CMST develops technologies to make elastic electronic devices, mainly for integration into textiles. The principle behind an elastic microsystem is that an electronic circuit is divided into functional islands (containing the electronic components), which are interconnected by meander shaped, stretchable interconnects.The whole is encapsulated into an elastic polymer.
To realize this, CMST has 2 technologies available, which are both based on standard fabrication technologies for electronics. The first technology makes use of printed circuit board techniques where base materials are polyimide, stretchable copper interconnects and soldered, off-the-shelf electronic components. A second technology makes use of printed electronics techniques, where base materials are PET/PEN, stretchable copper or silverprinted interconnects and glued, off-the-shelf electronic components. For both devices, the encapsulant materials to give the system its elasticity are silicones, polyurethanes, thermoplastic elastomers, etc. The first technology aims to realize high density, high level, more robust elastic microsystems, which are more expensive. The second technology aims to realize low density, large area, cheaper elastic microsystems.
These elastic microsystems can be integrated into textiles, by lamination or glueing. In this way, functionality like sensors or lighting, can be integrated into garments, industrial textiles, etc.
As the most important feature of these technologies is their elasticity, characterization of these systems is done by means of extensive endurance testing. Stretchable interconnects are evaluated in their maximum elongation and number of elongations before failure. Depending on which technology of course, a total of more than 1.000.0000 cycles can be reached at 10% elongation. Also, washing tests are performed on textile integrated modules. Last results show that washing these devices upto 25 cycles seems to be possible without detoriating the systems’ functionality.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!