Flexible and Stretchable Electronics for Wearable and Healthcare Devices (Wearable Technology LIVE! USA 2014)

Current wearable and healthcare devices are mostly built with standard PCB technologies. As a consequence, they are often rigid, thick and not comfortable to wear. Printed and flexible electronics technologies can enable devices having a much improved wearability because of their inherent thinness, flexibility or even stretchability. The recent technology status at Holst Centre and imec CMST on flexible and stretchable electronics will be discussed. This for example includes status on high resolution multilayer conductive circuitry printing, the integration of ultra thin silicon chips with plastic films and our technology for stretchable electronics. Throughout, various concrete product prototype examples will be shown in which the technologies are deployed: two types of health patches, a wrist-based phototherapy device and a smart contact lens.

Jeroen van den Brand PhD is Program Manager at Holst Centre where he is leading the research team on integration and wearable technologies. He holds a PhD degree in materials science and technology from Delft University of Technology (2004). Since 2007 he is working at Holst Centre.

Holst Centre/TNO (www.holstcentre.com), set up by the TNO and IMEC, is an independent shared-innovation R&D Centre for Flexible Electronics and Sensor Technologies in the Netherlands. A key feature is its partnership model with industry and academia comprising more than 40 international companies. Holst Centre/TNO has major activities in the areas of TOLAE, (hybrid) printed electronics, flexible OLEDs, photovoltaics and oxide transistor technology. Holst Centre has demonstrated solutions for numerous hybrid and printed electronics products, varying from printed temperature and humidity sensing devices, paper electronics, health-patches, smart garments, and (thermoformed) stretchable products