Temperature sensitive microwire arrays for artificial whisker electronics

We propose an out-of-plane high-aspect-ratio temperature sensitive "whisker-like" microwire array for use in multisite temperature detection with a high spatial resolution. This sensor is based on vertically assembled force sensitive p-type (p-) silicon microwires on an n-type silicon substrate, which resulted in a p-silicon wire/p-n diode system array. The shift in the rectifying current-voltage (I-V) curves of the embedded p-n diode depends on the temperature through the wire. Thus, the same alignment can be used as a force sensor and temperature sensor. Both force and temperature sensitive microwire sensor arrays with a small detection area (~20 μm2) and high spatial resolution (~100 μm in pitch) have potential in numerous applications, including artificial fingertips in a robot hand/prosthetics.