Capacitive displacement sensors are "non-contact devices capable of high-resolution measurement of the position and/or change of position of any conductive target". They are also able to measure the thickness or density of non-conductive materials. Capacitive displacement sensors are used in a wide variety of applications including semiconductor processing, assembly of precision equipment such as disk drives, precision thickness measurements, machine tool metrology and assembly line testing. These types of sensors can be found in machining and manufacturing facilities around the world.
Industrial capacitive sensor
Proximity sensor
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A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact.
An infrared proximity sensor
Optical proximity sensor in a 2016 Samsung smartphone. A proximity sensor is a standard feature of most smartphones, disabling the touchscreen when positioned near an ear during phone calls; more recent (late 2019-early 2020) smartphones with OLED displays may have the sensor mounted under the display.
Smartphone optical proximity sensor without the phone's casing. The sensor itself is the black object on top of the yellow block below it; this block is actually a printed circuit board serving as an interposer.
The pulsing proximity sensor of a BlackBerry Leap