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Originally published in Science Express on 12 February 2009
Science 20 March 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5921, pp. 1590 - 1593
DOI: 10.1126/science.1168375
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Reports

Omnidirectional Printing of Flexible, Stretchable, and Spanning Silver Microelectrodes

Bok Y. Ahn,1,2 Eric B. Duoss,1,2 Michael J. Motala,1,3 Xiaoying Guo,1,2 Sang-Il Park,1,2 Yujie Xiong,1,2 Jongseung Yoon,1,2 Ralph G. Nuzzo,1,3 John A. Rogers,1,2,3 Jennifer A. Lewis1,2*

Flexible, stretchable, and spanning microelectrodes that carry signals from one circuit element to another are needed for many emerging forms of electronic and optoelectronic devices. We have patterned silver microelectrodes by omnidirectional printing of concentrated nanoparticle inks in both uniform and high–aspect ratio motifs with minimum widths of approximately 2 micrometers onto semiconductor, plastic, and glass substrates. The patterned microelectrodes can withstand repeated bending and stretching to large levels of strain with minimal degradation of their electrical properties. With this approach, wire bonding to fragile three-dimensional devices and spanning interconnects for solar cell and light-emitting diode arrays are demonstrated.

1 Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jalewis{at}illinois.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)