Inorganic islands on a highly stretchable polyimide substrate

For a flexible electronic device integrating inorganic materials on a polymer substrate, the polymer can deform substantially, but the inorganic materials usually fracture at small strains. This paper describes an approach to make such a device highly stretchable. A polyimide substrate is first coated with a thin layer of an elastomer, on top of which SiN_x islands are fabricated. When the substrate is stretched to a large strain, the SiN _x islands remain intact. Calculations confirm that the elastomer reduces the strain in the SiN_x islands by orders of magnitude.