Stretchable and compressible thin films of stiff materials on compliant wavy substrates

J. Xiao*, A. Carlson, Z. J. Liu, Y. Huang, H. Jiang, J. A. Rogers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

This letter presents experimental, numerical, and analytical studies of Au thin films on elastomeric substrates of poly(dimethylsiloxane) that are designed with sinusoidal, "wavy" features of surface relief. Such systems can be useful as stretchable conductors in electronic or sensory devices. The maximum film strain is obtained in terms of film and substrate elastic moduli, film thickness, amplitude and wavelength of the wavy profile, and the applied strain. These analytical solutions agree well with both finite element analysis and experimentally measured changes in the sinusoidal profile under small, uniaxial strains. A simple expression for the system stretchability and compressibility is established.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number013109
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume93
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008

Funding

This material was based upon work supported by the NSF under Grant No. DMI-0328162, and the U.S. DOE under Award No. DE-FG02-07ER46471. The general characterization facilities were provided through the support from DOE Grant Nos. DE-FG02-07ER46453 and DE-FG02-07ER46471. Y.H. acknowledges the financial support from NSF of China. A.C. acknowledges support from the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship program. H.J. acknowledges the support from NSF CMMI-0700440.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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