Archimedean spiral design for extremely stretchable interconnects

The island-interconnect structures have been widely used in stretchable electronics. This Letter compares the stretchability of two serpentine-based and one spiral-based interconnects, under the limitations of the same in-plane area and contour length rooted from the same areal coverage and electrical resistance. Finite element analysis was conducted and the results showed that the spiral-based interconnects are more stretchable (up to 250% under elastic deformation) than serpentine-based structure. It is believed that a uniform and small curvature contributes to a greater stretchability. The Archimedean spiral pattern as the stretchable interconnection only presents one successful example of the new design concept. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.