300nm-thick cantilever in PDMS for tactile sensing

In this paper we propose a tactile sensor consisting of standing 300 nm-thick piezoresistive cantilevers embedded in PDMS. The sensor detects the shear stress applied on its surface. Since the thin cantilever deforms only in one direction, the sensor can detect the one directional deformation of PDMS by monitoring the change of resistance of the cantilever. We applied the force of 0 [N] to 2.0 [N] in the X, Y, and Z directions to the sensor. The sensor showed a good linearity (R² = 0.983) and high sensitivity in X-axis. The sensitivities in the other axes were low enough to separate the X-axial component of applied force.