Micro/Nanoscale 3D Assembly by Rolling, Folding, Curving, and Buckling Approaches

The miniaturization of electronics has been an important topic of study for several decades. The established roadmaps following Moore's Law have encountered bottlenecks in recent years, as planar processing techniques are already close to their physical limits. To bypass some of the intrinsic challenges of planar technologies, more and more efforts have been devoted to the development of 3D electronics, through either direct 3D fabrication or indirect 3D assembly. Recent research efforts into direct 3D fabrication have focused on the development of 3D transistor technologies and 3D heterogeneous integration schemes, but these technologies are typically constrained by the accessible range of sophisticated 3D geometries and the complexity of the fabrication processes. As an alternative route, 3D assembly methods make full use of mature planar technologies to form predefined 2D precursor structures in the desired materials and sizes, which are then transformed into targeted 3D mesostructures by mechanical deformation. The latest progress in the area of micro/nanoscale 3D assembly, covering the various classes of methods through rolling, folding, curving, and buckling assembly, is discussed, focusing on the design concepts, principles, and applications of different methods, followed by an outlook on the remaining challenges and open opportunities.