The textile industry uses weaving to create very large quantities of fabric very quickly. The goal of our research is to use this well established technology to create complex large-area circuits quickly and efficiently. In our laboratory we have previously shown that amorphous silicon (a-Si) can be used to make thin-Film transistors (TFTs) on Kapton (a highly temperature-resistant polyimide from DuPont). We also previously showed that these TFTs can survive mechanical loads. A process has been designed to make “TFT fibers” by fabricating a-Si TFTs on Kapton. A special TFT geometry has also been developed. The structure consists of 3 large gold contact pads – one for each terminal of the TFT – running along the fiber. These contact pads allow connections to be made between TFT fibers using conductor fibers – Kapton fibers coated only with gold. The TFT fabrication process is based on a low temperature (150°C) Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) process. The TFTs are fabricated on a Kapton sheet from which flat fibers are made by the slit film technique. So far the best method for cutting a Kapton sheet into fibers has been plasma etching. We will describe the electronic characteristics of these TFTs as well as the electrical characteristics of the contacts between TFT fibers.

Infinite Power Solutions manufactures a flexible rechargeable micro ampere-hour solidstate battery based on thin-film Lithium technology where the battery can be engineered into the product for life as a cost effective solution with “the battery that never needs to be replaced”. The performance characteristics of the battery combined with low power electronic textile applications will require “A Different Way of Thinking About Batteries” relative to battery management and innovative methods of recharging the battery (such as charging the battery whenever the materials are washed and dryed). This paper will review the characteristics of the battery specifically in relation to power generation for flexible electronic materials and the integration issues for a thin-film battery for flexible electronic materials.

A novel biomimetic method for the synthesis of a conducting molecular complex of polypyrrole and of Poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) in the presence of a polyelectrolyte, such as polystyrene sulfonate (SPS) is presented. A poly(ethylene glycol) modified hematin (PEG-Hematin) was used to catalyze the polymerization of pyrrole and of 3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene in the presence of SPS to form a Polypyrrole/SPS and PEDOT/SPS complex. UV-vis, FTIR, electrical conductivity and TGA studies for all complexes indicate the presence of a thermally stable and electrically conductive form of these polymers. Furthermore the presence of SPS in this complex provides a unique combination of properties such as processability and water-solubility. Water-soluble polypyrrole opens new avenues for the fabrication of novel biosensors.