Liquid Metal Interconnects Research Articles

Stiffness and Interface Engineered Soft Electronics with Large-Scale Robust Deformability.

Skin-like stretchable electronics emerge as promising human-machine interfaces but are challenged by the paradox between superior electronic property and reliable mechanical deformability. Here, a general strategy is reported for establishing robust large-scale deformable electronics by effectively isolating strains and strengthening interfaces. A copolymer substrate is designed to consist of mosaic stiff and elastic areas with nearly four orders of magnitudes modulus contrast and cross-linked interfaces. Electronic functional devices and stretchable liquid metal (LM) interconnects are conformally attached at the stiff and elastic areas, respectively, through hydrogen bonds. As a result, functional devices are completely isolated from strains, and resistances of LM conductors change by less than one time when the substrate is deformed by up to 550%. By this strategy, solar cells, wireless charging antenna, supercapacitors, and light-emitting diodes are integrated into a self-powered electronic skin that can laminate on the human body and exhibit stable performances during repeated multimode deformations, demonstrating an efficient path for realizing highly deformable energy autonomous soft electronics.

Low-loss liquid metal interconnects for superconducting quantum circuits

Building a modular architecture with superconducting quantum computing chips is one of the means to achieve qubit scalability, allowing the screening, selection, replacement, and integration of individual qubit modules into large quantum systems. However, the nondestructive replacement of modules within a compact architecture remains a challenge. Liquid metals, specifically gallium alloys, can be alternatives to solid-state galvanic interconnects. This is motivated by their self-healing, self-aligning, and other desirable fluidic properties, potentially enabling the nondestructive replacement of modules at room temperatures, even after operating the entire system at millikelvin regimes. In this study, we present coplanar waveguide resonators (CPWRs) interconnected by gallium alloy droplets, achieving high internal quality factors up to nearly one million and demonstrating performance on par with the continuous solid-state CPWRs. Leveraging the desirable fluidic properties of gallium alloys at room temperature and their compact design, we envision a modular quantum system enabled by liquid metals.

Liquid Metal Interconnects for High Pin Count Scaling and Socketing Applications

Liquid Metal Interconnects for High Pin Count Scaling and Socketing Applications

Biaxially Stretchable Active‐Matrix Micro‐LED Display with Liquid Metal Interconnects

AbstractA stretchable active‐matrix (AM) display is a next‐generation display that breaks away from displaying limited information on flat and curved screens. However, the implementation of stretchable displays requires much more complex fabrication processes and meticulous efforts compared to traditional flat/curved displays. Here, the biaxially stretchable AM micro‐light emitting diode (LED) display on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with liquid metal (LM) interconnects is reported. The pixel islands consisting of oxide TFTs and micro‐LEDs, which are fabricated on the polyimide (PI) substrate, are formed through green laser cutting and transfer to the PDMS substrate. LM interconnects integrate on the pixel island and PDMS by a lift‐off process. The oxide TFTs and micro‐LEDs comprising the 2T1C (2 TFT + 1 capacitor) pixel circuit on the PI island, along with LM interconnects, demonstrate stable electrical characteristics even under a relaxed state as well as when biaxially stretched up to 24%. For 24% stretching of display pixels with the same ratio of PI island and LM interconnects, the LM interconnects operate at 48% stretching. The combination of pixel island array and LM interconnects successfully demonstrates the implementation of a two‐axis stretchable display capable of displaying characters of “A”, “D”, “R”, and “C” through AM driving.

Field Risk Evaluation of Liquid Metal Interconnects in Microelectronics Applications

Gallium is one of the most desirable, yet less known, interconnects considered in the semiconductor industry. Good electrical conductivity and high stretchability of the liquid metal makes it very attractive for many applications. It allows components to be assembled or disaggregated like Lego blocks without any external forces or energy. The focus of this article is to shed light on intrinsic reliability degradation mechanisms for components that use liquid metal interconnects. As a starting reference to field reliability risk evaluations, the authors focus on common/controlled use conditions. Environments studied include standard test evaluation procedures like thermal aging (sustained exposure to high temperature over time), thermal cycling, current carrying capability, and finally functional product life cycle testing. Studies reveal that the interconnect has very distinct failure mechanisms and unique advantageous/disadvantageous over existing interconnects. Fundamental knowledge gained in this study is expected to help 1) drive future architectures, 2) material/design changes to address any limitations, and 3) finally new qualification methods/standards that account for the unique failure mechanisms.

