Abstract
Conformal design of the island-bridge structure is the key to construct high-performance inorganic stretchable electronics that can be conformally transferred to non-developable surfaces. Former studies in conformal problems of epidermal electronics are mainly focused on soft surfaces that can adapt to the deformation of the electronics, which are not suitable for applications in hard, non-developable surfaces because of their loose surface constraints. In this paper, the conformal design problem for the island-bridge structure on a hard, non-developable surface was studied, including the critical size for island and stiffness and the demand for stretchability for the bridge. Firstly, the conformal model for an island on a part of torus surface was established to determine the relationship between the maximum size of the island and the curvatures of the surface. By combining the principle of energy minimization and the limit of material failure, a critical non-dimensional width for conformability was given for the island as a function of its thickness and interfacial adhesion energy, and the ratio of two principal curvatures of the surface. Then, the dependency of the tensile stiffness of the bridge on its geometric parameters was studied by finite element analysis (FEA) to guide the deterministic assembly of the islands on the surface. Finally, the location-dependent demands for the stretchability of the bridges were given by geometric mapping. This work will provide a design rule for stretchable electronics that fully conforms to the non-developable surface.
Highlights
Stretchable electronics can be conformally transferred to various surfaces to perform multifunctional curvilinear electronics systems, such as electronic eye camera [1,2,3], 3D integumentary membranes [4,5], wearable devices [6,7,8,9,10,11], and smart aircraft skin [12,13]
The island-bridge structure is usually used in fabricating stretchable electronics, as it has made the most of high-performance, inorganic semiconductor materials
When it is transferred to a hard, non-developable surface, strain will be produced in the device because of the geometric mismatch between the plane and non-developable surfaces, which may cause conformal problems for the device
Summary
Stretchable electronics can be conformally transferred to various surfaces to perform multifunctional curvilinear electronics systems, such as electronic eye camera [1,2,3], 3D integumentary membranes [4,5], wearable devices [6,7,8,9,10,11], and smart aircraft skin [12,13]. The island-bridge structure is usually used in fabricating stretchable electronics, as it has made the most of high-performance, inorganic semiconductor materials. The strain in the device may cause the island to change position, which means stretchability is needed for the bridge to accommodate this change.
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