Recent advances on mechanics of transfer printing for flexible and stretchable electronics

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SCIENTIA SINICA Physica, Mechanica & Astronomica
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SCIENTIA SINICA Physica, Mechanica & Astronomica, Volume 48, Issue 9: 094610(2018) https://doi.org/10.1360/SSPMA2018-00136

Recent advances on mechanics of transfer printing for flexible and stretchable electronics

HongYu LUO, ChangHong LINGHU, JiZhou SONG*
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  • ReceivedApr 22, 2018
  • AcceptedJun 21, 2018
  • PublishedAug 3, 2018
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Abstract

Flexible and stretchable inorganic electronics, offering the high performance of conventional electronics with the ability to be deformed like a rubber, integrate inorganic electronic materials with flexible substrates and has enabled many novel applications ranging from curvilinear electronics, epidermal electronics to bio-integrated electronics. However, inorganic electronic materials (e.g., silicon) cannot be fabricated directly on a flexible substrate due to the extreme processing conditions (e.g., high temperature). To overcome this challenge, transfer printing techniques have been developed to pick up inorganic thin films from the grown substrate and transfer them onto the receiver substrate for the heterogeneous integration. This approach separates the fabrication substrate with the application substrate and provides a most promising solution for the integration of inorganic electronic materials with flexible substrates to develop flexible and stretchable electronics. This paper provides a brief review of recent advances on mechanics of transfer printing techniques for flexible and stretchable inorganic electronics including kinetically controlled transfer printing technique, shear-enhanced transfer printing technique, gecko inspired transfer printing technique, surface-relief-assisted transfer printing technique, laser-driven transfer printing technique, bending curvature controlled transfer printing technique and tape transfer printing technique. The basic concepts for each transfer printing technique are overviewed to illustrate the key roles of mechanics in the development of transfer printing techniques. Despite the successful developments of various transfer printing techniques, several challenges still exist for future transfer printing techniques with the capabilities of transfer printing of nano-devices and direct three-dimensional transfer printing in a large-scale and high-efficiency manner.


Funded by

深圳市科技计划(JCY20170816172454095)

浙江省自然科学基金(LR15A020001)

国家自然科学基金(11372272)

国家重点基础研究发展计划(2015CB351901)

中央高校基本科研业务费


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    Figure 1

    (Color online) Representative examples of flexible and stretchable electronics enabled by transfer printing techniques. (a) Stretchable CMOS circuits [16]; (b) stretchable CMOS inverters [3]; (c) electronic eye camera [17]; (d) multifunctional balloon catheter [18]; (e) ultrathin, compliant, skin-like arrays of precision temperature sensors [19]; (f) a mechanically flexible array of ultrathin, microscale, blue LEDs on a thin strip of plastic [20].

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    Figure 2

    (Color online) Transfer printing process and its underlying mechanics mechanism. (a) Schematic diagram of the transfer printing process; (b) schematic diagram of competing fracture mechanism [22].

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    Figure 3

    (Color online) Kinetically controlled transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic illustration of the kinetically controlled transfer printing process [23]; (b) mechanics model of the retrieval of a thin film [24]; (c) mechanics model of the printing of a thin film [24]; (d) schematic diagram of critical energy release rates for the film/substrate and stamp/film interfaces [24].

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    Figure 4

    Shear-enhanced transfer printing technique. (a) Illustration of the process of shear-enhanced transfer printing technique [34]; (b) yields for transfer printing onto a bare silicon substrate as a function of shear strain [35]; (c) schematic illustration of the fracture mechanics model used to study the relationship between the vertical pull-off force and the applied shear strain [34]; (d) the normalized pull-off force as a function of the shear strain [34].

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    Figure 5

    (Color online) Pedestal-shaped elastomeric stamps for transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic illustration of the procedure for transfer printing using a pedestal stamp [40]; (b) illustration of a pedestal stamp [40]; (c) interfacial crack tip energy release rates versus the post width [40]; (d) distribution of the normal stress (along the pull-off direction) at the interface between the contact pad and a silicon surface for post widths of 50and 60?μm [40].

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    Figure 6

    (Color online) Gecko inspired transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic illustration of the transfer printing process using the natural setal stamp [44]; (b) schematic illustration of an elastomeric stamp with patterned pillars [49] with hpillar as the pillar height, R as the pillar radius, a∥ and a⊥ as the parallel and vertical distances, respectively; (c) the normalized effective energy release rate versus the normalized pattern spacing [49].

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    Figure 7

    (Color online) Surface-relief-assisted transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic process of the surface-relief-assisted transfer printing technique [50]; (b) a schematic diagram for the mechanics model [51]: original stamp and collapsed stamp; (c) the normalized minimum height of microtip versus the normalized microtip radius [51]; (d) the normalized maximum height of microtip versus the normalized preload [51]; (e) schematic illustration of the bonding/debonding between the SMP surface and a substrate [52]; (f) laser-driven programmable transfer using SMP [54].

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    Figure 8

    (Color online) Transfer printing with an inflatable stamp. (a) Procedure for transfer printing with an active programmable inflatable stamp [55]; (b) schematic cross-sectional illustration of the inflatable stamp [55]; (c) the potential energies for different deformation modes versus the applied displacement [55]; (d) experimentally and theoretically predicted decrease for stamp/silicon interfacial adhesion (maximum pull-off force) with increasing inflation pressure [55].

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    Figure 9

    (Color online) Laser-driven transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic process of the laser-driven transfer printing technique [56]; (b) the energy release rate versus the laser working time [56]; (c) an accurate thermomechanical model for laser-driven transfer printing technique [58]; (d) the scaling law for the critical delamination time of the stamp and silicon interface [58].

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    Figure 10

    (Color online) Bending radius controlled transfer printing technique. (a) Schematic illustration of the procedure for the bending radius controlled transfer printing technique [60]; (b) measured energy release rates for PDMS with different radii [60]; (c) schematic illustrations of pressure and adhesion induced by the elastomeric stamp with different radii [60]; (d) pressure distribution depending upon the bending radius (r=3?7?mm) of a stamp (thickness of 1?mm) [60].

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    Figure 11

    (Color online) Tape transfer printing technique. (a) Transfer printing through a water releasable tape [61]; (b) schematic illustration of the thermal release tape transfer printing technique [62]; (c) the energy release rates of TRT/PI and PI/PDMS interfaces [62]; (d) the contour map showing the energy release rate versus the velocity and temperature for the TRT/PI interface [62].

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