Liquid Crystal Elastomer with Integrated Soft Thermoelectrics for Shape Memory Actuation and Energy Harvesting.

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have attracted tremendous interest as actuators for soft robotics due to their mechanical and shape memory properties. However, LCE actuators typically respond to thermal stimulation through active Joule heating and passive cooling, which make them difficult to control. In this work, LCEs are combined with soft, stretchable thermoelectrics to create transducers capable of electrically controlled actuation, active cooling, and thermal-to-electrical energy conversion. The thermoelectric layers are composed of semiconductors embedded within a 3D printed elastomer matrix and wired together with eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) liquid metal interconnects. This layer is covered on both sides with LCE, which alternately heats and cools to achieve cyclical bending actuation in response to voltage-controlled Peltier activation. Moreover, the thermoelectric layer can harvest energy from thermal gradients between the two LCE layers through the Seebeck effect, allowing for regenerative energy harvesting. As demonstrations, first, closed-loop control of the transducer is performed to rapidly track a changing actuator position. Second, a soft robotic walker that is capable of walking toward a heat source and harvesting energy is introduced. Lastly, phototropic-inspired autonomous deflection of the limbs toward a heat source is shown, demonstrating an additional method to increase energy recuperation efficiency for soft systems.

Highly Stretchable and Skin Adhesive Soft Bioelectronic Patch for Long‐Term Ambulatory Electrocardiography Monitoring

AbstractWearable devices offer a revolutionary approach to ambulatory electrocardiography (ECG) for cardiovascular disease diagnosis. Herein, an adhesive, highly stretchable and conformal (ASC) patch for long‐term ambulatory ECG monitoring is presented. The ASC patch is designed with a “three‐bridge” structure to provide inhomogeneous strain distribution during stretching. Meanwhile, the electrical stability is achieved by stretchable liquid metal interconnects at the domain experiencing larger strain. Moreover, the long‐term usability can be attained by an adhesive layer made of polydopamine/polyacrylamide glycerol–water hydrogel, maintaining good adhesiveness and stretchability for more than two weeks. Altogether, the patch can successfully measure stable high‐quality ECG signals in relaxed, stretched, or underwater conditions. Enhanced mechanical and electrical properties exhibited by our ASC patch confer superior skin‐device interface on either dry or wet conditions than that of current electrodes. The hydrogel‐based patch displays conformal deformation along with the stretched skin. This work provides a scalable prototype for multilead wearable ECG devices and promises new opportunities for medical applications in soft electronics.

Fully solution processed liquid metal features as highly conductive and ultrastretchable conductors

Liquid metal represents a highly conductive and inherently deformable conductor for the development of stretchable electronics. The widespread implementations of liquid metal towards functional sensors and circuits are currently hindered by the lack of a facile and scalable patterning approach. In this study, we report a fully solution-based process to generate patterned features of the liquid metal conductor. The entire process is carried out under ambient conditions and is generally compatible with various elastomeric substrates. The as-prepared liquid metal feature exhibits high resolution (100 μm), excellent electrical conductivity (4.15 × 104S cm−1), ultrahigh stretchability (1000% tensile strain), and mechanical durability. The practical suitability is demonstrated by the heterogeneous integration of light-emitting diode (LED) chips with liquid metal interconnects for a stretchable and wearable LED array. The solution-based technique reported here is the enabler for the facile patterning of liquid metal features at low cost, which may find a broad range of applications in emerging fields of epidermal sensors, wearable heaters, advanced prosthetics, and soft robotics.

Flexible thermoelectric generator with liquid metal interconnects and low thermal conductivity silicone filler

Harvesting body heat using thermoelectricity provides a promising path to realizing self-powered, wearable electronics that can achieve continuous, long-term, uninterrupted health monitoring. This paper reports a flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) that provides efficient conversion of body heat to electrical energy. The device relies on a low thermal conductivity aerogel–silicone composite that secures and thermally isolates the individual semiconductor elements that are connected in series using stretchable eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) liquid metal interconnects. The composite consists of aerogel particulates mixed into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) providing as much as 50% reduction in the thermal conductivity of the silicone elastomer. Worn on the wrist, the flexible TEGs present output power density figures approaching 35 μWcm−2 at an air velocity of 1.2 ms−1, equivalent to walking speed. The results suggest that these flexible TEGs can serve as the main energy source for low-power wearable electronics.

