DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS

SUBMITTED BY T .SAI ADITHYA

12M61A0454

Imagine......
If You can Roll your Tablet PC.
Drop it. Squish it in your
backpack!!!!

INTRODUCTION
The electronic circuits has driven advances in
technology for over a half century. Today your cell
phones, computer and even car all rely on the
engineering that has made electronics circuit
smaller ,faster and smarter ,but circuits are
mechanically limited they are rigid. Now several
scientists are hoping to change that as a new type
of electronic are developing that are FLEXIBLE as
humans!!

What are Flexible

Electronics?
Flexible electronics, also known as flex circuits,
is a technology for assembling electronic
circuits by mounting electronic devices on
flexible plastic substrates, such as polyimide,
PEEK or transparent conductive polyester film.

Backplane electronics
Backplanes provide or collect power and
signal to or from front planes. Backplanes may
be passive or active.
Silicon Thin-Film Transistors
Organic Thin-Film Transistors
Materials for Interconnects and Contacts

FLEXIBLE
ELECTRONICS

Flexible Circuit boards

Flex circuits are made up of
flexible

plastic

substrate

usually polyimide, Polyester or

thin sheets of glass

Flexible electronic
components

FLEXIBLE
ELECTRONICS

Electronic components such as transistors

are being made from silicon nanomembrane
usually called TFTs(thin film transistors).
Flexible resistors & capacitors structures
are shown diagrammatically usually called
thin flim resistors and thin flim capacitors

FLEXIBLE
ELECTRONICS

Lithium-ion
flexible battery

Non volatile
Memories

Methods of building flexible

circuit
Its a conventional silicon

wafer if bend it breaks. If

you make it any material
thin enough it becomes
mechanically flexible so a
conventional silicon wafer
is 0.5mm thick but in
flexible device it is about
100nm thick because of its
thinness it becomes floppy

Types of Methods ..

Basically there are about 2 methods

to building flexible circuit :1.Silicon Island approach :
separate the circuit into parts
components that rely on silicon
which are rigid and cannot be bend
are isolated into tiny squares and
connected by a flexible strips of
metal ,this grid is then stamped
onto an elastic piece by piece
.When the circuit is bent the stress
is sustain in the thin connectors
which have a range of motion while
the device island strain a bit but do
not break.

2. Buckling Mechanics:
Very thin strips of silicon are bonded to a
rubber like substrate , that has been pre
stretched .when the substrate is then
quickly relaxed the silicon buckle but does
not break it accommodates the strain by
forming a herringbone pattern and in that
kind of wave configuration , substrate can
stretch in any direction so does silicon.

Front plane technologies

Front planes carry the specific optoelectronic
application.
Organic Light-Emitting Displays

Organic Light Emitting Diode(OLED)

OLEDs are solid-state

devices composed of
thin films of organic
molecules that create
light with the
application of
electricity.
OLEDs - can provide
brighter, crisper
displays on electronic
devices
Use less power than
conventional LEDs or
LCDs used today.

OLED Components
Like an LED, an
OLED is a solid-state
semiconductor
device
100 to 500
nanometers thick
OR about 200 times
smaller than a
human hair
OLEDs can have
either two layers or
three layers of
organic material;

FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS

Fabrication on sheets by Batch Processing..

Fabrication On Web by roll-to-roll Processing

Additive Printing

FLEXIBLE
ELECTRONICS

Future Flexible Electronic products

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS

Advantages:
Size and weight
Increased circuitry density
Boundaries of design and packaging
Shape or to flex during its use
Limitations:
Lifetime
Manufacturing
Water
Battery

Applicatio
ns

Automotive field.

Space crafts.

Foldable displays.

Military.

FLEXIBLE
ELECTRONICS

Flexible solar cells

Flexible outwears

F l e x i b l e a n d S t re t c h a b l e e l e c t ro n i c s i s
the Next Big Thing!!!!

Thank you!