a flexible capacitive sensor with encapsulated liquids as？dielectrics一个灵活的电容传感器与封装液体电介质.pdfVIP

Micromachines 2012, 3, 137-149; doi:10.3390/mi3010137 OPEN ACCESS micromachines ISSN 2072-666X /journal/micromachines Article A Flexible Capacitive Sensor with Encapsulated Liquids as Dielectrics Yasunari Hotta 1, Yuhua Zhang 1 and Norihisa Miki 1,2,* 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University/3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan; E-Mails: yasunari.hotta@ykh.chiyoda.co.jp (Y.H.); yuhua.zhang.pq@ (Y.Z.) 2 JST PRESTO, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: miki@mech.keio.ac.jp; Tel.: +81-45-566-1430; Fax: +81-45-566-1495. Received: 1 February 2012; in revised form: 2 March 2012 / Accepted: 2 March 2012 / Published: 13 March 2012 Abstract: Flexible and high-sensitive capacitive sensors are demanded to detect pressure distribution and/or tactile information on a curved surface, hence, wide varieties of polymer-based flexible MEMS sensors have been developed. High-sensitivity may be achieved by increasing the capacitance of the sensor using solid dielectric material while it deteriorates the flexibility. Using air as the dielectric, to maintain the flexibility, sacrifices the sensor sensitivity. In this paper, we demonstrate flexible and highly sensitive capacitive sensor arrays that encapsulate highly dielectric liquids as the dielectric. Deionized water and glycerin, which have relative dielectric constants of approximately 80 and 47, respectivel