The Development of a Unique High Temperature Substrate for Stretchable Printed Electronics.

Conventional electronic assembly processes like SMT reflow require high temperature resistant materials. However, conventional pliable and stretchable polymer films like thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) normally used for printed and flexible hybrid electronics exhibit poor temperature resistance creating challenges in the printing and curing of functional materials like conductive pastes, surface mount assembly and end-use durability.
The technology development center of Panasonic Electronics Materials in Osaka, Japan has been developing materials for FHE/PE applications specifically to address these challenges. Through various experiments and use-case devices, we have demonstrated that these new stretchable materials have the durability and heat resistance to be compatible with traditional SMT assembly processes. This presentation will explain the substrate technology in detail and introduce some use-case demonstration parts made using these materials.