SU: Electronic Skin

2023: Product Announcement

On May 18, 2023, American researchers from Stanford University (SU) announced the development of a new type of electronic skin that can "feel" the temperature and pressure exerted. In the future, the technology can help return tactile sensitivity to people who have received severe injuries or extensive burns.

One of the key components of the product is a flexible integrated circuit functioning at a power voltage of 5 V. Scientists have invented a special dielectric structure of three layers, one of which contains nitrile - a compound that is used, among other things, in surgical gloves.

Stanford scientists have developed electronic skin that can help return tactile sensitivity to people who have suffered severe injuries or extensive burns

Sensor arrays consist of organic nanostructures capable of transmitting electrical signals even when stretched. Such areas of electronic skin, depending on the version, can measure pressure, temperature, deformation and the presence of certain chemicals. Each of the sensor arrays has a thickness of several tens to hundreds of nanometers, and the thickness of the finished assembly of five to six such layers is less than a micron. To achieve the necessary integrity, a flexible substrate is used, so that in general the thickness of the product is at 25-30 microns - this is comparable to the thickness of the outer layer of human skin.

The authors of the work say that for the first time they managed to form an artificial skin coating in which the sensitivity and all the required electrical and mechanical characteristics are combined. The development can lead to the emergence of innovative man-machine interfaces that provide a touch similar to the natural one. Electronic skin, for example, could integrate into smart prostheses. In the future, the new technology, as scientists hope, will be combined with specialized chips implanted in the brain to transmit captured information.^[1]

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