There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom

—Prof. Richard P. Feynman

A talk to the American Physical Society on December 1959

Flexible electronics that bridge the gap between electronics and dynamic biological systems

Flexible electronic technology is one of the revolutionary development directions of future electronic technology. The mechanical flexibility of the devices allows them to closely integrate with biological objects. The primary function of flexible electronic devices is to achieve bidirectional interaction between biological systems and the external world. Whether to precisely perceive and process external information from the environment or monitor complex physiological information in real-time, flexible electronic systems should possess large-area mapping capabilities at cellular-level resolution. This places higher demands on skin-like functional materials, heterogeneous integration techniques, and system architectures. Currently, flexible and stretchable systems face several challenges: (1) It is difficult to decouple the electronic and mechanical properties of flexible and stretchable electronic materials, as there are inherent contradictions at the molecular level. (2) Flexible organic electronic materials are incompatible with the well-established lithography process of the current advanced semiconductor industry, making them difficult to integrate with high resolution at the device level.

Building on my prior training and research experience, my group is eager to harness a wide array of organic chemistry and polymer synthesis strategies to enhance flexible electronic materials with additional properties beyond flexibility and electrical performance, such as stimuli-responsiveness, bio-specificity, and environmental stability. We are committed to advancing micro-nano manufacturing technologies based on multifunctional polymer materials, ultimately aiming to establish stretchable integrated circuits and microsystems. Our goal is to achieve significant breakthroughs in high-throughput flexible brain-computer interface systems and multimodal stretchable neuromorphic devices.