Matrices of inkjet printed OFETs for the realization of artificial robotic skin
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Matrices of inkjet printed OFETs for the realization of artificial robotic skin Alberto Loi1, Laura Basiricò1, 2, Piero Cosseddu1, 2*, Stefano Lai1, Perla Maiolino3, Emanuele Baglini3, Simone Denei3, Fulvio Mastrogiovanni3, Giorgio Cannata3, Chiara Palomba4, Massimo Barbaro1, Annalisa Bonfiglio1, 2 1
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, Piazza d’Armi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy 2 CNR- Institute of Nanoscience S3 Via Campi 213A, I-41100 Modena, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemistica e Telematica, Università di Genova, via Opera Pia 13, 16145 Genova Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cagliari, Piazza d’Armi, 09123 Cagliari, Italy (*email address: [email protected]) ABSTRACT In this paper we introduce a novel, flexible, system for mechanical deformation detection. The core of the system is based on an Organic Thin Film Transistor (OTFT) which has been assembled on a flexible PET substrate and patterned by means of inkjet printing. OTFT-based mechanical sensors were fabricated employing two different organic semiconductors, namely a small molecule (pentacene) deposited by thermal evaporation and its solution-processable derivative 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)-pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) deposited by drop casting. It will be shown that the surface deformation induced by an external mechanical stimulus gives rise in both cases to a marked, reproducible and reversible (within a certain rage of surface deformation) variation of the device output current. Starting from these results, more complex structures such as arrays and matrices of OTFT-based mechanical sensors have been fabricated by means of inkjet printing. Thanks to the flexibility of the introduced structure, we will show that the presented system can be transferred on different surfaces (hard and soft) and employed for a wide range of applications. In particular, we have designed and fabricated a fully functional system based on a matrix of 64 elements that can be employed for detecting mechanical stimuli over larger areas, and will demonstrate that such a system can be successfully employed for tactile transduction in the realization of artificial “robot skins”. INTRODUCTION The light weight, low-cost processing, and the mechanical flexibility of conjugated polymers led them to be considered as a valuable alternative to most common inorganic materials for the realization of electronic devices. Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFTs) are recognized as key tools/building blocks for the implementation of electronic logic circuits and have been intensively studied for many applications, such as displays, smart tags and sensors [13]. Despite the low mobility of organic materials (compared to crystalline semiconductors, it is about three orders of magnitude lower) there are applications, as the recently suggested electronic skin [4-6], in which the lower speed is tolerable and the use of organic materials seems to be more beneficial than detrimental. In fact, being able to obtain large sensi
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