University of Miami engineer designs stretchable electronics with a twist

January 22, 2009

Jizhou Song, a professor in the University of Miami College of Engineering and his collaborators Professor John Rogers, at the University of Illinois and Professor Yonggang Huang, at Northwestern University have developed a new design for stretchable electronics that can be wrapped around complex shapes, without a reduction in electronic function.

The new mechanical design strategy is based on semiconductor nanomaterials that can offer high stretchability (e.g., 140%) and large twistability such as corkscrew twists with tight pitch (e.g., 90o in 1cm). Potential uses for the new design include electronic devices for eye cameras, smart surgical gloves, body parts, airplane wings, back planes for liquid crystal displays and biomedical devises.

"Our design is of great interest because the requirements for complex shapes that can function during stretching, compression, bending, twisting and other types of extreme mechanical deformation are impossible to satisfy with conventional technology," said Song.

The secret of the design is in the silicon (Si) islands on which the active devices or circuits are fabricated. The islands form a chemically bonded, pre-strained elastomeric substrate. Releasing the pre-strain causes the metal interconnects of the circuits to buckle and form arc-shaped structures, which accommodate the deformation and make the semiconductor materials much more stretchable, without inducing significant changes in their electrical properties. The design is called noncoplanar mesh design.

The study is featured in the cover of the December issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and was selected for the special section of the journal called "In this issue." The work is titled "Materials and Noncoplanar Mesh Designs for Integrated Circuits with Linear Elastic Responses to Extreme Mechanical Deformations". The study describes a design system that can be stretched or compressed to high levels of strain, in any direction or combination of directions, with electronic properties that are independent of such strain, even in extreme arrangements. These types of systems might enable new applications not possible with current methods.

University of Miami

ELECTRONICS Flexible Electronics from Stretchable Silicon.: An article from: Nanoparticle News
by Thomson Gale (Publisher)

This digital document is an article from Nanoparticle News, published by Thomson Gale on February 1, 2006. The length of the article is 445 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: ELECTRONICS Flexible Electronics from Stretchable Silicon.
Publication: Nanoparticle News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 8 Issue: 13 Page: NA

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Flexible Electronics: Materials and Applications (Electronic Materials: Science & Technology)
by William S. Wong (Editor), Alberto Salleo (Editor)

This excellent volume covers a range of materials used for flexible electronics, including semiconductors, dielectrics, and metals. The functional integration of these different materials is treated as well. Fundamental issues for both organic and inorganic materials systems are included. A corresponding overview of technological applications, based on each materials system, is presented to give both the non-specialist and the researcher in the field relevant information on the status of the flexible electronics area.

Portable Consumer Electronics: Packaging, Materials, and Reliability
by Sridhar Canumalla (Author), Puligandla Viswanadham (Author)

Portable consumer electronic devices have experienced exponential growth in recent years. Although the reliability implications and performance criteria of these products are significantly different from electronic hardware of the past, no single volume has covered the materials, design, and reliability aspects of these products until the publication of this new book.

Written by two noted leaders of the electronics industry, Portable Consumer Electronics provides a comprehensive account of the key aspects of packaging for portable consumer electronic devices, including first- and second-level packaging; printed wiring board technology; assembly technology; reliability statistics and engineering; and failure analysis.

Portable Consumer Electronics: Packaging,...

Transparent Electronics: From Materials to Devices
by Rodrigo Martins (Author), Elvira Fortunato (Author), Pedro Barquinha (Author), Luis Pereira (Author)

Transparent electronics is emerging as one of the most promising technologies for the next generation of electronic products, away from the traditional silicon technology. It is essential for touch display panels, solar cells, LEDs and antistatic coatings.The book describes the concept of transparent electronics, passive and active oxide semiconductors, multicomponent dielectrics and their importance for a new era of novel electronic materials and products. This is followed by a short history of transistors, and how oxides have revolutionized this field. It concludes with a glance at low-cost, disposable and lightweight devices for the next generation of ergonomic and functional discrete devices. Chapters cover:Properties and applications of n-type oxide semiconductors P-type conductors...

