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US 9,691,873 B2Granted
Transient devices designed to undergo programmable transformations
AssigneesThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Trustees of Tufts College
InventorsJohn A. Rogers, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Suk-Won Hwang, Hu Tao, Dae-Hyeong Kim, David Kaplan
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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.
Claims34
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.
3 more elements
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.
6 more elements
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:
- t
- c
- =
- 4
-
- ρ
- m
-
- M
-
- (
- H
- 2
-
- O
- )
- kw
- 0
-
- M
-
- (
- m
- )
-
- kh
- 0
- 2
- D
- tanh
-
- kh
- 0
- 2
- D
- ;
- where tc is the critical time, ρm is the mass density of the material, M(H2O) is the molar mass of water, M(m) is the molar mass of the material, h0 is the initial thickness of the material, D is the diffusivity of water, k is the reaction constant for the dissolution reaction, and w0 is the initial concentration of water;
- wherein k has a value selected from the range of 105 to 10−10 s−1.
43 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.