Flexible thermoelectric generators for body heat harvesting – Enhanced device performance using high thermal conductivity elastomer encapsulation on liquid metal interconnects

This paper reports flexible thermoelectric generators (TEGs) employing eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) liquid metal interconnects encased in a novel, high thermal conductivity (HTC) elastomer. These TEGs are part of a broader effort to harvest thermal energy from the body and convert it into electrical energy to power wearable electronics. The flexible TEGs reported in this paper employ the same thermoelectric legs' used in rigid TEGs, thus eliminating the need to develop new materials specifically for flexible TEGs that often sacrifice the so-called figure of merit' for flexibility. Flexible TEGs reported here embed rigid thermoelectric legs' in soft and flexible packaging, using stretchable EGaIn interconnects. The use of liquid metal interconnects provides ultimate stretchability and low electrical resistance between the thermoelectric legs. The liquid metal lines are encased in a new stretchable silicone elastomer doped with both graphene nano-platelets and EGaIn to increase its thermal conductivity. This high thermal conductivity elastomer not only reduces the parasitic thermal resistance of the encapsulation layer but it also serves as a heat spreader, leading to 1.7X improvement in the output power density of TEGs compared to devices fabricated with a conventional elastomer. The device performance is further improved by a thin Cu layer acting as a heat spreader providing an additional 1.3X enhancement in the output power at 1.2 m/s air velocity (typical walking speed). Worn on the wrist, our best devices achieve power levels in excess of 30 μW/cm2 at an air velocity of 1.2 m/s outperforming previously reported flexible TEGs.

Dynamically Stretchable Supercapacitor for Powering an Integrated Biosensor in an All-in-One Textile System

Textile-based electronics have attracted much attention as they can perfectly combine the functionality of wearable devices with the soft and comfortable properties of flexible textile fibers. In this work, we report a dynamically stretchable high-performance supercapacitor for powering an integrated sensor in an all-in-one textile system to detect various biosignals. The supercapacitor fabricated with MWCNT/MoO3 nanocomposite electrodes and nonaqueous gel electrolyte, along the course direction of the fabric, exhibits stable and high electrochemical performance under dynamic and static deformation, including stretching in real time, regardless of the strain rate. The strain sensor created along the wale direction of the fabric shows a high sensitivity of 46.3 under an applied strain up to 60%, a fast response time of 50 ms, and high stability over 10 000 cycles of stretching/releasing. Finally, the supercapacitor and strain sensor are integrated into an all-in-one textile system via liquid-metal interconnections, and the sensor is powered by the stored energy in the supercapacitor. This system sewed into cloth successfully detects strain due to joint movement and the wrist pulse. This work demonstrates the high feasibility of utilizing the fabricated stretchable all-in-one textile system for real-time health monitoring in everyday wearable devices.

Liquid metal-based electrical interconnects and interfaces with excellent stability and reliability for flexible electronics.

Stable and reliable electrical properties of interconnects and interfaces between flexible/stretchable and rigid materials/components are essential for the practical applications of flexible electronic devices and systems; traditional metal thin films and hard solder interconnects and interfaces can no longer meet these requirements. As an emerging soft conductive material, liquid metal has the advantages of high stretchability, flexibility, etc. over other soldering materials, and it has been used in interconnects and interfaces for some flexible electronics. In this study, we report a detailed investigation on the reliability and stability of liquid metal-based interconnects/interfaces under various mechanical deformations, including extension, bending, torsion, high frequency vibration and high temperature operation; we also compared the results with those of interconnects and interfaces using silver paste, the most commonly used solder for flexible electronics. The results show that liquid metal interconnects and interfaces maintain high conductivity under severe elongation up to 95% and 130%, upon bending with a curvature radius as low as ∼1.5 mm, and upon twisting up to 360°; meanwhile, interconnects and interfaces with silver paste filler lose electrical conductivity at elongations of 0.6% and 60%, respectively. Liquid metal interconnects and interfaces show superior performance to silver paste interconnects and interfaces because liquid metal can be re-shaped to make good contact with objects, while the silver paste becomes solid and rigid once dried and thus loses contact with other objects under deformation.

Reliable interfaces for EGaIn multi-layer stretchable circuits and microelectronics.

We tackle two well-known problems in the fabrication of stretchable electronics: interfacing soft circuit wiring with silicon chips and fabrication of multi-layer circuits. We demonstrate techniques that allow integration of embedded flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs) populated with microelectronics into soft circuits composed of liquid metal (LM) interconnects. These methods utilize vertical interconnect accesses (VIAs) that are produced by filling LM alloy into cavities formed by laser ablation. The introduced technique is versatile, easy to perform, clean-room free, and results in reliable multi-layer stretchable hybrid circuits that can withstand over 80% of strain. We characterize the fabrication parameters of such VIAs and demonstrated several applications, including a stretchable touchpad and pressure detection film, and an all-integrated multi-layer electromyography (EMG) circuit patch with five active layers including acquisition electrodes, on-board processing and Bluetooth communication modules.

