Silicon cap structure development and microassembly for forward tactile sensing in endovascular guidewire intervention

Guidewire procedure for peripheral artery disease treatment is heavily dependent on the surgeon's skills and experiences. In order to reduce such dependency, sensor-enhanced forward sensing guidewire is proposed. In this paper, we proposed a silicon cap structure that increases the robustness and efficient force transfer of the existing sensor-enhanced forward sensing guidewire. Silicon cap structure of 0.32 × 0.32 × 0.40mm has been fabricated using two masks process. Assembly of silicon structure with sensor having a 30μm overloading protection limit and resistance changes of 25kΩ with applied force ranging from 0∼40mN has been demonstrated.