Semiconductor Nanomaterials for Flexible Technologies: From Photovoltaics and Electronics to Sensors and Energy Storage (Micro and Nano Technologies)
by Yugang Sun (Editor), John A. Rogers (Editor)

This book is an overview of the strategies to generate high-quality films of one-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures on flexible substrates (e.g., plastics) and the use of them as building blocks to fabricating flexible devices (including electronics, optoelectronics, sensors, power systems). In addition to engineering aspects, the physics and chemistry behind the fabrication and device operation will also be discussed as well. Internationally recognized scientists from academia, national laboratories, and industries, who are the leading researchers in the emerging areas, are contributing exceptional chapters according to their cutting-edge research results and expertise. This book will be an on-time addition to the literature in nanoscience and engineering. It will be suitable...

Nanotechnologies for Future Mobile Devices
by Tapani Ryhänen (Author), Mikko A. Uusitalo (Author), Olli Ikkala (Author), Asta Kärkkäinen (Author)

Explore the potential for nanotechnologies to transform future mobile and Internet communications. Based on a research collaboration between Nokia, Helsinki University of Technology, and the University of Cambridge, here leading researchers review the current state-of-the art and future prospects for: • Novel multifunctional materials, dirt repellent, self-healing surface materials, and lightweight structural materials capable of adapting their shape • Portable energy storage using supercapacitor-battery hybrids based on new materials including carbon nanohorns and porous electrodes, fuel cell technologies, energy harvesting and more efficient solar cells • Electronics and computing advances reaching beyond IC scaling limits, new computing approaches and architectures, embedded...

Carbon Nanotube Electronics (Integrated Circuits and Systems)
by Ali Javey (Editor), Jing Kong (Editor)

This book provides a complete overview of the field of carbon nanotube electronics. It covers materials and physical properties, synthesis and fabrication processes, devices and circuits, modeling, and finally novel applications of nanotube-based electronics. The book introduces fundamental device physics and circuit concepts of 1-D electronics. At the same time it provides specific examples of the state-of-the-art nanotube devices.

Dielectric Elastomers as Electromechanical Transducers: Fundamentals, Materials, Devices, Models and Applications of an Emerging Electroactive Polymer Technology
by Federico Carpi (Editor), Danilo De Rossi (Editor), Roy Kornbluh (Editor), Ronald Edward Pelrine (Editor), Peter Sommer-Larsen (Editor)

This book provides a comprehensive and updated insight into dielectric elastomers; one of the most promising classes of polymer-based smart materials and technologies. This technology can be used in a very broad range of applications, from robotics and automation to the biomedical field.
The need for improved transducer performance has resulted in considerable efforts towards the development of devices relying on materials with intrinsic transduction properties. These materials, often termed as "smart” or "intelligent”, include improved piezoelectrics and magnetostrictive or shape-memory materials. Emerging electromechanical transduction technologies, based on so-called ElectroActive Polymers (EAP), have gained considerable attention. EAP offer the potential for performance...

Frontiers in Electronics (Selected Topics in Electronics and Systems)
by H. Iwai (Editor), Y. Nishi (Editor), M. S. Shur (Editor), H. Wong (Editor)

"Frontiers in Electronics" reports on the most recent developments and future trends in the electronics and photonics industry. The issues address CMOS, SOI and wide band gap semiconductor technology, terahertz technology, and bioelectronics, providing a unique interdisciplinary overview of the key emerging issues. This volume accurately reflects the recent research and development trends: from pure research to research and development; and its contributors are leading experts in microelectronics, nanoelectronics, and nanophotonics from academia, industry, and government agencies.

Graphene: Synthesis and Applications (Nanomaterials and their Applications)
by Wonbong Choi (Editor), Jo-won Lee (Editor)

Since the late 20th century, graphene—a one-atom-thick planar sheet of sp2-bonded carbon atoms densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice—has garnered appreciable attention as a potential next-generation electronic material due to its exceptional properties. These properties include high current density, ballistic transport, chemical inertness, high thermal conductivity, optical transmittance, and super hydrophobicity at nanometer scale. In contrast to research on its excellent electronic and optoelectronic properties, research on the syntheses of a single sheet of graphene for industrial applications is in its nascent stages. Graphene: Synthesis and Applications reviews the advancement and future directions of graphene research in the areas of synthesis and properties, and...