1. Introduction
Thousands of millions of electronic units have been produced since the first invention of electronics. These devices and systems, in which stiff, solid metals, insulators, and semiconductors have dominated for ages, are exclusively made in the rigid format, and usually retain a static shape once fabricated. Things have however changed recently. Researchers are currently attempting to shape a soft and rubbery future for electronics, where elastic materials like elastomers would be widely used to replace conventional rigid materials. The reason is rather simple. We as human beings are soft, just like most other living creatures in nature, but existing electronics are not. Shouldn’t we create some kind of new electronics that resemble ourselves?
Extensive research activities on developing elastomeric electronics that may withstand severe bending, twisting, and straining, with maintained electronic functions, have been recently carried out. The mechanical characteristics of gold thin films on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces: wrinkles and cracks, have been investigated by Whitesides and Hutchinson for the first time in 1998 [1]. Subsequently, wrinkled electrodes on pre-stretched elastic substrates were employed to implement electroactive polymer actuators [2], and studies on wrinkled gold electrodes on PDMS substrates were conducted in the Wagner’s and Suo’s groups at Princeton [3],[4]. Micromechanics and manufacturing processes based on relaxed and pre-stressed PDMS slabs were developed in-depth. The most significant contributions were made by the Rogers’s group at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where stretchable and foldable silicon integrated circuits (ICs) on “wavy” silicon ribbons (from Silicon On Insulator (SOI)) in PDMS were proposed for fully integrated stretchable electronics [5],[6]. Dozens of appealing devices based on stretchable silicon ICs, including electronic eye sensor [7], smart gloves/skins [8], implanted medical devices [9], and wearable ergonomic biomedical sensors [10], have been demonstrated. An alternative approach utilizing anisotropic etching of bulk wafers was also introduced [11],[12]. Later, thin meandered stretchable interconnects encased in silicone rubber substrates, operating at different frequencies, were presented [13]-[15]. New electrical nanocomposite materials containing sliver nano-particles or carbon nanotubes/graphene that can flex and strain showed promising results as well [16],[17].
Microfluidics based stretchable electronics were initiated by Whitesides, who first studied low temperature metling solder filled microstructured elastomeric channels [18],[19]. Recently, this concept was extended to implement elastic direct current (DC) circuits, by incorporating eutectic gallium and indium alloy (EGaIn) into microfluidic channels in thin sheets of elastomers [20]-[22]. However, all these previously mentioned studies deal with either low-frequency ICs or relatively simple interconnects. Stretchable electronics at radio frequencies remained an unexploited field until early 2009, at which time Cheng demonstrated the first stretchable fluidic antennas, for enabling wireless communication and remote sensing [23],[24]. Similar work was reported afterwards using EGaIn alloy as conductors for the antennas instead of Galinstan [25]. Significantly enhanced elasticity of the resulting antennas could be achieved by introducing a different type of siloxane [26], and mechanically reconfigurable antennas could also be realized [27]. In 2010, Cheng proposed a hybrid integration strategy for the first demonstration of active microfluidic stretchable RF electronics (μFSRFEs), an integrated RF radiation sensor,
The following sections in this chapter address the recent progresses in the emerging field of microfluidics based elastomeric electronics. Fabrication processes, integration techniques, application examples, as well as future perspectives are presented and discussed.
2. Fabrication of single-layer microfluidics based passive elastomeric electronic devices
In brief, the manufacturing process steps can be summarized as follows: master construction, molding, liquid-alloy injection or filling, and encapsulation,
First of all, the design patterns are transferred to a 100 μm thick SU-8 100 (MicroChem, Newton, MA) layer on a silicon wafer with a standard soft lithography, and then developed and thermally stabilized at 150°C for 30 min to enhance the adhesion between SU-8 layer and silicon substrate. Subsequently, the PDMS prepolymer and cross linker (Elastosil RT601A and B, Wacker Chemie, Munich, Germany) are thoroughly mixed at a ratio of 9:1 (wt:wt) and poured onto the SU-8 master. After degassing, the PDMS mixture is cured at 70°C in an oven for 30 min. Then the cured thin PDMS replica is peeled off and a couple of holes are punched out for liquid alloy injection or filling. Meanwhile a thin blank PDMS lid is prepared using blank silicon wafer. Later, the PDMS replica and blank lid are bonded, using corona discharging (ETP, Chicago, IL, USA) activation. Through the punched holes in the PDMS, the liquid metal alloy (Galinstan, 68.5 % Ga, 21.5 % In, 10 % Sn, σ=3.46 106 S/m) is manually injected into the channels. This alloy remains in liquid state from -19°C to 1300°C. The ventilation outlets are encapsulated with uncured PDMS mixture as mentioned above.
