Stretchable Thin Film Materials: Fabrication, Application, and Mechanics

Abstract

Stretchable thin film materials have promising applications in many areas, including stretchable electronics, precision metrology, optical gratings, surface engineering, packaging, energy harvesting, and storage. They are usually realized by engineering geometric patterns and nonlinear mechanics of stiff thin films on compliant substrates, such as buckling of thin films on soft substrates, prefabricated wavy forms of thin films, and mesh layouts that combine structured islands and bridges. This paper reviews fabrication, application, and mechanics of stretchable thin film materials. Methods and fabrication processes of realizing stretchability in different thin films, such as semiconductors, metals, and polymers, on compliant substrates are introduced. Novel applications that are enabled by stretchable thin films are presented. The underlying mechanics of stretchable thin film materials in different systems is also discussed.