Identifying, quantifying, and mitigating extraneous contact effect in dynamic characterization of flexible devices

Abstract

As flexible electronic devices continue to scale down, the extraneous response of the electrical contacts/leads to the mechanical modulation becomes non-negligible, making it increasingly difficult to accurately determine the device's intrinsic response. This poses an important challenge for dynamic characterization of flexible electronics. Here, we demonstrate a new scheme that can effectively isolate and mitigate such extraneous effects. Using a patented design with a wiring platform closely “floating” above and synchronously moving with the flexible device, we effectively minimize the mechanical deformation of the electrical leads. Through a comparative study, we clearly observe the complicated mechanical response from electrical contacts in the conventional wiring scheme, hindering intrinsic device response. We further demonstrate that the new wiring scheme is robust and reliable in mitigating such extraneous effects, which can improve the measurement accuracy by two orders of magnitude (extraneous resistance variation reduced from 3.43 to 0.038 mΩ). Our work offers important insights and practical guidelines for accurate characterization of dynamic response in nanoscale flexible electronics.