Transient devices designed to undergo programmable transformations

• US 9,691,873 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2012
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois, Trustees of Tufts College
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Illinois, Trustees of Tufts College
• Inventors: Tao, Hu, Kaplan, David, Rogers, John A., Omenetto, Fiorenzo G., Hwang, Suk-Won, Kim, Dae-Hyeong
• Primary Examiner(s): Gumedzoe, Peniel M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Johnson, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US13/624,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20130140649A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 257414
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 10/00 Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 23/282 Limited play
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/293 Organic, e.g. plastic
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/016 Thin-film circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/10 Inductors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/20 Resistors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 28/40 Capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0669 Nanowires or nanotubes carbon nanotubes as material of solid-state device active part H10K85/211
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66 Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66007 Multistep manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7787 with wide bandgap charge-carrier supplying layer, e.g. direct single heterostructure MODFET
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/78603 characterised by the insulating substrate or support H01L29/78657 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7869 having a semiconductor body comprising an oxide semiconductor material, e.g. zinc oxide, copper aluminium oxide, cadmium stannate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/78696 characterised by the structure of the channel, e.g. multichannel, transverse or longitudinal shape, length or width, doping structure, or the overlap or alignment between the channel and the gate, the source or the drain, or the contacting structure of the channel H01L29/78612 takes precedence; transistors having a drain offset region or a lightly doped drain [LDD] H01L29/78621
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/812 with a Schottky gate H01L29/7725, H01L29/775, H01L29/778, H01L29/806 take precedence; with Schottky contact on top of heterojunction gate H01L29/802
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/861 Diodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/872 Schottky diodes
• 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: H01L 31/08 in which radiation controls flow of current through the device, e.g. photoresistors
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2283 : mounted in or on the surface of a semiconductor substrate as a chip-type antenna or integrated with other components into an IC package
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 : Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 257/922 : with means to prevent inspection of or tampering with an integrated circuit, e.g. "smart card", anti-tamper

Abstract

The invention provides transient devices, including active and passive devices that electrically and/or physically transform upon application of at least one internal and/or external stimulus. Materials, modeling tools, manufacturing approaches, device designs and system level examples of transient electronics are provided.

Claims

1. An actively triggered transient electronic device comprising:

a substrate;

one or more inorganic components supported by said substrate;

wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise a selectively transformable material, wherein said one or more inorganic components have a preselected transience profile in response to an external or internal stimulus;

a silk overcoat provided on at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components; and

an actuator responsive to a user initiated external trigger signal and operably connected to said one or more inorganic components, wherein upon said device receiving said external trigger signal said actuator at least partially removes said silk overcoat so as to expose at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components to said external or internal stimulus, thereby providing a programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device in response to said external trigger signal, wherein said programmable transformation provides a change in function of the actively triggered transient electronic device from a first condition to a second condition.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said user initiated external trigger signal is an electronic signal, an optical signal, a thermal signal, a magnetic signal, a mechanical signal, a chemical signal, an acoustic signal or an electrochemical signal.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said actuator generates electromagnetic radiation, acoustic energy, an electric field, a magnetic field, heat, a RF signal, a voltage, a chemical change, or a biological change in response to said user initiated external trigger signal, thereby initiating said at least partial transformation.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said actuator comprises a heater, a reservoir containing a chemical agent capable of causing a chemical change or a biological change, a source of electromagnetic radiation, a source of an electric field, a source of RF energy or a source of acoustic energy.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said actuator comprises an encapsulating material at least partially encapsulating one or more of said inorganic components, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a selectively removable material that is at least partially removed upon said device receiving said external trigger signal to expose said one or more partially encapsulated inorganic components to said internal or external stimulus, thereby initiating said at least partial transformation.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device of said one or more inorganic components occurs:

(i) by a phase change, wherein at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components undergoes at least partial sublimation or melting;

(ii) via at least partial dissolution of said one or more inorganic components in a solvent;

(iii) via at least partial hydrolysis of said one or more inorganic components;

(iv) via at least partial etching or corrosion of said one or more inorganic components;

(v) by a photochemical reaction wherein at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components absorbs electromagnetic radiation and undergoes an at least partial chemical or physical change;

(vi) by an electrochemical reaction;

or

(vii) by a chemical or physical change wherein at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components is converted to an insulator;

thereby providing said programmable transformation of the transient electronic device.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said preselected transience profile is characterized by a transformation of 0.01% to 100% of said one or more inorganic components over a time interval selected from the range of 1 ms to 2 years, thereby providing said programmable transformation of the transient electronic device.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein said preselected transience profile is characterized by a decrease in electrical conductivity of said one or more inorganic components at a rate selected over the range of 10¹⁰ S·

m<sup>−

1</sup> s<sup>−

1</sup> to 1 S·

m<sup>−

1</sup> s<sup>−

1</sup>.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said external or internal stimulus comprises a change in biological environment, a change in temperature, a change in pressure, exposure to electromagnetic radiation, contact with a chemical agent, application of an electric field, application of a magnetic field, exposure to a solvent, change in pH of an external environment, change in salt concentration of an external environment, or application of an anodic voltage.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising an encapsulating material at least partially encapsulating one or more of said inorganic components, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a selectively removable material that is at least partially removed to expose said inorganic components.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a material selected from the group consisting of MgO, silk, collagen, gelatin, PLGA, polyvinylalcohol (PVA), PLA, SiO₂, polyanhydrides (polyesters), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and polyphosphates.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a silk composite material.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or more inorganic components each independently have a thickness less than or equal to 100 nm.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise one or more perforated structures.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise a polycrystalline semiconductor material, single crystalline semiconductor material or a doped polycrystalline.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise Si, Ga, GaAs, ZnO or any combination of these.

