Highly Sensitive and Flexible M-Tooth Based Hybrid Micro-Structured Capacitive Pressure Sensor

Abstract

A novel flexible capacitive pressure sensor based on hybrid micro-structured (HM) polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) dielectric layer was developed. The HM-PDMS with M-tooth structured patterns was fabricated using laser engraved acrylic master mold. The top and bottom electrodes were fabricated by depositing silver (Ag) on flexible (polyethylene terephthalate) PET substrate using additive screen printing. The pressure sensor was assembled by sandwiching two HMPDMS based dielectric layer between the top and bottom electrodes. The performance of HM-PDMS based pressure sensor was demonstrated by subjecting the sensor to varying applied pressures ranging from 0 to 100 Pa, and 1 kPa to 10 kPa. A sensitivity of 0.14% Pa$^{-1}$, and 0.02% Pa$^{-1}$ was obtained for the fabricated pressure sensor for the pressure ranges 0-100 Pa, and 1 to 10 kPa, respectively.