E-SKIN

CHAPTER 2

INTRODUCTION
Electronics plays a very important role in developing simple devices used for any purpose. In every field
electronic equipment are required. The best achievement as well as future example of integrated
electronics in medical field is Artificial Skin. It is ultrathin electronics device attaches to the skin like a
sick on tattoo which can measure electrical activity of heart, brain waves & other vital signals. Evolution
in robotics is demanding increased perception of the environment. Human skin provides sensory
perception of temperature, touch/pressure, and air flow. Goal is to develop sensors on flexible substrates
that are compliant to curved surfaces. Researcher’s objective is for making an artificial skin is to make a
revolutionary change in robotics, in medical field, in flexible electronics. Skin is large organ in human
body so artificial skin replaces it according to our need. Main objective of artificial skin is to sense heat,
pressure, touch, airflow and whatever which human skin sense. It is replacement for prosthetic limbs and
robotic arms.

Artificial skin is skin grown in a laboratory. There are various names of artificial skin in biomedical
field it is called as artificial skin, in our electronics field it is called as electronic skin, some scientist it
called as sensitive skin, in other way it also called as synthetic skin, some people says that it is fake skin.
Such different names are available but application is same it is skin replacement for people who have
suffered skin trauma, such as severe burns or skin diseases, or robotic applications & so on. An artificial
skin has also been recently demonstrated at the University of Cincinnati for in-vitro sweat simulation
and testing, capable of skin-like texture, wetting, sweat pore density, and sweat rates.

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CHAPTER 3

HISTORY OF E-SKIN
Electronic skin or e-skin is a thin material designed to mimic human skin by recognising pressure and
temperature. In September 2010, Javey and the University of California, Berkeley developed a method
of attaching nano wire transistors and pressure sensors to a sticky plastic film. In August 2011,
Massachusetts-based MC10 created an electronic patch for monitoring patient's vital health signs which
was described as 'electric skin'. The 'tattoos' were created by embedding sensors in a thin film. During
tests, the device stayed in place for 24 hours and was flexible enough to move with the skin it was
placed on. Javey's latest electronic skin lights up when touched. Pressure triggers a reaction that lights
up blue, green, red, and yellow LEDs and as pressure increases the lights get brighter. Artificial skin
identified by different name in a same way it is developed in different laboratories such as in MIT
(Massatucetes institute of technology), in Tokyo led by Takao Someya, The Fraunhofer Institute for
Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, and so on. In this report we see the different methods of
manufacturing of artificial skin of different scientist & its application with its future scope.

Another form of ―artificial skin‖ has been created out of flexible semiconductor materials that can
sense touch for those with prosthetic limbs. The artificial skin is anticipated to augment robotics in
conducting rudimentary jobs that would be considered delicate and require sensitive ―touch‖. Scientists
found that by applying a layer of rubber with two parallel electrodes that stored electrical charges inside
of the artificial skin, tiny amounts of pressure could be detected. When pressure is exerted, the electrical
charge in the rubber is changed and the change is detected by the electrodes. However, the film is so
small that when pressure is applied to the skin, the molecules have nowhere to move and become
entangled. The molecules also fail to return to their original shape when the pressure is removed.
Sensitive skin, also known as sensate skin, is an electronic sensing skin placed on the surface of a
machine such as a robotic arm. The goal of the skin is to sense important environmental parameters—
such as proximity to objects, heat, moisture, and direct touch sensations. Examples of a sensitive skin
have been made by a group in Tokyo led by Takao Someya.

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CHAPTER 4

ARCHITECTURE OF E-SKIN
With the interactive e-skin, demonstration is takes place an elegant system on plastic that can be wrapped
around different objects to enable a new form of HMI. Other companies, including Massachusetts-based
engineering firm MC10, have created flexible electronic circuits that are attached to a wearer's skin using a
rubber stamp. MC10 originally designed the tattoos, called Biostamps, to help medical teams measure the
health of their patients either remotely, or without the need for large expensive machinery. Fig 2 shows the
various parts that make up the MC10 electronic tattoo called the Biostamp. It can be stuck to the body using
a rubber stamp, and protected using spray-on bandages. The circuit can be worn for two weeks and Motorola
believes this makes it perfect for authentication purposes.

Biostampuse high-performance silicon, can stretch up to 200 per cent and can monitor temperature,
hydration and strain, among other medical statistics. Javey's study claims that while building sensors
into networks isn't new, interactive displays; being able to recognize touch and pressure and have the
flexible circuit respond to it is 'breakthrough'. His team is now working on a sample that could also
register and respond to changes in temperature and light to make the skin even more lifelike.

