Communications of the ACM
Stretchy Integrated Electronics May Be Possible with Sandwiched Semiconductor
A diagram of a curvature-adjustable imager built with stretchable electronics that use n-type semiconductors sandwiched in between elastomers to limit the semiconductors’ typical brittleness.
Credit: Cunjiang Yu/Penn State
An international research team led by Pennsylvania State University's Cunjiang Yu engineered a sandwiched semiconductor to provide elasticity to integrated electronics.
The researchers wedged the n-type semiconductor, which carries electricity mainly through negative electrons, between two stretchable elastomers.
Explained Yu, "We found that the stack architecture improves mechanical stretchability and suppresses the formation and propagation of microcracks in the intrinsically brittle n-type semiconductor."
Yu said the stack passed an array of stress and stability tests; the researchers also manufactured elastic transistors and integrated electronic systems with the stack.
Yu added that stretching the transistors 50% in either direction did not reduce high device performance, and the devices operated stably for more than 100 days in an ambient setting.
From PennState News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2023 SmithBucklin, Washington, D.C., USA
No entries found