High‐Sensitivity, Skin‐Attachable, and Stretchable Array of Thermo‐Responsive Suspended Gate Field‐Effect Transistors with Thermochromic Display

AbstractThe fabrication of a skin‐attachable, stretchable array of high‐sensitivity temperature sensors is demonstrated. The temperature sensor consists of a single‐walled carbon nanotube field‐effect transistor with a suspended gate electrode of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)‐coated gold grid/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate and thermochromic leuco dye. The sensor exhibits a very high sensitivity of 6.5% °C−1 at temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. With increasing temperature, the suspended gate electrode bends due to the deswelling of the PNIPAM, resulting in the reduction of the air gap to increase the drain current under a constant gate voltage. At the same time, the leuco dye coated on top of the transparent gate electrode changes color to visualize changes in temperature. The 4 × 6 integrated temperature sensor array integrated using liquid metal interconnections exhibits mechanical and electrical stability under 50% biaxial stretching and allows for the spatial mapping of temperature with visual color display regardless of wrist movement while attached to the skin of the wrist. This work is expected to be widely useful in the development of skin‐attachable electronics for medical and health‐care monitoring.

Low power stretchable active-matrix red, green, blue (RGB) electrochromic device array of poly(3-methylthiophene)/Prussian blue

We report the fabrication of a stretchable array of active-matrix (AM) electrochromic devices (ECDs). The ECD is made of poly(3-methylthiophene) and Prussian blue electrodes with a mixed gel electrolyte of acetonitrile, poly(methyl methacrylate), propylene carbonate, and lithium perchlorate. The ECD displays can express red, green, or blue (RGB) depending on the applied voltage and has a high stability in air. It exhibits low power consumption levels of 331 and 378 μW cm−2 (10 s duration) at −1.0 and 1.0 V, respectively, and a high coloration efficiency of 201.6 cm2 C−1 at 1.0 V. A 4 × 4 AM ECD array is integrated on a deformable Ecoflex substrate via a dry transfer method using patterned liquid metal interconnections. The display shows a mechanical stability under bending and biaxial stretching by 30%. Finite element method analysis of the strain distribution also confirms that strain is not applied to the ECDs, guaranteeing stable operation of the array under deformation. Furthermore, a stretchable 6 × 6 AM ECD array for higher resolution display also exhibits mechanical stability under 30% biaxial stretching. This work demonstrates the high potential of our stretchable ECD array in low power-consuming displays for stretchable electronics, wearable devices, and electronic skin.

Stretchable active matrix of oxide thin-film transistors with monolithic liquid metal interconnects

We demonstrate a new process scheme for fabricating stretchable active matrices of oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs), where TFTs and cross points of two metal layers on stiff islands are monolithically integrated with gallium-based liquid metal interconnects within an elastomeric matrix. As the liquid metal interconnects are formed by a photolithography-based technique compatible with conventional flexible circuit technology, this approach can provide high integration density and mechanical durability as required in stretchable displays or electronic skins. We have fabricated a 4 × 4 active matrix of oxide TFTs within a 20 × 20 mm2 area, which provides stable operation up to 40% of stretching.

Microporous Polypyrrole‐Coated Graphene Foam for High‐Performance Multifunctional Sensors and Flexible Supercapacitors

AbstractThis study reports on the fabrication of pressure/temperature/strain sensors and all‐solid‐state flexible supercapacitors using only polydimethylsiloxane coated microporous polypyrrole/graphene foam composite (PDMS/PPy/GF) as a common material. A dual‐mode sensor is designed with PDMS/PPy/GF, which measures pressure and temperature with the changes of current and voltage, respectively, without interference to each other. The fabricated dual‐mode sensor shows high sensitivity, fast response/recovery, and high durability during 10 000 cycles of pressure loading. The pressure is estimated using the thermoelectric voltage induced by simultaneous increase in temperature caused by a finger touch on the sensor. Additionally, a resistor‐type strain sensor fabricated using the same PDMS/PPy/GF could detect the strain up to 50%. Flexible, high performance supercapacitor used as a power supply is fabricated with electrodes of PPy/GF for its high surface area and pseudocapacitance. Furthermore, an integrated system of such fabricated multifunctional sensors and a supercapacitor on a skin‐attachable flexible substrate using liquid–metal interconnections operates well, whereas sensors are driven by the power of the supercapacitor. This study clearly demonstrates that the appropriate choice of a single functional material enables fabrication of active multifunctional sensors for pressure, temperature, and strain, as well as the supercapacitor, that could be used in wirelessly powered wearable devices.

