Abstract
Flexible and stretchable semiconducting substrates provide the foundation for novel electronic applications. Usually, ultra-thin, flexible but often fragile substrates are used in such applications. Here, we describe flexible, stretchable, and foldable 500-μm-thick bulk mono-crystalline silicon (100) “islands” that are interconnected via extremely compliant 30-μm-thick connectors made of silicon. The thick mono-crystalline segments create a stand-alone silicon array that is capable of bending to a radius of 130 μm. The bending radius of the array does not depend on the overall substrate thickness because the ultra-flexible silicon connectors are patterned. We use fracture propagation to release the islands. Because they allow for three-dimensional monolithic stacking of integrated circuits or other electronics without any through-silicon vias, our mono-crystalline islands can be used as a “more-than-Moore” strategy and to develop wearable electronics that are sufficiently robust to be compatible with flip-chip bonding.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 134103 |
| Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 30 2017 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: The research reported in this publication was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). We also thank Virginia A. Unkefer for helping with the literature.