SB02.02/EL14.02: Joint Session: Innovations in Stretchable and Flexible Electronics for Wearable Integration

Zhenan Bao, Stanford University

Stretchable Integrated Circuits Based on Intrinsically Stretchable Materials

Written by Kwon-Teen Chen

Standard integrated circuits are commonly rigid, but Zhenan Bao and her research group at Stanford University have been researching skin-like, soft electronic circuits. These electronic circuits can perform at high levels, and thin, stretchable integrated circuits are very dense. Her group has done a lot of work to simplify the processing requirements of making integrated circuits. When printing transistor patterns on the stretchable materials, the polymers crosslink because they are photosensitive, which removes the need for a photoresist, reducing the steps needed to create a device. Her group has increased the transistor count/cm² to around 100,000 transistors/cm², with a frequency up to 1.14MHz. Another component her group is looking at is neuromorphic electronic skin. This would allow the transistors to work directly with the brain. Future work in her group is to integrate stretchability, self-healing, and conformability into unified platforms, to advance wearable and implantable electronics.