Scalable microaccordion mesh for deformable and stretchable metallic films

Elastically deformable materials can be created from rigids sheets through patterning appropriate meshes which can locally bend and flex. We demonstrate how micro-accordion patterns can be fabricated across large areas using three-beam interference lithography. Our resulting mesh induces a large and robust elasticity within any rigid material film. Gold coating the micro-accordion produces stretchable conducting films. Conductivity changes are negligible when the sample is stretched reversibly up to 30% and no major defects are introduced, in comparison to continuous sheets which quickly tear. Scaling analysis shows that our method is suited to further miniaturisation and large- scale fabrication of stretchable functional films. It thus opens routes to stretchable interconnects in electronic, photonic and sensing applications, as well as a wide variety of other deformable structures.We are grateful for funding from the Cambridge NanoDTC, ERC LINASS 320503 and UK EPSRC grants EP/G060649/1, EP/G037221/1, EP/L027151/1 and EP/L015978/1, as well as Nokia Research. RWB thanks Queens’ College Cambridge for financial support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.4.04400

Scalable microaccordion mesh for deformable and stretchable metallic films

Elastically deformable materials can be created from rigid sheets through patterning appropriate meshes which can locally bend and flex. We demonstrate how microaccordion patterns can be fabricated across large areas using three-beam interference lithography. Our resulting mesh induces a large and robust elasticity within any rigid material film. Gold coating the microaccordion produces stretchable conducting films. Conductivity changes are negligible when the sample is stretched reversibly up to 30% and no major defects are introduced, in comparison to continuous sheets which quickly tear. Scaling analysis shows that our method is suited to further miniaturization and large-scale fabrication of stretchable functional films. It thus opens routes to stretchable interconnects in electronic, photonic, and sensing applications, as well as a wide variety of other deformable structures