CMOS-Based Tactile Microsensor for Medical Instrumentation

This paper presents a novel tactile sensing device aimed at a variety of medical instrumentation applications, including extravascular blood pressure monitoring, distinguishing a coronary artery from a nearby running cardiac vein, and locating the site of a coronary occlusion. The monolithically integrated microsensor is fabricated using an industrial CMOS process with a limited number of postmicromachining steps. Using the tonometric principle, an array of membrane capacitors can detect and monitor the pulsatile pressure variations inside a blood vessel.