Robust Microelectronics Integration for Wireless Sensing Stickers
There have been tremendous advancements in wearable electronics for sensing and health monitoring — from novel material architectures for thin-film stretchable circuits to algorithms for signal processing and classification. In particular, progress in materials engineering and manufacturing has led to fully wireless, sticker-like electronics that can adhere to skin and track body motion or detect physiological state. The maturity of these sensing sticker architectures in recent years has led many academic researchers to surmise that hardware for wearable electronics is a “solved problem” with few scientific challenges remaining in design and manufacturing. However, recent efforts in commercial translation of these wireless sensing sticker technologies from the lab to the market suggest that important research challenges remain. In this presentation, I will address continuing challenges with the design and manufacturing of wireless sensing stickers that are soft, thin, and stretchable. I will focus special attention on recent progress on material architectures and rapid fabrication methods that allow for scalable manufacturing of sensing stickers composed of stretchable circuit interconnects and integrated microelectronics. In particular, I will examine how choice of materials and fabrication can be tailored to overcome internal elastic mismatches and achieve mechanically and electrically robust connections between soft circuit wiring and rigid microelectronics. I will conclude with examples of these circuits applied to a variety of wearable sensing applications and discuss prospects for commercialization and societal impact.
Carmel Majidi is the Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads the Soft Machines Lab. His lab is dedicated to the discovery of novel material architectures that allow machines and electronics to be soft, elastically deformable, and biomechanically compatible. Currently, his research is focused on fluid-filled elastomers that exhibit unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties and can function as “artificial” skin, nervous tissue, and muscle for soft robotics and wearables. Carmel has received grants from industry and federal agencies along with early career awards from DARPA, ONR, AFOSR, and NASA to explore challenges in soft-matter engineering and robotics. Prior to arriving at CMU, Prof. Majidi had postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and Princeton Universities and received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Prof. Carmel Majidi
Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA 15213
[email protected] • 412.268.2492
http://sml.me.cmu.edu
Prof. Carmel Majidi
Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh USA 15213
[email protected] • 412.268.2492
http://sml.me.cmu.edu