A Novel Thermal Position Sensor Integrated On A Plastic Substrate

TL;DR

This paper presents a cost-effective thermal position sensor integrated on a plastic substrate, capable of detecting position and motion of a heat source without wire bonding, using temperature-sensitive resistors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fabrication technology for integrating thermal sensors directly on plastic substrates with integrated electronics, enabling wire-free operation.

Findings

Successful fabrication of a plastic-based thermal sensor array

Detection of position and motion of heat sources via resistance changes

Potential for extensive application in cost-sensitive environments

Abstract

A thermal position sensor was fabricated and evaluated. The device consists of an array of temperature sensing elements, fabricated entirely on a plastic substrate. A novel fabrication technology was implemented which allows direct integration with read out electronics and communication to the macro-world without the use of wire bonding. The fabricated sensing elements are temperature sensitive Pt resistors with an average TCR of 0.0024/C. The device realizes the detection of the position and the motion of a heating source by monitoring the resistance variation of the thermistor array. The application field of such a cost-effective position sensor is considered quite extensive.