A stretchable temperature sensor based on elastically buckled thin film devices on elastomeric substrates

Stretchable electronics and sensors have been attracting significant attention due to their unique characteristics and wide applications. This letter presents a prototype of a fully stretchable temperature sensor on an elastomeric substrate. The sensor was fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer and then transferred to a prestrained elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane substrate. Releasing the prestrain on the substrates led to the formation of the microscale, periodic, wavy geometries of the sensor. The thin wavy sensor device can be reversibly bent and stretched up to 30% strain without any damage or performance degradation. A theoretical analysis was also developed to estimate the wavy profile. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3243692]