Rigid Island Pattern on Stretchable Layer with Low Young's Modulus
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for fabricating stretchable electronic devices face challenges in ensuring stability and pattern accuracy due to complex three-dimensional structures and high process difficulty, particularly in distributing strain and stress across rigid islands and interconnectors on stretchable substrates with low Young's modulus.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a stretchable substrate with a high Young's modulus, a low Young's modulus stretchable layer, and a fixed layer with rigid islands and narrow, meandering interconnectors, where the fixed layer is directly coated and patterned on the stretchable layer using photolithography, simplifying the fabrication process and ensuring stretchability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a transfer method is used to fabricate rigid islands on stretchable substrate, then the rigid islands can be formed, but additional processes are required and pattern accuracy is limited due to alignment errors
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the transfer step from the conventional fabrication process. Instead of transferring pre-formed rigid island patterns from a separate substrate, the method directly forms the fixed layer with rigid islands and interconnectors on the stretchable substrate in a single lithography process, removing the source of alignment errors and additional process steps
Solution Approach 2:
The invention performs preliminary patterning of the fixed layer directly on the stretchable substrate before device deposition. The lithography process is designed to simultaneously define both rigid islands and interconnectors in their final positions, eliminating the need for subsequent transfer and alignment operations
2Adaptability or versatility
If interconnectors are floated in the air to improve stretchability, then stretchability is enhanced, but stability of exposed interconnectors is difficult to ensure and process difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a thin fixed layer (2-10 μm) made of UV-curable resin that acts as a flexible shell containing the interconnectors. This thin film structure allows the interconnectors to stretch with the substrate while remaining protected and stable, eliminating the need to float interconnectors in air
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite structure where the fixed layer combines UV-curable resin with embedded conductive materials to form both rigid islands and stretchable interconnectors. This composite approach provides mechanical stability through the resin matrix while maintaining electrical conductivity through the embedded conductive paths
3Manufacturing precision
If three-dimensional structures with complicated trenches are used, then rigid islands can be formed, but the fabrication process becomes complex and stretchability is harder to ensure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from three-dimensional trench structures to a two-dimensional planar structure. The fixed layer with rigid islands and interconnectors is formed as a flat pattern on the stretchable substrate surface, eliminating the need for complex trench formation and 3D structuring while maintaining device functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The invention segments the fixed layer into distinct functional regions (rigid islands and interconnectors) within a single planar layer. This segmentation is achieved through lithographic patterning that defines different regions with different mechanical properties, allowing rigid islands to resist deformation while interconnectors remain flexible, all within a single 2D plane
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces strain and stress on rigid islands and interconnectors, enhances stretchability, and stabilizes the electronic device platform, allowing for efficient production of stretchable electronic devices like OLEDs with improved yield and reduced process complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a stretchable layer which is formed on the stretchable substrate and has a Young's modulus lower than the first Young's modulus
Implementation Method 2
The fixed layer composed of the rigid islands and the interconnectors may be formed in a desired pattern through a photolithography process
Data Source
AI summary
A method of fabricating a rigid island pattern on a stretchable layer having a low Young's modulus and a stretchable electronic device platform using the same are disclosed. The stretchable electronic device platform, which is proposed by the present disclosure and has the rigid island pattern on the stretchable layer having a low Young's modulus, includes a stretchable substrate having a first Young's modulus, a Silbione® layer coated with a stretchable layer having a Young's modulus lower than the first Young's modulus on the stretchable substrate, and a fixed layer which is made of a photoresist such as SU-8 or a UV curable resin and has a Young's modulus higher than the first Young's modulus, and in which the rigid island pattern and the meandering stretchable interconnector pattern are formed on the stretchable layer by a photolithography process.