Human skin is a remarkable organ. It consists of an integrated, stretchable network of sensors that relay information about tactile and thermal stimuli to the brain, allowing us to maneuver within our environment safely and effectively. Interest in large-area networks of electronic devices inspired by human skin is motivated by the promise of creating autonomous intelligent robots and biomimetic prosthetics, among other applications. The development of electronic networks comprised of flexible, stretchable, and robust devices that are compatible with large-area implementation and integrated with multiple functionalities is a testament to the progress in developing an electronic skin (e-skin) akin to human skin. E-skins are already capable of providing augmented performance over their organic counterpart, both in superior spatial resolution and thermal sensitivity. They could be further improved through the incorporation of additional functionalities (e.g., chemical and biological sensing) and desired properties (e.g., biodegradability and self-powering). Continued rapid progress in this area is promising for the development of a fully integrated e-skin in the near future.

25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E-Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress

We have realized a flexible force sensor, composed of four redundant capacitors, the operation of which is based on the measurement of a load-induced capacitance change. We use polyimide both as flexible substrate and as elastic dielectric between two levels of finger-shaped aluminum electrodes. In particular we have developed a technology for realization of two-level polyimide microstructures with gentle slopes to facilitate subsequent metallization processes. Thereby, we could improve step coverage and electrical contacting between the two metallization levels, as well as the mechanical stability of the sensor. The smooth polyimide slopes were obtained by combining lithographic resist-reflow techniques with dry etching procedures. We have analytically modeled the sensor's capacitance and its force sensitivity. We have electrically characterized the capacitors using an impedance analyzer and obtained capacitances in the range of 130 pF and a typical force sensitivity of 0.5–1 fF/N, in excellent agreement with our model.

Flexible polyimide-based force sensor

Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is a severe form of infertility accounting for 10% of infertile men. Microdissection testicular sperm extraction (microTESE) includes a set of clinical protocols from which viable sperm are collected from patients (suffering from NOA), for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Clinical protocols associated with the processing of a microTESE sample are inefficient and significantly reduce the success of obtaining a viable sperm population. In this review we highlight the sources of these inefficiencies and how these sources can possibly be removed by microfluidic technology and single-cell Raman spectroscopy.

Microfluidics: The future of microdissection TESE?

A silicon piezoresistive stress sensor is developed to measure the three components of the orthodontic forces of a tooth in invisible aligners. The stress sensor chip consists of multiple piezoresistor rosettes, and is fixed on the tooth surface to measure the orthodontic force induced stresses. An inverse problem algorithm is established to reconstruct the orthodontic forces of the tooth from the measured stresses. A key thinning process is developed using chemical-mechanical polishing to thin the sensor chip from 650 to 100 , such that it can be accommodated to the limited space between the aligner and the tooth, without much influence on the orthodontic force. The ultra-thin thickness enables the sensor chip to be compliance with tooth deformation, and improves the stress measurement sensitivity as much as 40 times, making it capable of measuring small orthodontic force. The sensor design, fabrication, orthodontic stress measurement, and force reconstruction are given in details, and the experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of using miniaturized and ultra-thin sensors to determine the in vitro orthodontic forces.

An Ultra-Thin Piezoresistive Stress Sensor for Measurement of Tooth Orthodontic Force in Invisible Aligners

An analysis of the measurement principle of smart brackets for 3D force and moment monitoring in orthodontics

This paper introduces a capacitive-type elastomeric tactile sensor for the application of orthodontia. Different from many capacitive-type tactile sensors employing gap-distance or electrode-overlap changing for pressure or shear signal measurement, this sensor applies electrostriction effect (dielectric constant change due to dielectric particles distance variation) for signal detection, thus allows electrodes placed on the same plane for orthodontia application. Biocompatible silicon rubber is used as the buffer layer to sustain large force. By particle distance variation increasing the equivalent particle concentration, this sensor can reach a sensitivity of 0.269 nF/Mpa with a free load capacitance of 18 pF, comparable to those from other type capacitive tactile sensors. Fabrication and simulation has been successfully carried out for comparison.

An elastomeric tactile sensor employing dielectric constant variation and applicable to orthodontia

In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a diffuser type chamber to differentiate the sperm velocity by gradually lowering down the flow speed in diffuser by gradually increasing the width of the channel. When the sperms' moving speed match the flow speed, the sperms tend to have the ability to flow against the stream, thus separating the sperms at different specific positions along the diffuser according to their motility becomes gentle and fast. Most of the motile sperm will stay in the expanding area and the non-motile sperms will drift to outlet. Different from the previous study we proposed in IEEE NEMS, 2012 , here we have three improvements: (1) Sperms can be separated in more detailed quality level. (2) Sperm will be more activated by passing through a dumb bell area than by the traditional methods. (3) The space in the device can accumulate large amount of sperms (~millions).

Micro diffuser-type movement inversion sorter for high-efficient sperm sorting

In this study, we propose a microfluidic device with a diffuser type chamber to differentiate the sperm velocity by gradually lowering down the flow speed in diffuser by gradually increasing the width of the channel. When the sperms' moving speed match the flow speed, the sperms tend to have the ability to flow against the stream, thus separating the sperms at different specific positions along the diffuser according to their motility becomes gentle and fast. Most of the motile sperm will stay in the expanding area and the non-motile sperms will drift to outlet.

High-throughput sperm sorting in a micro diffuser type fluidic system

The current study reports a novel bioelectrode design based on a series of micro needle arrays for the measurement of surface biopotential Without the pain sensation, the goal of these micro needles is to penetrate skin and minimize the variations in skin impedance, as well as body motion Needle electrodes with high depth definition were fabricated and tested on a de-haired rat skin surface for impedance measurements Experiment results showed a prominent reduction in electrode impedance when compared with traditional silver/silver-chloride electrodes A quasi-linear relationship was also observed between electrode surface area and measured skin/electrode impedance

Surface biopotential monitoring by needle type micro electrode array

To solve the low implantation rate of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), zona-free oocyte is widely used in IVF [1]. However the process of zona-removal is not only tedious but also easy to harm the fragile oocyte. In this work we introduce a 3-dimensional microfluidic device to simplify the zona-removal process, and the applied gentle process is also capable to keep oocyte intact and precisely locate all oocytes in the well throughout the procedure.

A three-dimensional microfluidic device for oocyte zona-removal and incubation

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