Flexible electronic circuits including shape memory materials

• US 10,056,660 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Doyle, Matthew S., Judd, Jeffrey N., Kuczynski, Joseph, Strand, Scott D., Tofil, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): TAKAOKA, DEAN O
• Application Number:
  US15/367,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20180159191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 148563, 427 971, 521 27
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/06 using expansion or contraction of bodies due to heating, cooling, moistening, drying or the like using thermal expansion of non-vaporising liquids F01K
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/0612 using polymers
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/0614 using shape memory elements
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/065 using a shape memory element
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 1/06 Movable joints, e.g. rotating joints
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 1/127 Strip line switches
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 3/085 Triplate lines

Abstract

A flexible electronic circuit includes a shape memory material disposed within a flexible dielectric material.

Claims

1. A flexible electronic circuit comprising:

a power plane structure comprising a first power plane layer and a second power plane layer; and

a shape memory material disposed between the first power plane layer and the second power plane layer,

wherein a plane capacitance between the first power plane layer and the second power plane layer corresponds to a first plane capacitance value when the shape memory material is in a deformed state, and wherein the plane capacitance corresponds to a second plane capacitance value when the shape memory material is in a non-deformed state.

2. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein the shape memory material includes a shape memory alloy (SMA) material disposed within a flexible dielectric material.

3. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein the SMA material is a diaphragm-shaped material.

4. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein the SMA material includes a cylindrically-shaped material.

5. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein the flexible dielectric material is formed from a flexible adhesive bonding material.

6. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein the flexible dielectric material is formed from an ion gel.

7. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein a change from the first plane capacitance value to the second plane capacitance value is determined based on movement of a voltage plane that results from the shape memory material transitioning from the deformed state to the non-deformed state.

8. The flexible electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein the shape memory material includes a shape memory polymer (SMP) material that forms a flexible dielectric material between the first power plane layer and the second power plane layer.

9. A process of utilizing a shape memory material to vary an impedance value of an embedded signal trace of a flexible electronic circuit, the process comprising:

disposing a shape memory material in a deformed state within a flexible dielectric material of a flexible electronic circuit that includes an embedded signal trace; and

heating the shape memory material to change the shape memory material from the deformed state to a non-deformed state,

wherein the embedded signal trace has a first impedance value when the shape memory material is in the deformed state, and wherein the embedded signal trace has a second impedance value when the shape memory material is in the non-deformed state.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the shape memory material includes a shape memory alloy (SMA) material.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the SMA material is a diaphragm-shaped material or a cylindrically-shaped material.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein the flexible dielectric material is formed from a flexible adhesive bonding material or from an ion gel.

13. The process of claim 9, wherein a change from the first impedance value to the second impedance value is determined based on movement of a signal plane that results from the shape memory material transitioning from the deformed state to the non-deformed state.

14. The process of claim 9, wherein a change from the first impedance value to the second impedance value is determined based on movement of a ground plane that results from the shape memory material transitioning from the deformed state to the non-deformed state.

15. A process of utilizing a shape memory material to vary a distance between power plane layers of a power plane structure of a flexible electronic circuit, the process comprising:

disposing a shape memory material in a deformed state between a first power plane layer and a second power plane layer of a power plane structure of a flexible electronic circuit; and

heating the shape memory material to change the shape memory material from the deformed state to a non-deformed state,

wherein a plane capacitance between the first power plane layer and the second power plane layer corresponds to a first plane capacitance value when the shape memory material is in the deformed state, and wherein the plane capacitance corresponds to a second plane capacitance value when the shape memory material is in the non-deformed state.

16. The process of claim 15, wherein the shape memory material includes a shape memory polymer (SMP) material that forms a flexible dielectric material between the first power plane layer and the second power plane layer.

17. The process of claim 15, wherein the shape memory material includes a shape memory alloy (SMA) material disposed within a flexible dielectric material.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein the SMA material is a diaphragm-shaped material or a cylindrically-shaped material.

19. The process of claim 17, wherein the flexible dielectric material is formed from a flexible adhesive bonding material or from an ion gel.