Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-l4ctd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-11T19:37:53.769Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Inverter Woven from Flat Component Fibers for e-Textile Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Eitan Bonderover
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, U.S.A.
Sigurd Wagner
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, U.S.A.
Zhigang Suo
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

In the most fundamental approach, e-Textile circuits will be made by weaving component fibers into circuits. The weaving pattern will determine the circuit function. A key requirement of such e-Textile circuits is reliable electrical contact between fibers. Contacts which rely only on the pressure between fibers are preferred since they preserve the drapability of real fabrics. Since thin-film device fabrication technology is planar, the component fibers, made by the slit-film technique, are flat. Thus a slight edge-to-edge curvature (with a radius of curvature as large as 500mm) can either prevent or promote electrical contact. Using fibers with thin-film transistors of amorphous silicon, we study the processes that produce the desired fiber curvature. A layer of stressed silicon nitride is used to create the curvature. The stress in this layer can be controlled by the deposition parameters. We present successful fabrication of curved fibers with vastly improved electrical contact. We also present electrical characterization of woven transistor circuits

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[5] Bonderover, Eitan, Wagner, Sigurd, and Suo, Zhigang, Amorphous silicon thin film transistors on kapton fibers, Material Resource Society Symposium Proceedings, vol. 736, 2002.Google Scholar
[6] Gleskova, Helena and Wagner, Sigurd, Amorphous silicon thin-film transistors on compliant ployimide foil substrates, IEEE Electron Device Letters 20 (1999), no. 9, 473475.Google Scholar
[7] Gleskova, Helena, Wagner, Sigurd, Gašpárik, V, and Kováč, P, 150°C amorphous silicon thin-film transistor technology for polyimide substrates, Journal of The Electrochemical Society 148 (2001), no. 7, G370–G374.Google Scholar
[8] Gleskova, Helena, Wagner, Sigurd, Soboyejo, Wolé, and Suo, Zhigang, Effects of mechanical strain on amorphous silicon thin-film transistors, Material Resource Society Symposium Proceedings, vol. 715, 2002, pp. 667677.Google Scholar
[9] Macfarlane, Peter W. and Lawrie, T. D. V., An introduction to automated electrocardiogram interpretation, Computers in Medecine, Butterworth & Co., 1974.Google Scholar