Rugged Island-Bridge Inorganic Electronics Mounted on Locally Strain-Isolated Substrates.

• Published in: ACS Nano
• Main Authors: Lee, Dae Hwan, Yea, Junwoo, Ha, Jeongdae, Kim, Dohyun, Kim, Sungryong, Lee, Junwoo, Park, Jang-Ung, Park, Taiho, Jang, Kyung-In
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 2024
• Subjects: hybrid stretchable polymer; interpenetrating polymer networks; mechanical stability; strain isolation; stretchable microelectronics; Rugged Island
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c01759; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38721824

Various strain isolation strategies that combine rigid and stretchable regions for stretchable electronics were recently proposed, but the vulnerability of inorganic materials to mechanical stress has emerged as a major impediment to their performance. We report a strain-isolation system that combines heteropolymers with different elastic moduli (i.e., hybrid stretchable polymers) and utilize it to construct a rugged island-bridge inorganic electronics system. Two types of prepolymers were simultaneously cross-linked to form an interpenetrating polymer network at the rigid-stretchable interface, resulting in a hybrid stretchable polymer that exhibited efficient strain isolation and mechanical stability. The system, including stretchable micro-LEDs and microheaters, demonstrated consistent operation under external strain, suggesting that the rugged island-bridge inorganic electronics mounted on a locally strain-isolated substrate offer a promising solution for replacing conventional stretchable electronics, enabling devices with a variety of form factors.