Scalable magnetoreceptive e-skin for energy-efficient high-resolution interaction towards undisturbed extended reality

Abstract

Abstract Electronic skins (e-skins) seek to go beyond the natural human perception, e.g., by creating magnetoperception to sense and interact with omnipresent magnetic fields. However, realizing magnetoreceptive e-skin with spatially continuous sensing over large areas is challenging due to increase in power consumption with increasing sensing resolution. Here, by incorporating the giant magnetoresistance effect and electrical resistance tomography, we achieve continuous sensing of magnetic fields across an area of 120 × 120 mm2 with a sensing resolution of better than 1 mm. Our approach enables magnetoreceptors with three orders of magnitude less energy consumption compared to state-of-the-art transistor-based magnetosensitive matrices. A simplified circuit configuration results in optical transparency, mechanical compliance, and vapor/liquid permeability, consequently permitting its imperceptible integration onto skins. Ultimately, these achievements pave the way for exceptional applications, including magnetoreceptive e-skin capable of undisturbed recognition of fine-grained gesture and a magnetoreceptive contact lens permitting touchless interaction.