Large-area ultrasonic sensor arrays that could keep both robots and humans out of trouble. An ultrasonic
skin covering an entire robot body could work as a 360-degree proximity sensor, measuring the distance
between the robot and external obstacles. This could prevent the robot from crashing into walls or allow
it to handle our soft, fragile human bodies with more care. For humans, it could provide prosthetics or
garments that are hyperaware of their surroundings. Besides adding multiple functions to eskins, it’s also
important to improve their electronic properties, such as the speed at which signals can be read from the
sensors. For that, electron mobility is a fundamental limiting factor, so some researchers are seeking to
create flexible materials that allow electrons to move very quickly. Ali Javey and his colleagues at the
University of California, Berkeley, have hadsome success in that area. They figured out how to make
flexible, large-area electronics by printing semiconducting nanowires onto plastics and paper.
Nanowires have excellent electron mobility, but they hadn’t been used in large-area electronics before.
Materials like the ones Javey developed will also allow for fascinating new functions for e-skins. My
team has developed electromagnetic coupling technology for e-skin, which would enable wireless power

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transmission. Imagine being able to charge your prosthetic arm by resting your hand on a charging
pad on your desk. In principle, any sort of conductor could work for this, but if materials with higher
electron mobility are used, the transmission frequency could increase, resulting in more efficient
coupling. Linking sensors with radio-frequency communication modules within an e-skin would also
allow the wireless transmission of information from skin to computer—or, conceivably, to other e-
skinned people.
At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, John Rogers’s team has taken the first step toward
this goal. His latest version of an ―electrical epidermis‖ contained the antenna and ancillary
components needed for radiofrequency communication. What’s more, his electronics can be laminated
onto your skin in the same fashion as a temporary tattoo.
The circuit is first transferred onto a water-soluble plastic sheet, which washes away after the circuit is
pressed on. Doctors could use these tiny devices to monitor a patient’s vital signs without the need for
wires and bulky contact pads, and people could wear them discreetly beyond the confines of the
hospital. Rogers and his colleagues tried out a number of applications for their stick-on electronics. In
their most astonishing iteration, they applied circuitry studded with sensors to a person’s throat where it
could detect the muscular activity involved in speech.
Simply by monitoring the signals, researchers were able to differentiate among several words spoken by
the test subject. The user was even able to control a voice activated video game. Rogers suggested that
such a device could be used to create covert, subvocal communication systems.
skin is so thin, yet it serves as a boundary between us and the external world. that know what we’re
saying without having to say it, skins that can communicate themselves, skins that Skins extend our
human capacities in directions we haven’t yet imagined—the possibilities are endless. And while some
readers may worry about e-skins being used to invade the privacy of their bodies or minds, I believe the
potential benefits of this technology offer plenty of reasons to carry on with the work. For example, the
car company Toyota has already demonstrated a smart steering wheel that measures the electrical
activity of the driver’s heart; imagine a smart skin that can warn a patient of an oncoming heart attack
hours in advance.

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My dream is to make responsive electronic coverings that bridge that divide. Instead of cold metal robots
and hard plastic prosthetics, I imagine machines and people clothed in sensitive e-skin, allowing for a
two way exchange of information.

Making our mechanical creations seem almost warm and alive and placing imperceptible electronics on
humans will change how people relate to technology. The harmonization of people and machines:

This is the cyborg future that e-skins could bring. Bendable sensors and displays have made the tech rounds
before, but a team of engineers at the University of California-Berkeley have found
a way to combine the two.

Ali Javey and his lab have successfully created e-skin, a pressure-sensitive circuit array that is thin,
flexible, andluminescent. His research can be found in the journal Nature Materials.

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Figure1: architecture of e-skin

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CHAPTER 5

FABRICATION OF E-SKIN
5.1 By using zinc oxide with vertical nanowires

Fig2: overview of e-skin

U.S. and Chinese Scientists used zinc oxide vertical nanowires to generate sensitivity. According to
experts, the artificial skin is "smarter and similar to human skin." It also offers greater sensitivity and
resolution than current commercially available techniques.

A group of Chinese and American scientists created experimental sensors to give robots
artificial skin capable of feeling. According to experts, the sensitivity is comparable to that experienced
by humans. Trying to replicate the body's senses and indeed its largest organ, the skin, has been no mean
feat but the need for such a substitute has been needed for a while now, especially in cases of those to
whom skin grafts have not worked or indeed its use in robotics.

To achieve this sensitivity, researchers created a sort of flexible and transparent

electronics sheet of about eight thousand transistors using vertical nanowires of zinc oxide. Each
transistor can directly convert mechanical motion and touch into signals that are controlled
electronically, the creators explained."Any mechanical movement, like the movement of an arm or
fingers of a robot, can be converted into control signals," the Professor Georgia Institute of Technology
(USA), Zhong Lin Wang. This technology "could make smarter artificial skin similar to human skin,"
said Zhong, after stating that it provides greater sensitivity and resolution. The system is based on
piezoelectricity, a phenomenon that

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occurs when materials such as zinc oxide are pressed. Changes in the electrical polarization of the mass
can be captured and translated into electrical signals thereby creating an artificial touch feeling.