3. Liquid metal, elastic, microfluidic unbalanced loop antenna
The fabrication process described in the previous section has been successfully employed to implement a single-layer, liquid metal, stretchable, unbalanced loop antenna, which consists of a radiating element and a semi-circular ground plane, as depicted in Fig. 3 [23]. Several cylindrical reservoirs are aligned along the upper tube of the antenna prototype to ensure good electrical connections while being flexed. The presence of these reservoirs introduces slight resonance frequency decrease of the antenna. The lower semi-circular area acts as a ground plane for the antenna. A number of posts are aligned to space the top and bottom PDMS membranes in the ground area, which has negligible influence on the electrical characteristics of the antenna.
Mechanical properties of the antenna prototype were characterized experimentally. Fig. 4 shows that the resulting antenna is reversibly foldable, flexible, and stretchable. Severe bending and twisting in the tests did not cause any mechanical damages. In addition, the antenna can withstand extreme levels of strains of up to 40% along multiple axis. As a result of the uneven thickness of the PDMS substrate and the heterogeneous pattern of the antenna, slight mechanical inhomogeneity was observed while stressing along different orientations,
Electrical properties of the antenna in its original state were obtained from numerical simulations. Experiments on port impedance and radiation characteristics of the antenna in both relaxed and flexed states were performed. Fig. 5 presents the simulated and measured reflection coefficients (
Fig. 6 shows simulated and measured radiation patterns of the antenna prototype at 2.4 GHz.
As expected, the relaxed antenna resembles conventional unbalanced loops that exhibit broad beam coverage, especially in the
High conductivity of Galinstan and large cross dimensions of the microfluidic channels attribute to low conductive losses and high radiation efficiency of the antenna. The measured data indicate a resonance frequency decrease of up to 18% while stretching, but the radiation efficiency at 2.4 GHz remains greater than 80%. In the experiments, no significant radiation efficiency decrease can be seen. This fact implies that galvanic connections in the micro-structured elastomeric channels are not interrupted by straining. Good electrical continuity of the liquid alloy owes to its excellent wettability on PDMS substrate surfaces. Though the presented unbalanced loop antenna achieves good radiation properties, its resonance frequency detuning introduced by stretching leads to relatively poor total efficiency at 2.4 GHz. Other antenna concepts with more robust port impedance and radiation characteristics in response to deformation would be feasible alternative solutions.
4. Bendable, stretchable, fluidic UWB antenna
The concept of microfluidics based elastomeric electronics is then extended to realize a planar inverted cone antenna (PICA) for the ultrawideband (UWB) frequency range of 3.1-10.6 GHz [24]. The reason for choosing the PICA is that its impedance matching and radiation characteristics are expected to be insensitive to its mechanical deformation. Also, its uniplanar configuration makes it a suitable antenna type for a design that should be bendable and stretchable. Fig. 7 shows the design schematically, with a leaf-shaped radiation and a large ground plane.
Resembling to the previously demonstrated elastic unbalanced loop, the implemented PICA prototype features excellent reversible deformability in the mechanical tests, as shown in Fig. 8. Extreme levels of straining of up to 40% along either
Figs. 9 and 10 present simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the elastic, microfluidic PICA. The relaxed antenna shows good impedance match (
Applying strains along the
Measured radiation patterns at 2.5 GHz of the antenna in its relaxed and flexed states are displayed in Figs. 11 and 12. Similar to conventional fat monopole antennas, the non-strained antenna features broad coverage, especially in the
Similar simulations and experiments are also performed at 5 GHz, where ripples and slight asymmetry occur in the radiation patterns caused by disturbance from feed cable. The presence of higher order modes at 5 GHz together with the increasing cable influence degrades the cross-polarization discrimination. Compared to the experimental data at 2.5 GHz, larger variations on the measured radiation patterns at 5 GHz are observed while the antenna is in its strained states, particularly in the
The measured radiation efficiency within the frequency range of 3-10 GHz is shown in Fig. 13. Although the radiation efficiency at the lower end of the frequency range decreases when the antenna is stretched, it is still greater than 70%. This, together with the experimental data on port impedance, indicates that the PICA prototype achieves good total antenna efficiency regardless of stretching.
