Self-powered flexible electronics beyond thermal limits

Abstract

Self-powered flexible electronics using high-performance inorganic materials have been studied and developed for the essence of future electronics due to the thing, lightweight, self-sustainable, and biocompatible characteristics, which can be applied to body sensor network and next generation Internet of Things (IoT). However, most of inorganic materials should be processed in the high-temperature processes such as the semiconductor fabrication, which is not compatible flexible plastic substrates. Therefore, the new approaches must be demonstrated to overcome the thermal limits of previous methodology and achieve the flexible inorganic electronics on various flexible plastic substrates. In this review paper, we introduce the recent progress of technologies to realize flexible and high-performance inorganic electronics on plastic substrates over the thermal limits, i.e., laser-assisted procedure, chemical or mechanical exfoliation approaches. They are compatible not only to flexible plastic substrates but also to conventional device processes. We also explain the novel application devices such as flexible optoelectronics, flexible large-scale integration (LSI) devices, flexible energy harvesters, and flexible sensors using the recent-developed technologies beyond the previous thermal limit. This paper highlights the proper direction to complete future flexible inorganic electronics for high-performance self-powered systems.