Design and Fabrication of Electrode Array on Curved Surfaces for Wearable Electronics

With the thriving of wearable and skin-attachable electronics, there is an escalating demand for devices capable of adhering to curved surfaces. However, such curve-shaped surfaces require electronics to stretch or compress to achieve conformal, wrinkle-free wrapping, which poses a challenge to electrode fabrication based on mature planar technology. In this paper, we investigate the tensile and conformal properties of three different interconnection structures (mesh, arc, serpentine). The advantages of serpentine structure in tensile and surface adhesion performance have been verified in both simulation analysis and experimental tests. A full-flow process for the preparation of interdigital electrodes array on polyimide substrate with this serpentine interconnection structure has been developed. The electricity of electrode array is not degraded when they are attached to the hemisphere surface. These results showcase its potential utility in the realm of stretchable electronics, including humanoid robotics and biomedical prostheses.