Mechanical Isolation and Temperature Compensation in Soft Elastomer Components

This paper presents the design of stretchable elastomer-liquid metal capacitors fabricated with mechanical isolation structures. We envision potential application to stretchable and strain stable devices such as chemical sensors, as well as temperature compensation in soft sensors. A strength of the employed isolation approach is the ability to fabricate strain sensitive and strain isolated capacitors in the same substrate. A finite element model is presented, and the responses to
x
-axis strain,
y
-axis strain, and temperature are characterized. The capacitor with a labyrinth isolation structure shows a five-fold reduction in
x
-axis strain response over a capacitor without isolation. Co-fabricated strain sensitive and strain isolated capacitors show a factor-of-four reduction in temperature response over the strain sensitive capacitor, demonstrating potential applications as a temperature compensated and stretchable strain or pressure sensors.