Opportunity of Metallic Glass in Soft Electronics

The Metallic glass which is having no crystal structure, can be adopted for enhance strength and a lower Young's modulus. Unlike crystalline metals, metallic glass can be used as an electrode in flexible, soft electronics. The external energy causes structural deformations in the metal with lattice structure, while a metallic glass disperses the energy. Therefore, the limitations of crystalline metals can be overcome by the metallic glass. However, void structure can be easily formed inside of the metal with Thornton’s model. To eliminate the porosity, we were able to control the sputtering condition of metal atoms and ions. Elastic modulus of 76.6GPa and a strength of 2.88GPa was achieved by optimized Fe33Zr67 which has an amorphous structure. With this metallic glass, we fabricated a multi-functional sensor for electronic skin that can detect stimuli of pressure, temperature and light and also function as a heater. In this paper, we convinced the feasibility of the Fe33Zr67 metallic glass in soft electronics for various industrial applications.