Liquid Embedded Elastomers
New Bendable and Stretchable Electronics

Wood and coworkers developed a new manufacturing method that allows automated, high-volume production of Ga-In based liquid embedded elastomeric electronics (LE3s). Test samples (a) have been fabricated to determine the minimum feature sizes for these LE3 structures. Once sealed in an elastomeric matrix, the composite is readily bendable (b) and stretchable (c). With this approach, they are now able to produce LE3 circuits with isolated features that have planar dimensions of less than 200 µm and edge-to-edge feature separations as small as 25 µm. This fabrication method is an essential step in large scale manufacture of flexible, electronically-controlled machines.