Haptic interfaces: Wafer-level manufacturing just around the corner

Touch interfaces can now effectively simulate the feel of sand, fabric, or a control panel button, an advance made possible by placing ceramic piezoelectric switches on a screen and making them vibrate at several dozen kHz. However, the switches must be bonded to the screen manually, which augments production costs. Leti has found a solution in the form of a 200 mm wafer-level fabrication technique.

The 300-micron-thick ceramics were eliminated. Instead, a thin layer (under 3 microns) was used, making integration much simpler. This step also enables several subsequent steps to augment the performance of the materials, deposit a transparent piezoelectric layer, and apply the layer to the entire screen. A demonstrator of the technology can be seen at the Y.Spot showroom.

Contact: fabrice.casset@cea.fr

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