Abstract
More and more flexible, bendable, and stretchable sensors and displays are becoming a reality. While complex engineering and fabrication methods exist to manufacture flexible thin film systems, materials engineering through advanced metallic thin film deposition methods can also be utilized to create robust and long-lasting flexible devices. In this review, materials engineering concepts as well as electro-mechanical testing aspects will be discussed for metallic films. Through the use of residual stress, film thickness, or microstructure tailoring, all controlled by the film deposition parameters, long-lasting flexible film systems in terms of increased fracture or deformation strains, electrical or mechanical reliability, can be generated. These topics, as well as concrete examples, will be discussed. One objective of this work is to provide a toolbox with sustainable and scalable methods to create robust metal thin films for flexible, bendable, and stretchable applications.
Highlights
Thin films on rigid substrates are present in the applications and devices people use every day
Reviews and other contributions are available about designing flexible thin film devices that focus on how the geometry of lines or thin film transistor (TFT) islands can be designed to create robust devices [1,2,3,4,5]
Despite the challenges associated with the sputter deposition of thin films onto polymer substrates summarized in Section 2.4 and high investment costs of vacuum deposition systems, the scalability from lab-scale research to high-throughput large-area deposition, excellent process controllability, and the versatility in terms of available film materials and their microstructures combined with the ability to grow high-quality films at temperatures compatible with thermally sensitive substrate materials make this technique unique [18]
Summary
Thin films on rigid substrates are present in the applications and devices people use every day. Reviews and other contributions are available about designing flexible thin film devices that focus on how the geometry of lines or thin film transistor (TFT) islands can be designed to create robust devices [1,2,3,4,5] These advances include the use of meanders, nanowires or nanomeshes, conductive polymers, and wrinkling [6,7,8]. Through these deposition-based strategies, reliable flexible metal films can be created without the need for complicated geometries or additional fabrication steps
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