Nanoscale temperature and force sensors

Digid sensors are believed to be the world’s smallest – and are set to become even smaller: Digid’s technology roadmap forecasts future production of sensors that are just 10nm long.

This nanoscale sensing technology provides the key that will unlock the potential of multiple emerging markets, including physical AI and humanoid robots. In robotics, for instance, Moravec’s paradox – that robots struggle with tasks which humans find easy, such as handling a delicate wine glass – has persisted in part because robot hands lack the billions of nerve endings on a human finger.

Now Digid offers the opportunity for machines to mimic human sensory capabilities: its nanoscale printed sensors can be applied to surfaces such as a robot’s shell in arrays of up to 16 x 16 sensors.

Other applications for Digid sensors include: 

• Force sensing on the blade of a scalpel in robotic surgical equipment
• Temperature sensing on the tip of a temperature probe used in minimally invasive surgery
• Temperature sensors embedded inside battery cells, for safety and performance monitoring
• Biosensors for detecting biological objects such as viruses, or the chemical markers of drugs in the bloodstream.

Dr Konstantin Kloppstech, chief technology officer of Digid, said: "With the start of mass production of Digid sensors, the opportunities to embed sensing on almost any surface or in almost any device have become limitless. Our sensor is so small that it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Now it is up to the imaginations of design engineers to dream of uses for sensing where sensing has never before been possible."

For each design project, Digid supplies a custom sensor and sensor assembly backed by hardware and software integration support. The sensor provides either a voltage or resistance measurement output via an I2C interface. Digid signal processing software converts the raw measurement outputs to useful temperature or force data.

As well as their nanoscale dimensions, Digid sensors also offer negligible self-heating or other distorting effects on sensor readings, and highly accurate and linear measurement outputs.

Minimal digital overhead is required – unlike for other types of sensor, Digid nanoscale sensors require no compensation for drift or other non-linearities

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