5.2 By using Gallium Indium

Fig3: Gallium indium method

The development of highly deformable artificial skin with contact force (or pressure) and strain sensing
capabilities is a critical technology to the areas of wearable computing, haptic interfaces, and tactile
sensing in robotics.

With tactile sensing, robots are expected to work more autonomously and be more responsive to
unexpected contacts by detecting contact forces during activities such as manipulation and assembly.
Application areas include haptics humanoid robotics, and medical robotics. We describe the design,
fabrication, and calibration of a highly compliant artificial skin sensor.

The sensor consists of multilayered micro channels in an elastomer matrix filled with a conductive
liquid, capable of detecting multi axis strains and contact pressure. A novel manufacturing method
comprised of layered molding and casting processes is demonstrated to fabricate the multilayered soft
sensor circuit. Silicone rubber layers with channel patterns, cast with 3-D printed molds, are bonded to
create embedded micro channels, and a conductive liquid is injected into the micro channels. The
channel dimensions are 200 μm (width) × 300 μm (height). The size of the sensor is 25 mm × 25 mm.

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And the thickness is approximately 3.5 mm. The prototype is tested with a materials tester and showed
linearity in strain sensing and nonlinearity in pressure sensing. The sensor signal is repeatable in both
cases. The characteristic modulus of the skin prototype is approximately 63 kPa. The sensor is
functional up to strains of approximately 250% a highly elastic artificial skin was developed using an
embedded liquid conductor. Three hyper-elastic silicon rubber layers with embedded micro channels
were stacked and bonded. The three layers contain different channel patterns for different types of
sensing such as multi-axial strain and contact pressure. A novel manufacturing method with layered
molding and casting techniques was developed to build a multi-layered soft sensor circuit. For strain
sensing, the calibration results showed linear and repeatable sensor signal. The gauge factors of the skin
prototype are 3.93 and 3.81 in x and y axes, respectively, and the minimum detectable displacements are
1.5 mm in x-axis and 1.6 mm in y-axis. For pressure sensing, the prototype showed repeatable but not
linear sensor signals. The hysteresis level was high in a high pressure range (over 25 kPa). The sensor
signal was repeatable in both cases.

5.3 By using Organic Transistors

Fig. 4 E-Skin by using organic transistors

In July they reported the success of our experiments in the journal Nature. They fabricated organic
transistors and tactile sensors on an ultrathin polymer sheet that measured 1 micrometer thick—one-
tenth the thickness of plastic wrap and light enough to drift through the air like a feather. This material
can withstand repeated bending, crumple like paper, and accommodate stretching of up to 230 percent.
What’s more, it works at high temperatures and in aqueous environments—even in saline solutions,
meaning that

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it can function inside the human body. Flexible electronics using organic transistors could serve a range
of biomedical applications.

For example, they’ve experimented with electromyography, the monitoring and recording of electrical
activity produced by muscles. For this system, they distributed organic transistor-based amplifiers
throughout a 2-μm-thick film. This allowed us to detect muscle signals very close to the source, which is
key to improving the signal-to-noise ratio, and thus the accuracy of the measurements. Conventional
techniques typically use long wires to connect sensors on the skin with amplifier circuits, which results
in a pretty abysmal signal-to-noise ratio. And they can imagine more medically urgent applications of
such a system.

In collaboration with the medical school at the University of Tokyo, we’re working on an experiment
that will place our amplifier matrix directly on the surface of an animal’s heart. By detecting electric
signals from the heart with high spatial resolution and superb signal-to-noise ratios, we should be able to
zoom in on the exact location of problems in the heart muscle that can lead to heart attacks. Skin is
essentially an interface between your brain and the external world. It senses a tap on the shoulder or the
heat from a fire, and your brain takes in that information and decides how to react. If we want bionic
skins to do the same, they must incorporate sensors that can match the sensitivity of biological skins.
But that is no easy task.

For example, a commercial pressure-sensitive rubber exhibits a maximum sensitivity of 3 kilopascals,

which is not sufficient to detect a gentle touch. To improve an e-skin’s responsiveness to such stimuli,
researchers are experimenting with a number of different techniques. Zhenan Bao and her colleagues at
Stanford University created a flexible membrane with extraordinarily good touch sensitivity by using
precisely molded pressure sensitive rubber sandwiched between electrodes. A novel design of the thin
rubber layer, using pyramid-like structures of micrometer size that expand when compressed, allowed
the material to detect the weight of a fly resting on its surface. With such structures embedded in it, a
bionic skin could sense a breath or perhaps a gentle breeze.