EGaIn–Metal Interfacing for Liquid Metal Circuitry and Microelectronics Integration

AbstractEutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) has attracted significant attention in recent years for its use in soft and stretchable electronics. However, advances in scalable fabrication approaches and effective electromechanical interfaces between liquid metal (LM) traces and microelectronics are still needed to create functional soft and stretchable electronics. In this study, EGaIn–metal interfacing for the effective integration of surface‐mount microelectronics with LM interconnects is investigated. The electrical interconnects are produced by creating copper patterns on a soft‐elastomer substrate, and subsequently exposing the substrate to EGaIn, which selectively wets the Cu traces. To create strong electromechanical connection between EGaIn and microelectronics, the terminals of the LM‐coated traces are “soldered” to the metal pins of the packaged microelectronic circuits using a novel HCl‐vapor treatment. In combination, the fabrication and microelectronics‐interfacing approaches enable creating stretchable circuits composed of LM wiring and packaged microelectronics. It is found that the HCl‐vapor treatment significantly improves electrical conductivity at the LM–pin interface while enhancing the strain limit of the soft circuits and the reproducibility of the interface. The applicability of this approach in creating soft‐matter circuits is demonstrated through two illustrative examples—a circuit with a digital 9‐axis inertial measurement unit and a temperature sensor; and a circuit with a 3‐axis analog accelerometer.

Polyurethane foam coated with a multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline nanocomposite for a skin-like stretchable array of multi-functional sensors

Body-attachable sensors can be applied to electronic skin (e-skin) as well as safety forewarning and health monitoring systems. However, achieving facile fabrication of high-performance, cost-effective sensors with mechanical stability in response to deformation due to body movement is challenging. Herein we report the material design, fabrication and characteristics of a skin-like stretchable array of multi-functional (MF) sensors based on a single sensing material of polyurethane foam coated with multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyaniline nanocomposite, which enables simultaneous detection of body temperature, wrist pulse and ammonia gas. These sensors exhibit high sensitivity, fast response and excellent durability. Furthermore, the fabricated sensor array shows stable performance under biaxial stretching up to 50% and attachment to skin owing to the use of direct-printed Galinstan liquid metal interconnections. This work proposes a facile method for fabrication of high-performance, stretchable MF sensors via appropriate selection of sensor design and functional materials that are applicable to e-skin and health monitoring systems.

Implantable liquid metal-based flexible neural microelectrode array and its application in recovering animal locomotion functions

With significant advantages in rapidly restoring the nerve function, electrical stimulation of nervous tissue is a crucial treatment of peripheral nerve injuries leading to common movement disorder. However, the currently available stimulating electrodes generally based on rigid conductive materials would cause a potential mechanical mismatch with soft neural tissues which thus reduces long-term effects of electrical stimulation. Here, we proposed and fabricated a flexible neural microelectrode array system based on the liquid metal GaIn alloy (75.5% Ga and 24.5% In by weight) and via printing approach. Such an alloy with a unique low melting point (10.35 °C) owns excellent electrical conductivity and high compliance, which are beneficial to serve as implantable flexible neural electrodes. The flexible neural microelectrode array embeds four liquid metal electrodes and stretchable interconnects in a PDMS membrane (500 µm in thickness) that possess a lower elastic modulus (1.055 MPa), which is similar to neural tissues with elastic moduli in the 0.1–1.5 MPa range. The electrical experiments indicate that the liquid metal interconnects could sustain over 7000 mechanical stretch cycles with resistance approximately staying at 4 Ω. Over the conceptual experiments on animal sciatic nerve electrical stimulation, the dead bullfrog implanted with flexible neural microelectrode array could even rhythmically contract and move its lower limbs under the electrical stimulations from the implant. This demonstrates a highly efficient way for quickly recovering biological nerve functions. Further, the good biocompatibility of the liquid metal material was justified via a series of biological experiments. This liquid metal modality for neural stimulation is expected to play important roles as biologic electrodes to overcome the fundamental mismatch in mechanics between biological tissues and electronic devices in the coming time.