Surely, you are familiar with the components of your electronic gadgets like your phone, digital camera, GPS locator, and others. These components may include chips, resistors, transistors, sockets, capacitors, and others which usually come in different colors. And you also know for a fact that these are stiff and may break with mishandling. Now, imagine if these components were flexible that would allow you to bend your gadget? How nice could that be? Think it is impossible? It is not with flexible electronics.
What Is Flexible Electronics?
Also known as flex circuits, flexible electronics is a new technology that involves the assembly of electronic circuits through the use of a new material that is flexible. More clearly, the electronic components are mounted on a flexible plastic substrate such as PEEK and polyimide.
Advantages Of Using Flexible Electronics
Flexible electronics is very important and useful these days especially that everybody is just so busy and mobile. One false move and you may end up with a bent cell phone or cracked camera. Much worse, you camera may be broken in half in the middle of your vacation and sightseeing. Therefore, flexible electronics applied on the following is advantageous.
- Electronic packages that are tightly assembled such as cameras where the electrical connections are supposed to be made in 3 axes.
- In folding cell phones where the components have to go with the bend or fold during use.
- Rockets and satellites and other electronic connections with sub-assemblies.
- In electrical connections where board thickness and space constraints are to be considered.
Why Is Flexible Electronics Very Popular Today?
Flexible electronics is so popular these days because it is a new design tool that is unlike anything else. It paves the way for unconventional devices and gadgets that were never before seen. For example, you may already be able to wear your smartphone around your wrist because the new materials flex. Or, you can also think about flex displays that, when folded out, take the size of a flat screen TV. Imagine your car’s antenna conforming to the shape of the hood or the roof. And that goes the same way with your house’s TV antenna.
Aside from that flexible electronics are also cheaper to use and make. When you think about the regular or conventional electronics, the process is long and complex and requires multi-billion dollars of support and funding. With flexible electronics, it is hoped that a plastic film may be used which would work just like how we print ink on the newspaper.
Right now, ongoing research is being made everywhere in the world especially in Penn State under Enrique Gomez, an assistant professor in Chemical Engineering. This may be among the biggest breakthroughs of all time.
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