Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Mechanical strain gated switches are cornerstone components of material embedded circuits that perform logic operations without using conventional electronics. This technology requires a single material system to exhibit three distinct functionalities: strain-invariant conductivity and an increase or decrease of conductivity upon mechanical deformation. Herein, we demonstrate mechanical strain-gated electric switches based on a thin-film architecture that features an insulator-to-conductor transition when mechanically stretched. The conductivity changes by nine orders of magnitude over a wide range of tunable working strains (as high as 130%). Our approach relies on a nanometer-scale sandwiched bi-layer Au thin film with an ultrathin polydimethylsiloxane elastomeric barrier layer applied strain alters the electron tunneling currents through the barrier. Mechanical-force-controlled electric logic circuits are achieved by realizing strain-controlled basic (AND and OR) and universal (NAND and NOR) logic gates in a single system. The proposed material system can be used to fabricate material-embedded logics of arbitrary complexity for wide range of applications including soft robotics, wearable/implantable electronics, human machine interface and internet of things.