Stretchable gold conductors on elastomeric substrates

Stretchable gold conductors on elastomeric substrates

Stripes of thin gold films are made on an elastomeric substrate with built-in compressive stress to form surface waves. Because these waves can be stretched flat they function as elastic electrical conductors. Surprisingly, we observe electrical continuity not only up to an external strain of ∼2% re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters Vol. 82; no. 15; pp. 2404 - 2406
Main Authors: Lacour, Stéphanie Périchon, Wagner, Sigurd, Huang, Zhenyu, Suo, Z.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 14-04-2003
Online Access:Get full text
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Description
Summary:Stripes of thin gold films are made on an elastomeric substrate with built-in compressive stress to form surface waves. Because these waves can be stretched flat they function as elastic electrical conductors. Surprisingly, we observe electrical continuity not only up to an external strain of ∼2% reached by stretching the films first flat (∼0.4%) and then to the fracture strain of free-standing gold films (∼1%), but up to ∼22%. Such large strains will permit making stretchable electric conductors that will be essential to three-dimensional electronic circuits.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.1565683