Integrated circuit-integrated flexible shear-stress sensor skin and method of fabricating the same

An IC-integrated, flexible, shear-stress sensor skin comprising:

• a wafer defined into a plurality of islands;
• at least one integrated circuit fabricated in or on the wafer;
• at least one sensor element fabricated in or on each island and coupled to the integrated circuit;
• a polymer layer disposed on the wafer and on the sensor element, the polymer layer providing mechanical support for the sensor element and islands;
• and
• a cavity defined in the island below each sensor element to provide thermal isolation from the island, while the sensor element remains supported by the polymer layer,
• where the integrated circuits comprise biasing or signal conditioning circuits adapted for the sensor elements among the integrated circuits provided in the wafer.

A monolithic IC-integrated, flexible sensor skin comprising:

• a flexible supporting skin;
• a wafer defined into a plurality of islands and carried by the flexible supporting skin;
• at least one integrated circuit fabricated in or on the wafer carried by the flexible supporting skin;
• an integrated electrical coupling connected to the integrated circuit;
• at least one integrated sensor element fabricated in or on at least one island during the same fabrication process as the integrated circuit, carried by the flexible supporting skin, and coupled to the integrated circuit through the integrated electrical coupling;
• whereby the islands with at least one sensor element, and the integrated circuit coupled thereto form the IC-integrated, flexible sensor skin.