Optimisation of industrial production of low-force sensors – adhesive bonding of force-centring ball

This work addresses the issue of attaching the force-centring part (a round ball) to the load cell of a force sensor, a piezoresistive thick-film Wheatstone bridge deposited onto a ceramic cantilever. As the current soldering process requires expensive metallisation steps for both the ball and the cantilever, and subjects the solder pads used for mounting the cantilever to an additional reflow cycle, an alternative adhesive bonding process was developed, allowing both simpler production and the use of other ball materials such as ceramic and glass. The self-centring action of solder capillary forces was ensured by structuring the adhesive so as to form a mechanical cuvette allowing centring of the ball by gravity. The selected adhesive materials exhibited good printability and bonding, as well as surviving the subsequent soldering and cleaning process steps.