3D Stretchable Electronics with Stretchable Interlayer Connectors

The unique mechanical characteristics of stretchable electronics has significantly expanded applications by overcoming the limitations (rigid, planar) of conventional electronics. However, most reported stretchable electronics are two dimensionally stretchable (laterally stretchable in the xy-axis) in a single layer or even in multiple layers. In this report, we present three dimensionally (3D) stretchable electronics (laterally and vertically stretchable in the xyz-axes) in multilayered 3D electronic circuits. Computational and experimental studies indicate that the approach is reliable in three-dimensional deformations. The base units, stretchable interlayer connectors, can be applied to form various electronic circuit designs in 3D stretchable forms. We demonstrated the efficacy of the approach by designing and fabricating a 3D stretchable light emitting diode (LED) matrix display (125 LEDs).