Improving Conduction and Mechanical Reliability of Woven Metal Interconnects

We present a simple fabrication process that produces reliable electronic textile backplanes. We electroplate copper onto woven conductive yarns in order to improve the yarn's conductivity as well as the reliability of electrical contact points between the conductive warp and weft yarns. This process improves the electrical performance of the woven yarns and of the warp/weft contacts by a factor of 1.22 and 3.63, respectively. Also, in mechanical tests, the electroplated textiles show improved electrical performance when subjected to mechanical strain. Furthermore, we use this process to mount electronic submounts onto the textile substrate on top of which electronic components could be easily connected, thereby creating an electronic textile backplane.