Much work however remains. First of all, comprehensive environmental reliability and durability tests, e.g. vibration, temperature cycling, and aging, are needed, since it is indeed a new way of fabricating antennas, with new materials. Electrical characteristics of the antenna at extreme temperature condition, e.g. below the melting point of the liquid alloy, should be evaluated when a special measurement setup is established. Studies on antenna radio interfaces are also necessary. Development of fully integrated stretchable wireless electronic systems consisting of flexible thin embedded active chips, stretchable interconnects, and highly efficient stretchable antennas are the end objective, with a need for much research efforts.
5. Single-layer stretchable elastomeric integrated active RF electronics
The concept of microfluidics based passive stretchable elastomeric electronics has been further developed to the integrated device level utilizing localized stiff cells (LSCs), as illustrated in Fig. 14 [28]. A microfluidic, elastic, large-area antenna is realized in the same manner as the previous stretchable antennas, by incorporating liquid alloy into microstructured elastomeric channels. Established IC chips associated with passive components are assembled on small flexible laminates. Subsequently, a few tin-plated contact pins resembling cantilevers are soldered to the flexible circuits, and a semi-spherical solder ball is then mounted on the bottom surface of each contact pin on the other end to improve galvanic connection to the liquid fluid,
The proposed hybrid integration strategy was employed to implement a 900 MHz microfluidic stretchable RF radiation sensor, as seen in Fig. 15. The resulting sensor prototype is capable of performing real-time monitoring on the human exposure level to electromagnetic fields (EMF). Once the exposure level to EMFs exceeds the threshold power, the integrated light emission diode (LED) will be switched on. This sensor is of importance to human health as more and more EMFs are generated by today’s telecom networks and mobile terminals, and might cause health issues. The integrated radiation sensor contains three sub-modules fully encased in a large-area elastomeric substrate, including a stretchable unbalanced loop antenna for capturing RF radiation from ambient environments, an RF power detection unit for converting received RF energy to the corresponding DC voltages, and a LED indicator for visualizing.
Prior to the hybrid integration, experimental evaluations on electrical characteristics of the standalone antenna and the RF power detection sub-module assembled on a flex foil are conducted. The implemented stretchable fluidic antenna exhibits similar mechanical and electrical performance as the previously presented unbalanced loop, but operates at a lower frequency of approximately 900 MHz. The power conversion sub-module in the integrated RF radiation sensor involves an off-the-shelf power detector IC chipset (Linear Technology, LT 5534), two decoupling and one coupling capacitors, an inductor for impedance matching at the RF input, and a green LED indicator, all assembled on a small flex foil with a size of 10 mm × 18 mm, as seen in Fig. 15. When the input RF energy at the detector exceeds the threshold power of the integrated device, the LED indicator is switched on, and vice versa. The entire integrated power detection unit can be powered by four serially connected AA rechargeable batteries with a DC supply voltage of 5.23 V. The power conversion behavior of the integrated device is first characterized using a signal generator and a digital multimeter. Fig. 16 presents the measured DC voltages at the output of the power detection unit in response to varying input RF power at 900 MHz. A dynamic range of -60 dBm to 0 dBm can be achieved, and the threshold power for turning on/off the LED indicator is found to be slightly higher than -30 dBm.
The integrated elastic radiation sensor device is tested in a demonstration setup in Fig. 17. The RF radiation source consists of an RF signal generator and a horn antenna placed 5 m away from the sensor device in the line-of-sight.
Experiments presented in Fig. 18 verify that the resulting microfluidics based elastomeric integrated device maintains its radiation sensing capabilities even if it is strained along multiple axis. Extreme levels of twisting do not cause any failures in its operation either.
6. Multi-layer stretchable elastomeric integrated active RF electronics
Very recently, the emerging field of microfluidics based elastomeric electronics has been further advanced to multi-layer μFSRFEs, with the demonstration of a microfluidic, reversibly stretchable, large-area wireless strain sensor [29]. The manufacturing process for multi-layer elastomeric passive components resembles the single-layer fabrication, but with a few minor modifications and process steps added,
In summary, the upper and lower microfluidic channels are respectively constructed in the top and the bottom PDMS sheets, using standard soft lithography techniques. Then a few inlets and outlets are punched. In addition, the blank middle PDMS slab is prepared. The microstructured top elastomer layer is bonded to the blank silicone rubber slab using plasma boning, and addition inlets are punched on the bonded PDMS sheet. The bottom elastomer substrate is bonded to the previously bonded PDMS layers afterwards, using corona discharging activation. Prior to filling the upper microfluidic channels with galinstan fluid metal, the inlet 3 is sealed with a piece of Scotch® tape. Later, the ventilation outlets in the top silicone rubber sheet are encapsulated using PDMS prepolymer. Whereafter, both in the inlets 1 and 3 are taped, and galinstan alloy is injected into the lower microfluidic channels from the bottom side. All remaining ventilation outlets and the inlet 2 are then encapsulated, and the inlets 1 and 3 are reserved for connecting active circuitry in a heterogeneously integrated device.
