STELLA - STretchable ELectronics for Large Area Applications - A New Technology for Smart Textiles

Abstract

As a consequence of the ambient intelligent vision where the citizen carries along more and more electronic systems near the body wearable electronics is needed. Typical applications are intelligent textiles and clothes, personnel healthcare or fitness monitoring. The electronic systems for these applications have to be stretchable with soft touch nature in order not to hamper the comfort of the user and to be ideally almost non-noticeable to him. They should be reliably withstanding all mechanical and chemical requirements of clothes, in which they are integrated. In the EU- project "STELLA" IST - 028260 the consortium has developed a platform technology of enabling interconnection, packaging and assembling technologies. For example a new generation of stretchable substrates based on non woven with stretchable conductor pattern for large area application has been developed. In order to realize low-cost high volume stretchable electronics printed circuit methods have been modified and applied so far.