A design for bendable electronic devices produces parts that can be wrapped around complex shapes, without reducing electronic function. The technology is based on semiconductor nanomaterials that offer high stretchability and large twistability. Potential uses include electronic devices for eye cameras, smart surgical gloves, body parts, airplane wings, back planes for liquid crystal displays, and biomedical devices.
The technology comprises silicon 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 form arc-shaped structures, which accommodate the deformation and make the semiconductor materials more stretchable, without inducing significant changes in their electrical properties.
"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 Jizhou Song, a professor in the University of Miami College of Engineering and one of the technology's developers.
