Silicone Devices: electronic devices that stretch & adapt like rubber bands (R-9547)

We currently prototype Silicone Devices - highly stretchable yet robust and compliant electronic circuits - via a proprietary Do-It-Yourself (DIY) fabrication workflow using a CO2 laser cutter. Silicone Devices embed components for input, output, processing, and power; and thus are self contained. Our approach thereby scales to arbitrary complex devices as it supports techniques to make multi-layered stretchable circuits and buried VIAs. By further tailoring the underlying materials system and developing the DIY approach to industrially viable fabrication steps, the process behind Silicone Devices can be further refined to match the performance of conventional rigid circuit production. Furthermore, these circuits are flexible, stretchable and soft. In practise this corresponds to being water tight, impact resilient and imperceptibly integrated. Due to its disruptive nature, performance of early proof-of-concepts, and interest shown from industry, an opportunity to commercialization was concluded. The principal challenge for this project, Silicone Devices, lies with the reformation of its current proof-of-concept status to a materials system and production process both in line with industrial quantity as well as quality. Scalability, repeatability and reliability are the three main pillars in this research.

Keywords:electronics, smart textiles, wearables

Disciplines:Manufacturing processes, methods and technologies, Functional materials