This kind of sensitivity would be a great benefit in a prosthetic hand, for example, by giving the wearer
the ability to grip delicate objects. In the most recent application of Bao’s technology, her team turned
the pressure sensors around so that instead of detecting external stimuli, they measured a person’s
internal functions. The researchers developed a flexible pulse monitor that responds to each subtle surge

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of blood through an artery, which could be worn on the inner wrist under a Band-Aid. Such an
unobtrusive monitor could be used to keep track of a patient’s pulse and blood pressure while in the
hospital or during surgery.

5.4 By Organic Light Emitting Diode

Fig5: Organic light emitting diode method

Javey and colleagues set out to make the electronic skin respond optically. The researchers combined a
conductive, pressure-sensitive rubber material, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), and thin-film
transistors made of semiconductor-enriched carbon nano tubes to build an array of pressure sensing,
light-emitting pixels.

Where as a system with this kind of function is relatively simple to fabricate on a silicon surface, ―for
plastics, this is one of the more complex systems that has ever been demonstrated,‖ says Javey. The
diversity of materials and components that the researchers combined to make the light-emitting
pressure-sensor array is impressive, says John Rogers, a professor of materials science at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Rogers, whose group has produced its own impressive flexible electronic sensors (see ―Electronic
Sensors Printed Directly on the Skin‖), says the result illustrates how research in nano materials is
transitioning from the fundamental study of components and simple devices to the development of
―sophisticated, macro scale demonstrator devices, with unique function.‖

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In this artist's illustration of the University of California, Berkeley's interactive e-skin, the brightness of
the light directly corresponds to how hard the surface is pressed.

Semiconducting material and transistors are fitted to flexible silicon to mimic pressure on human skin.
The team is working on samples that respond to temperature.

Scientists have created what's been dubbed the world's first interactive 'electronic skin' that responds to
touch and pressure.

When the flexible skin is touched, bent or pressed, built-in LED’s light up - and the stronger the
pressure, the brighter the light.

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CHAPTER 6

RESULT & ANALYSIS BY APPLICATION

In this report general information about electronic skin is shown and also a fabrication of electronic skin
is given. From them we can say that electronic skin

1. Reduces number of wires

2. Compact in size

3. Attachment and detachment is easy

4. More flexible

5. Light in weight

6. It replaces present system of ECG and EEG

7. It gives sense to a robot

8. Wearable

9. Ultrathin

10. Twistable & stretchable

11. Easy to handle

So, some applications are given below to know the depth and use of electronic skin
 When the skin has been seriously damaged through disease or burns then human skin is replaced
by artificial skin.

 It is also used for robots. Robot senses the pressure, touch, moisture, temperature, proximity to
object.

 Can measure electrical activity of the heart, brain waves, muscle activity and other vital signals.

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Fig6: Heart monitoring

 By using interfacial stress sensor we also measure normal stress & shear stress.

 Localized electrical stimulation: This is a ―smart bandage’’. Temperature is changes across a
wound.

Fig. 7 Smart bandage using e-skin

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FUTURE SCOPE
 Bendable sensors and displays have made the tech rounds before.

 We can predict a patient of an oncoming heart attack hours in advance.

 In future even virtual screens may be placed on device for knowing our body functions.

 Used in car dashboard, interactive wallpapers, smart watches.

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CONCLUSION
The electronics devices gain more demand when they are compact in size and best at functioning. The
Artificial Skin is one such device which depicts the beauty of electronics and its use in daily life.
Scientists create artificial skin that emulates human touch. According to experts, the artificial skin is
"smarter and similar to human skin." It also offers greater sensitivity and resolution than current
commercially available techniques. Bendable sensors and displays have made the tech rounds before.
We can predict a patient of an oncoming heart attack hours in advance. In future even virtual screens
may be placed on device for knowing our body functions. Used in car dashboard, interactive wallpapers,
smart watches.

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REFERENCES

[1] IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol.12, No.8, August 12

[2] Massachusetts engineering firm MC 10

[3] Nature materials

[4] ICap Technologies, http://www.icaptech.com/.

[5] Artificial Skin - used, first, blood, body, produced, Burke and Yannas Create Synthetic Skin,
Graftskin.

[6] Discoveries in medicine.com. 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2013-10-17.

[7] Robotic Tactile Sensing. Springer. Pp. 265, ISBN 978-94-007-0578-4.

[8]Park, B. Chen, and R. J. Wood (Oct. 2011), Soft artificial skin with multimodal sensing capability
using embedded liquid conductors, Proc. IEEE Sensors Conf., Limerick, Ireland, pp. 1–3.

[9] S. P. Lacours (Aug. 2005) et al., Stretchable interconnects for elastic electronic surfaces, Proc. IEEE,
vol.93, pp. 1459–1467.

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