Appendage mountable electronic devices conformable to surfaces

• US 10,052,066 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois
• Inventors: Rogers, John A., Ying, Ming, Bonifas, Andrew, Lu, Nanshu
• Primary Examiner(s): Aychillhum, Andargie M
• Application Number:
  US15/375,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20170181704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 617 Days
• Field of Search: 361749, 361748
• CPC Class Codes: A41D 19/015 Protective gloves A41D19/0055 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/741 Glove like input devices, e.g. "data gloves"
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/05 Surgical care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0233 Special features of optical sensors or probes classified in A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0247 Pressure sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0261 Strain gauges
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0271 Thermal or temperature sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/028 Microscale sensors, e.g. electromechanical sensors [MEMS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0285 Nanoscale sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/029 Humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/12 Manufacturing methods specially adapted for producing sensors for in-vivo measurements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/164 the sensor is mounted in or on a conformable substrate or carrier
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/227 Sensors with electrical connectors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/35 for telesurgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/76 Manipulators having means for providing feel, e.g. force or tactile feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 42/10 Surgical gloves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1125 Grasping motions of hands
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/483 by thermal stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4875 : Hydration status, fluid retention of the body
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6806 : Gloves
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6826 : Finger
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6843 : Monitoring or controlling sensor contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7455 : characterised by tactile indication, e.g. vibration or electrical stimulation
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0456 : Specially adapted for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation [TENS]
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/0476 : Array electrodes (including any electrode arrangement with more than one electrode for at least one of the polarities)
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/95 : at chip-level, i.e. with connecting carried out on a plurality of singulated devices, i.e. on diced chips
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/95001 : involving a temporary auxiliary member not forming part of the bonding apparatus, e.g. removable or sacrificial coating, film or substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5388 : for flat cards, e.g. credit cards cards per se G06K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 : Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 : Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0283 : Stretchable printed circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/11 : Printed elements for providing electric connections to or between printed circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/162 : incorporating printed capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/189 : characterised by the use of a flexible or folded printed circuit H05K3/326 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0133 : Elastomeric or compliant polymer elastomeric conductor H05K2201/0314
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/055 : Folded back on itself
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10098 : Components for radio transmission, e.g. radio frequency identification [RFID] tag, printed or non-printed antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10151 : Sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/0014 : Shaping of the substrate, e.g. by moulding
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/303 : Surface mounted components, e.g. affixing before soldering, aligning means, spacing means H05K3/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/02 : Arrangements of circuit components or wiring on supporting structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49124 : On flat or curved insulated base, e.g., printed circuit, etc.

Abstract

Disclosed are appendage mountable electronic systems and related methods for covering and conforming to an appendage surface. A flexible or stretchable substrate has an inner surface for receiving an appendage, including an appendage having a curved surface, and an opposed outer surface that is accessible to external surfaces. A stretchable or flexible electronic device is supported by the substrate inner and/or outer surface, depending on the application of interest. The electronic device in combination with the substrate provides a net bending stiffness to facilitate conformal contact between the inner surface and a surface of the appendage provided within the enclosure. In an aspect, the system is capable of surface flipping without adversely impacting electronic device functionality, such as electronic devices comprising arrays of sensors, actuators, or both sensors and actuators.

Claims

1. An appendage mountable electronic system, said system comprising:

an elastomeric substrate having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the inner surface defines an enclosure capable of receiving an appendage having a curved surface, and the elastomeric substrate has a resting thickness that is less than 10 mm;

a first electronic device supported by the inner surface;

a second electronic device supported by the outer substrate, wherein the first and second electronic devices are in an opposed configuration with respect to each other and separated by a thickness of the elastomeric substrate to form a pressure sensor whose output varies as a function of elastomeric substrate thickness;

each of the first and second electronic devices comprises one or more inorganic semiconductor components, one or more metallic components, or one or more inorganic semiconductor components and one or more metallic components, having a thickness less than 1 mm and a lateral dimension less than 5 mm, having;

a net bending stiffness less that or equal to 1×

10⁸GPa pm³; and

/or a net flexural rigidity less than or equal to 1×

10−

⁴ Nm.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor comprising a pair of spatially aligned electrodes with a first electrode supported by the inner surface and a second electrode supported by the outer surface, wherein the pair of electrodes are in electrical communication with each other and having a capacitance between the pair of electrodes that varies with elastomeric substrate thickness between the pair of electrodes.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein an applied pressure to the elastomeric substrate decreases substrate thickness between the pair of electrodes, thereby increasing the capacitance.

4. The system of claim 2, comprising an array of first electrodes and an array of second electrodes, wherein the array of first electrodes and the array of second electrodes are spatially aligned with each other to form an array of capacitors, each capacitor having a pair of electrodes separated by a thickness of the elastomeric substrate, each individual member of the array of capacitors having a capacitance that independently varies as a function of the elastomeric substrate thickness between the electrodes of the individual member of the array of capacitors.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a first plurality of electrical interconnects to electrically connect each member of the array of first electrodes and a second plurality of electrical interconnects to electrically connect each member of the second array of electrodes, wherein the electrical interconnects are in a serpentine configuration.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first plurality of electrical interconnects is encapsulated by a first encapsulation layer supported by the elastomeric substrate inner surface and the second plurality of electrical interconnects is encapsulated by a second encapsulation layer supported by the elastomeric substrate outer layer.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising a barrier layer to electrically isolate the first plurality of electrical interconnects from the second plurality of electrical interconnects.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second electronic devices are in thermal communication with each other, wherein one of the electronic devices is a thermal source and the electronic device is a thermal detector that measures a temperature, and a change in elastomeric substrate thickness between the thermal source and the thermal detector changes the temperature measured by the thermal detector.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said system is stretchable and configured to conformally contact with a living tissue surface during use.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to adhere to a skin layer by van der Waals interactions during use.

10. An appendage mountable electronic system, said system comprising:

a flexible or stretchable substrate having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the inner surface defines an enclosure capable of receiving an appendage having a curved surface; and

a flexible or stretchable electronic device comprising one or more sensors, supported by the inner surface of said flexible or stretchable substrate;

said sensors comprising one or more inorganic semiconductor components, one or more metallic components, or one or more inorganic semiconductor components and one or more metallic components;

wherein at least a portion of said inorganic semiconductor components, metallic components or both have a thickness less than or equal to 500 microns;

wherein said flexible or stretchable substrate and said electronic device provide a net bending stiffness of the system low enough such that the inner surface of the substrate is capable of establishing conformal contact with a surface of said appendage provided within said enclosure during use, one or more actuators for tissue stimulation, wherein said one or more actuators are supported by the inner surface of said flexible or stretchable substrate;

said actuators comprising one or more inorganic semiconductor components, one or more metallic components, or one or more inorganic semiconductor components and one or more metallic components;

wherein at least a portion of said inorganic semiconductor components, metallic components or both have a thickness less than or equal to 500 microns.

11. The system of claim 10 configured for mounting to a fingertip or any portion thereof.

12. The system of claim 11, having a footprint surface area that is between 0.5 cm² and 2 cm².

13. The system of claim 11, that is incorporated into a glove finger or a glove fingertip.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said actuators comprise electrotactile stimulators and said sensors comprise tactile sensors.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a wireless transmitter for bi-directional communication between the system and a virtual environment.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said electronic device comprises a stretchable or flexible electrode array comprising a plurality of electrodes, multiplex circuitry and amplification circuitry.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein said sensors comprise tactile sensors, motion sensors, temperature sensors, or any combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 10, further comprising a wireless transmitter connected to said electronic device.

19. The system of claim 10, further comprising a wireless power source connected to said electronic device.