Micro-structuring of PVDF-TrFE by Proton Beam Writing for Tactile Sensors

Aiming at micro-structuring of Polyvinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) film for sensing applications, we studied effects of proton beam irradiation and subsequent alkaline etching processes using potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. Dependence of the pattering depth and linewidth on the beam energy, fluence, and etching time was investigated. The depth of pattering is mainly determined by etching time for PBW with beam energy of a few MeV and with fluence of less than 10 mu C/mm(2). By using a moderate fluence of 3.0 mu C/mm(2) and etching time of 3 h with beam energy of 1.7 MeV, we obtained 4 x 4 arrays of 40 mu m height pillars with aspect ratio of about 5.