17. The device of claim 1, wherein said one or more inorganic components are selected from inorganic semiconductor components, metallic conductor components and combinations of inorganic semiconductor components and metallic conductor components.

18. The device of claim 17, comprising said inorganic semiconductor components comprising ZnO and said metallic conductor components comprising Mg, Fe, W or an alloy thereof.

19. The device of claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises silk.

20. The device of claim 10, wherein a time for a thickness of said selectively removable material to reach zero is given by:

21. The device of claim 17, wherein said one or more metallic conductor components independently comprise Mg, W, Fe, an alloy of Mg with one or more additional materials selected from the group consisting of Al, Ag, Ca, Li, Mn, Si, Sn, Y, Zn, and Zr, wherein said one or more additional materials of said alloy has a concentration equal to or less than 10% by weight or an alloy of Mg with one or more rare earth elements, wherein said one or more rare earth elements of said alloy has a concentration equal to or less than 10% by weight.

22. The device of claim 1, wherein said programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device occurs by a process other than bioresorption.

23. A method of using an actively triggered transient electronic device, said method comprising the steps of:

providing the actively triggered transient electronic device comprising;

a substrate;

one or more inorganic components supported by said substrate;

wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise a selectively transformable material, wherein said one or more inorganic components have a preselected transience profile in response to an external or internal stimulus;

a silk overcoat provided on at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components; and

an actuator responsive to a user initiated external trigger signal and operably connected to said one or more inorganic components, wherein upon said device receiving said external trigger signal said actuator at least partially removes said silk overcoat so as to expose at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components to said external or internal stimulus, thereby providing a programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device in response to said external trigger signal, wherein said programmable transformation provides a change of the function of the actively triggered transient electronic device from a first condition to a second condition corresponding to a second functionality different from a first functionality; and

providing said user initiated external trigger signal to said electronic device, wherein said actuator directly or indirectly initiates at least partial transformation of said one or more inorganic components, thereby providing said programmable transformation.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said one or more inorganic components are selected from inorganic semiconductor components, metallic conductor components and combinations of inorganic semiconductor components and metallic conductor components.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device occurs by a process other than bioresorption.

26. An actively triggered transient electronic device comprising:

a substrate;

one or more inorganic components supported by said substrate;

wherein said one or more inorganic components independently comprise a selectively transformable material, wherein said one or more inorganic components have a preselected transience profile in response to an external or internal stimulus;

a silk overcoat provided on at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components; and

an actuator responsive to a user initiated external trigger signal and operably connected to said one or more inorganic components, wherein upon said device receiving said external trigger signal said actuator at least partially removes said silk overcoat so as to expose at least a portion of said one or more inorganic components to said external or internal stimulus, thereby providing a programmable transformation of the actively triggered transient electronic device in response to said external trigger signal, wherein said programmable transformation provides a change in function of the actively triggered transient electronic device from a first condition to a second condition;

an encapsulating material at least partially encapsulating one or more of said inorganic components, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a selectively removable material that is at least partially removed to expose said inorganic components;

wherein a time for a thickness of said selectively removable material to reach zero is given by;

27. The device of claim 26, wherein said user initiated external trigger signal is an electronic signal, an optical signal, a thermal signal, a magnetic signal, a mechanical signal, a chemical signal, an acoustic signal or an electrochemical signal.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein said actuator generates electromagnetic radiation, acoustic energy, an electric field, a magnetic field, heat, a RF signal, a voltage, a chemical change, or a biological change in response to said user initiated external trigger signal, thereby initiating said at least partial transformation.

29. The device of claim 26, wherein said actuator comprises a heater, a reservoir containing a chemical agent capable of causing a chemical change or a biological change, a source of electromagnetic radiation, a source of an electric field, a source of RF energy or a source of acoustic energy.

30. The device of claim 26, wherein said actuator comprises an encapsulating material at least partially encapsulating one or more of said inorganic components, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a selectively removable material that is at least partially removed upon said device receiving said external trigger signal to expose said inorganic components to said internal or external stimulus, thereby initiating said at least partial transformation.

31. The device of claim 26 further comprising an encapsulating material at least partially encapsulating one or more of said inorganic components, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a selectively removable material that is at least partially removed to expose said inorganic components.

32. The device of claim 31, wherein said encapsulating material comprises a silk composite material.

33. The device of claim 26, wherein said one or more inorganic components each independently have a thickness less than or equal to 100 nm.

34. The device of claim 26, wherein said one or more inorganic components are selected from inorganic semiconductor components, metallic conductor components and combinations of inorganic semiconductor components and metallic conductor components.