins. Nonetheless, progress over the past few years in relation with the above issues has been encouraging, and we have achieved close to providing some of the abilities of biological skin with the advent of deformable sensors and flexible electronics. The naive imitation of skin morphology and sensing an impoverished set of mechanical and thermal quantities are not sufficient. There is a need to find more efficient ways to extract tactile information from mechanical contact than those previously available. Renewed interest in neuromorphic tactile skin is expected to bring some fresh ideas in this field. This article reviews these new developments, particularly related to the handling of tactile data, energy autonomy, and large-area manufacturing. The challenges in relation with these advances for tactile sensing and haptics in robotics and prosthetics are discussed along with potential solutions