Beyond Flexible: Unveiling the Next Era of Flexible Electronic Systems

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2024-12, Vol.36 (51), p.e2406424-n/a
• Main Authors: Kim, Min Sung, Almuslem, Amani S., Babatain, Wedyan, Bahabry, Rabab R., Das, Uttam K., El‐Atab, Nazek, Ghoneim, Mohamed, Hussain, Aftab M., Kutbee, Arwa T., Nassar, Joanna, Qaiser, Nadeem, Rojas, Jhonathan P., Shaikh, Sohail F., Torres Sevilla, Galo A., Hussain, Muhammad M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actuation; Actuators; Circuits; CMOS technology; Data management; Electronic systems; Electronics; Flexible components; flexible electronics; Monitoring; Power management; Review; Stretchability; transformational electronics
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202406424

Flexible electronics are integral in numerous domains such as wearables, healthcare, physiological monitoring, human–machine interface, and environmental sensing, owing to their inherent flexibility, stretchability, lightweight construction, and low profile. These systems seamlessly conform to curvilinear surfaces, including skin, organs, plants, robots, and marine species, facilitating optimal contact. This capability enables flexible electronic systems to enhance or even supplant the utilization of cumbersome instrumentation across a broad range of monitoring and actuation tasks. Consequently, significant progress has been realized in the development of flexible electronic systems. This study begins by examining the key components of standalone flexible electronic systems–sensors, front‐end circuitry, data management, power management and actuators. The next section explores different integration strategies for flexible electronic systems as well as their recent advancements. Flexible hybrid electronics, which is currently the most widely used strategy, is first reviewed to assess their characteristics and applications. Subsequently, transformational electronics, which achieves compact and high‐density system integration by leveraging heterogeneous integration of bare‐die components, is highlighted as the next era of flexible electronic systems. Finally, the study concludes by suggesting future research directions and outlining critical considerations and challenges for developing and miniaturizing fully integrated standalone flexible electronic systems. Flexible electronics are essential in various fields like wearables, healthcare, and environmental sensing due to their flexibility, lightweight construction, and low profile. These systems conform to diverse surfaces, enhancing or replacing bulky instruments in many applications. This study reviews key components of standalone flexible electronics, integration strategies, and recent advancements, emphasizing flexible hybrid and transformational electronics, and concludes with future research directions and challenges.