This paper reports a monolithically integrated tactile force and proximity sensor composed of a piezoresistive microcantilever array and a signal processing circuit. Both the microcantilever array and the signal processing circuit were fabricated on a single-crystalline silicon device layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer with a partially depleted (PD) SOI CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology followed by three micromachining processes. A dual-detection sensor of tactile force and proximity was realized by packaging the microcantilever with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer on a flexible printed circuit board. A force resolution of 68 μN, a force sensitivity of 14.6 mV/N and a minimum detectable displacement of 0.1 μm were obtained in force mode. A minimum detectable distance of 2.5 mm and 2.6 mm were achieved for objects and human proximity detections in photoelectric and thermomechanical modes, respectively. By using the ultra-sensitive force sensor, wrist radial artery pulse, fingertips pulse, breath and throat vibration of human body were collected accurately. These results prove that the integrated microcantilever can achieve both proximity and tactile sensing detections simultaneously with ultra-sensitivity.
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