Zr-based metallic glass thin film deposited on flexible printed circuit board

(FPCB) as a strain sensor

Yi-Chun Chuang, Tun-Yi Chen, Yen-Chi Lu, and Yao-Chuan Tsai
Department of Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering,
National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
[email protected]
ABSTRACT insulating property, and low cost. The contour of the PI
The flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) has been mask is made from CO2 laser cutting machine. The
applied to electronic devices for years. Despite the FPCB parameters of the speed and power are 20 in/s and 12 W
has great deal of features but hardly used in other field. In respectively. After making the PI mask, we paste it on the
this study, we proposed design and fabrication of flexible surface of FPCB.
strain sensor by sputter depositing Zr-based metallic glass The radio-frequency (RF) sputter machine
(MG) thin film on FPCB. This could not only be applied (ATS02001A, AdNaNotek Corp) as shown in Fig. 2. It
to many fields but contribute to the mass production. The was designed by our former laboratory members and
experiment results show that the strain sensor has gauge manufactured by the company. Before the sputter
factor (G.F.) of 1.3 under 35% strain. It also indicates the deposition, we turn on the pump system to remove the
sensor could bear the repeatable bending movement. gas in the sputter chamber. As a result, it can increase the
Keywords: metallic glass thin film, flexible printed mean free path while the process of sputter [3]. During
circuit board, strain gauge, gauge factor. the process, there are some parameters such as working
pressure for 2.0×10-2 Torr, working power for 100 W,
1. INTRODUCTION sputtering duration for 20 minutes, rest duration for 100
Sensors has been developed rapidly in recent years. minutes, and the composition of the Zr-based alloy target
Especially for those state-of-the-art sensors are required for Zr:Cu:Al:Ni is 55:30:10:5, purity for 99.9 %.
more innovative functions and features such as
miniaturization, flexibility, stretchability, and so forth. After the sputter process, it is essential for us to
Compared to those sensors in the past, the latest sensors know about the thickness of Zr-based metallic glass thin
have higher flexibility and lower cost. Moreover, the film and the rate of the sputter deposition. To get the
safety issue in human-robot interaction (HRI) has been thickness in nanometer dimension, we use profilometer in
more emphasized in recent day. Hence, our research is to this work. The thickness of Zr-based metallic glass thin
develop a highly flexible strain sensor as shown in Fig. 1. film was approximately 280 nm, and the rate of sputter
In this research, we present a strain sensor which deposition is 14 nm/min.
integrated Zr-based metallic glass thin film on FPCB. The The experiment setup is shown in Fig. 3. By
metallic glass has excellent mechanical properties due to measuring the change in resistance, we use multimeter
its amorphous structure. For example, high hardness, and clamp the pad area to receive the output of resistance.
great conductivity, and superior corrosion resistance [1]. In this part, the sensor was fixed on a 100 mm radius of
In applications, it is a great material for linear sensors, curvature wedge. As the step motor move forward, the
surgical blades, and golf clubs. On the other hand, FPCB sensor would be bent and adhered to the surface of the
also has features of good conformability, great heat wedge. Moreover, the resistance which we measured
tolerance, and lower cost in manufacturing [2]. would increase at this moment. The gauge factor is an
To form a flexible strain sensor, we design a important factor that highly related to the Piezoresistive
commercialized FPCB (Flying International Corp., characteristic in the material and can be expressed as:
Taiwan) shown as Fig. 2, being the substrate of the sensor
first. Then, making a PI mask by laser cutting and pasting
on the surface of FPCB. After that, we deposit the Zr-
based metallic glass thin film on FPCB as a flexible strain (1)
sensor. where R0 is the initial value of resistance, ΔR is the
change in the value of resistance, and εx is the strain in x-
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS direction.
First of all, we use a carbon dioxide laser cutting-off
machine (LaserPro Venus II, GCC Innovation, Taiwan) 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
to shape the PI tape into the shadow mask in sputtering After the sputter deposition process, the PI mask
process. The PI tape was commercially obtained have to be tore off. However, it is hard to avoid a huge
(DuPont, Kapton®, United States). PI has the deformation in the Zr-based metallic glass thin film while
characteristic of great heat tolerance, good electric separating the PI tape and the sensor. What’s more, some
cracks might appear during this process. The cracks may Figure 1. The concept of strain sensor based on a FPCB
lead to the instability of the sensor’s performance. As a with Zr-based metallic glass thin film
result, it is necessary to tear off the PI tape in cautious.
Fig. 4 shows the top view of the Zr-based metallic glass 5
thin film after lift-off process. 3
unit: mm
The response of the sensor while bending
Polyimide

10
movement is shown as Fig. 5. The bending duration for 5
seconds while releasing duration for 5 second as well. Cu

27
The value of initial resistance was about 6.80 KΩ. After 3.5 Cu under Polyimide
bending, the value of resistance turned into 6.835 KΩ. PAD
PAD
Furthermore, the strain in x-direction in the sensor was The area of Zr-based MG
0.35, and the gauge factor (G.F.) was 1.3. It is clear to 23
observe that the wave is quite stable and regular.
Figure 2. Shape and size of FPCB design in top view
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this research, the Zr-based metallic glass thin 6W
HSPmotor
Step RW
RU Sensor
Sensor
film is successfully deposited on the surface of the FPCB
as a strain sensor. The mechanism of this sensor is the
changes in resistance related to the bending movement.
&XCurvature
UYDW XUHZ HGJ H
wedge
As a result, we can know how much the deformation is
from the change of resistance. According to the results, Computer
Computer
the sensor could be integrated in soft gripper and be used Multimeter
Multimeter
for agriculture or medical application in the future.
5. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This project was supported by the Ministry of
Science and Technology, R.O.C., under Grant No. MOST
109-2221-E-005-024. We thank the Instrument Center at Figure 3. A set-up to measure the response of the strain
NCHU for providing valuable assistance on FESEM. senor between resistance change and strain

6. REFERENCES (a) (b)

[1] Y. C. Lu, C. Y. Chiang, Y. C. Chen, Y. C. Lin, T.
Ono, and Y. C. Tsai, "Study and fabrication of a
flexible Zr-based metallic glass thin film strain
gauge," Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol.
59, SIIG10, 2020.
[2] H. G. Min, D. Kang, and J. H. Park, "Comparison
of Tensile and Fatigue Properties of Copper Thin
Film Depending on Process Method," Applied Figure 4. Top view SEM images of (a) pristine condition
Sciences, vol. 10, 388, 2020. of Zr-based metallic glass thin film in 200 magnification
[3] M. S. Safavi, M. A. Surmeneva, R. A. Surmenev, and (b) 1000 magnification
and J. Khalil-Allafi, “RF-magnetron sputter
deposited hydroxyapatite-based composite & 5 PP ij PP İ
multilayer coatings: A systematic review from 6.85
mechanical, corrosion, and biological points of 6.84
Resistance (KΩ)

view,” Ceramics International, vol. 47, pp. 3031-

3053, 2021. 6.83
6.82
PAD (Cu)
6.81
Bending direction Cu wire under 6.804
6.8
PI film
6.79
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Zr-based metallic PI substrate Time (s)
glass thin film
Figure 5. The result of the output characterisitcs under
curvature radius = 100 mm