A Mechanically Flexible Tilt Switch On Kapton Foil With Microspheres As A Pendulum

Novel flexible electronic devices enable the design of new applications such as smart textiles and wearable electronics. Sensing the orientation with respect to gravity is one of the key functionalities of numerous envisioned wearable devices. In this paper, we present an innovative design of a tilt switch which is fabricated on a flexible Kapton(r) foil allowing the sensor to be bent down to a radius of 5 cm while staying functional. The sensor design is based on a cavity filled with microspheres made conductive by nickel/gold sputtering. The flexible tilt switch has a make angle of 5deg and a break angle of 30deg.