THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF TAPE TRANSFER PRINTING FOR STRETCHABLE ELECTRONIC FABRICATION

Abstract

Transfer printing is an effective way to assemble a soft stamp to transfer solid components from one substrate to a soft target substrate. The critical parameter in transfer printing is the adhesion force at the electronic devices/silicon interface. This paper proposes an improved transfer printing method based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) water-soluble tape for reducing the interfacial energy at stretchable electronics/glass interface. Whether the stretchable electronics are peeled off successfully or not, depends on the peeling energy release rate, which is obtained by the home-made peeling experiment platform for stretchable electronics delaminated from the rigid glass. Compared with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate, the critical energy release rate is reduced by 60% via PVA tape transfer printing which is helpful to delaminate the stretchable electronics from the glass surface. The improved transfer printing method provides an effective way for the stretchable electronics to be directly printed to the soft target tissues.