Experimental study of PDMS mechanical properties for the optimization of polymer based flexible pressure micro-sensors

Abstract

This paper reports on the optimization of flexible PDMS-based normal pressure capacitive micro-sensors dedicated to wearable applications. The deformation under a normal force of PDMS thin films of thicknesses ranging from 40 μm to 10 mm is firstly experimentally studied. This study points out that for capacitive micro-sensors using bulky PDMS thin films as deformable dielectric material, the sensitivity to an applied normal load can be optimized thanks to an adequate choice of the so-called form ratio of the involved PDMS thin film. Indeed, for capacitive micro-sensors exhibiting 9 mm2 electrodes, the capacitance change under a 6 N load can be adjusted from a few percent up to over 35% according to the choice of the load-free thickness of the used PDMS film. These results have been validated thanks to electromechanical characterizations carried out on two flexible PDMS based capacitive normal pressure micro-sensor samples fabricated with two different thicknesses. The obtained results open the way to the enhanced design of PDMS based pressure sensors dedicated to wearable and medical applications. Further works will extend this study to a wider range of sensor dimensions, and using numerical modelling.