Digital Process Chain for Processing of Bend-Sensitive Functional Structures on a Flexible Substrate

System-in-foil technology continues to realize relevance in industry and research. In this article, a digital process chain for the fabrication of bend-sensitive sensor structures on a flexible polyimide foil is described. This means that none of the steps in this process chain requires the manufacturing of a structured mask or cliché. Therefore, an arbitrary layout can be manufactured and easily be changed without major effort. Patterning of the sensor layout is realized by direct imaging of a laminated dry film photoresist. The sensor structure is fabricated by a liftoff process using sputtering of a NiCr layer. Finally, the sensor structures are characterized by a static bending test.