Stretchable silicon making waves.(Eureka: Emerging Technologies)(University of Kentucky)

R & D, January, 2006

A new form of silicon has been developed by researchers at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This fully stretchable form of single-crystal silicon has wave-like geometries and can be used to build high-performance electronic devices on rubber substrates.

"Stretchable silicon offers different capabilities than can be achieved with standard silicon chips," says John Rogers, professor of materials science and engineering at UIUC. Functional, stretchable, and bendable electronics could be used in applications such as sensors and drive electronics for integration into artificial muscles or biological tissues, structural monitors wrapped around aircraft wings, and conformable skins for integrated robotic sensors, says Rogers.

Creating wavy...

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