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1 PublicationStretchable Thin Film Mechanical Strain Gated Switches and Logic Gate Functions Based on a Soft Tunneling Barrier
Chae, S.; Jin Choi, W.; Fotev, I.; Bittrich, E.; Uhlmann, P.; Schubert, M.; Makarov, D.; Wagner, J.; Pashkin, O.; Fery, A.
Abstract
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.
Keywords: Strain gated electric switch; logic gates; tunneling; stretchable circuit; thin film
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Data publication: Stretchable Thin Film Mechanical Strain Gated Switches and …
ROBIS: 32988 HZDR-primary research data are used by this (Id 32957) publication
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Advanced Materials 33(2021), 2104769
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202104769
Cited 15 times in Scopus
Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-32957