Fabric substrates and interconnectors for three-dimensional surfaces

Abstract

Human bodies are soft, stretchy, and curved. To enable electronics intimately wearable on curvilinear human bodies with various gestures and motions, it requires electronic devices to be breathable, foldable, elastic, reliable, and durable. Electrical interconnectors play significant roles in conventional electronic devices and are indispensible in wearable electronics that work in repeatedly large deformation in tensile, bending, and shear modes and in three dimensions. This chapter conducts a systematic investigation into different types of (1) fabric substrates, including woven, knitted, and nonwoven, from aspects of structure, material, geometrical configuration, and mechanical performance, and (2) textile interconnectors, such as printed, embroidered, woven, and knitted ones, in terms of their structure, materials, and characteristics, for three-dimensional surfaces.