Bendable Printed and Thin-film Electronics for Wireless Communications

In this paper an overview of the recent progress of bendable ultra-thin and lightweight electronics for wearable wireless communication systems is given. This kind of electronics can be realized on a piece of plastic foil or paper and does not need any standard rigid chips. The focus will be on organic, printed and thin-film electronics and addresses the following components: thin-film transistors (TFTs) with transit frequency (ft) up to 138 MHz, roll to roll (R2R) printed organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with f
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beyond 50 kHz, an OFET-based R2R printed audio amplifier, active TFT-based wireless transmitters and receivers up to 20 MHz, and R2R printed passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in the GHz range.