The subsequent fabrication process steps are active circuit assembly and hybrid device integration, which resemble the manufacturing and the integrated processes presented in the previous section. Schematic illustrations describing the entire assembly and integration procedure are displayed in Fig. 20, and not discussed in detail in this section.
The first resulting integrated device based on multi-layer μFSRFEs is a self-contained wireless strain sensor, fully encased in a thin large-area silicone elastomer, as shown in Fig. 21. A stretchable liquid metal microstrip patch antenna comprising an upper rectangular meshed patch and a lower ground plane constructed in the same manner, takes up the major area of the hybrid device. It is worthy mentioning that this antenna not only serves as a radiator like any other conventional antennas, but also acts as a sensing device owing to its varying electrical characteristics in response to mechanical deformation. The entire integrated sensor device is slightly larger than its meshed fluid metal ground with a size of 100 mm × 80 mm, and approximately four times as big as the antenna patch. Though the liquid metal patch is the actual strain sensing element, the large ground plane can also serve an effective sensing area, and extend the strain sensing functionality to almost the entire device. Apart from the self-contained wireless strain sensor, a custom-designed personal computer (PC)-assisted radio receiver for remotely collecting, processing, and storing the measured data wirelessly transmitted from the integrated sensor device is also implemented. It removes the need for costly RF measurement facilities, and significantly reduces the cost for building up a complete system.
Port impedance and radiation characteristics of the standalone, mechanically reconfigurable, elastomeric patch antenna in its relaxed and flexed states are measured. Excellent port impedance matching around 1.46 GHz along with very good correlation between the simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the non-stretched antenna are seen in Fig. 22.a. Applying increasing strain of up to 15% along its
Measured radiation patterns, including mismatch losses, at 1.46 GHz, of the relaxed and flexed antennas are shown in Figs. 22.b and c. The realized peak gain is measured along the +
Mechanical properties of the elastomeric patch antenna are evaluated after characterizations on its electrical performance. The implemented antenna prototype is more than twice as thick as the previously demonstrated stretchable RF electronic devices, and thus features degraded mechanical deformability. Yet moderate twisting or folding do not cause any mechanical damages to the fluidic patch antenna during experiments.
The measured total efficiency of the standalone stretchable patch antenna including mismatch losses is 36.9% in its relaxed state at 1.46 GHz. Straining the patch to 15% along its
The system demonstration setup is first calibrated by characterizing the output DC voltages of the RF power detector with different static stresses applied to the integrated wireless strain sensor, as presented in Fig. 23. A fairly linear decline of the measured DC voltages versus increasing mechanical elongation along the
Fig. 24 shows the demonstration of remote sensing of repeated body motion in a corridor of ordinary office environment, using the resulting wireless strain sensor prototype. Periodically repeated dynamic strains of up to 15% along its
7. Conclusion
Recent advances in the emerging field of elastomeric electronics that are able to be conformed into complex curvilinear shapes, or be compressed, twisted, and stressed to extreme degrees, have been briefly reviewed. Various techniques and strategies for realizing bendable, flexible, stretchable elastomeric electronic devices and system have been discussed. As the main focus, elastomeric electronics based on microfluidic approaches have been addressed in detail. Fabrication processes, hybrid integration techniques, as well as appealing application examples involving single- and multi-layer μFSRFEs have also been presented.
Microfluidics based elastic electronics together with other members in the family of elastomeric electronics are introducing a revolution to the world of electronics, and shaping the future for electronics so as to change our tomorrow’s daily life and contribute to our networked society. It is anticipated that more than 50 billion devices will be wirelessly connected by 2020, which would involve units as intelligent as smartphones/tablets, and as soft as elastomeric electronics.
Acknowledgement
The author greatly appreciates the Editor Board in InTech for providing the free article processing support.
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