Touch surface and method of manufacturing same

摘要

A device to detect and quantify a force applied on a surface includes a test specimen, an electrically insulating substrate, a first electrode bound to the substrate, a second electrode, an assembly of conductive or semi-conductive nanoparticles in contact with the two electrodes, and a measurement device. The measurement device provides proportional information with respect to an electrical property of the nanoparticles assembly. The electrical property is measured between the first and second electrode. The test specimen is the nanoparticles assembly itself and the electrical property is sensitive to the distance between the nanoparticles of the assembly. The nanoparticles assembly itself is used as a test specimen and allows a force to be quantified even if the nanoparticles assembly is deposited on a rigid substrate.

主权项

1. A touch surface comprising:
a measuring surface configured to detect a force applied on the measuring surface, and to determine a point of application and intensity of the force comprising a component normal to the measuring surface, the measuring surface comprises a plurality of nanoclusters arranged in a matrix pattern over the measuring surface, each cluster comprising: an electrically insulating substrate; a first electrode bound to the electrically insulating substrate and fixed in relation to the electrically insulating substrate; a second electrode; an assembly of conductive or semi-conductive nanoparticles bound together by an electrically resistant ligand able to chemically bound with the nanoparticles of the assembly, the assembly being structured and organized in at least two superimposed layers according to a direction normal to the electrically insulating substrate; a measurement device to provide proportional information with respect to an electrical property of the nanoparticles assembly, the electrical property is measured between the first and second electrodes; and wherein the second electrode is superimposed to the first electrode in a direction that is normal to the substrate, the nanoparticles assembly being comprised in between the two electrodes, so that the application of the force on the second electrode, according to a direction that is normal to the substrate, changes the distance between the nanoparticles of the assembly, the assembly of nanoparticles thus constituting itself a test specimen.