Textile integration of electronic circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10149381-B2
Application number	US-201514752576-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2015
Priority date	Feb 15, 2013
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method of integrating a interposer device with a textile layer, wherein the interposer device is a stretchable interposer device comprising a stretchable electrically conductive structure with at least one contact pad for establishing at least one electrically conductive path towards the textile layer. The interposer device is arranged to be mechanically attached to a textile layer comprising a plurality of yarns, at least one of which is an electrically conductive yarn. An electrical connection is established between the at least one conductive yarn of the textile layer and the at least one contact pad, which electrical connection is established after the interposer device has been mechanically attached to the textile layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of integrating a stretchable interposer device with a textile layer, the method comprising:
providing the textile layer, the textile layer comprising a plurality of yarns, the yarns comprising at least one electrically conductive yarn;
providing the interposer device comprising electrically insulating materials and a stretchable electrically conductive structure comprising at least one contact pad for establishing at least one electrically conductive path towards the at least one electrically conductive yarn of the textile layer;
positioning the interposer device such that the at least one contact pad of the electrically conductive structure is aligned with the at least one electrically conductive yarn of the textile layer, thereby defining at least one contacting location between the interposer device and the textile layer;
mechanically attaching the interposer device to the textile layer; and
establishing an electrical contact between the at least one contact pad and the at least one electrically conductive yarn at the at least one contacting location, wherein establishing an electrical contact is performed after mechanically attaching the interposer device to the textile layer and wherein establishing an electrical contact comprises
laser ablating, at the at least one contacting location, electrically insulating materials present between the at least one contact pad and the at least one electrically conductive yarn to form a via, and
filling the via with an electrically conductive material at the at least one contacting location so that an electrically conductive contact is formed between the respective contact pad and the respective electrically conductive yarn.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the interposer device comprises a supporting layer.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein laser ablating the insulating materials comprises the formation of at least one via in the supporting layer at the at least one contacting location.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the interposer device is mechanically attached to a first side of the textile layer, and wherein the laser ablation is performed from a second side of the textile layer opposite the first side.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the interposer device is mechanically attached to a first side of the textile layer, and wherein the laser ablation is performed from the first side of the textile layer.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein mechanically attaching the interposer device to the textile layer comprises arranging an electrically non-conductive adhesive between the textile layer and the interposer device.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein mechanically attaching the interposer device to the textile layer further comprises curing the electrically non-conductive adhesive, thereby providing a permanent bond between the textile layer and the interposer device.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the interposer device is mechanically attached to a first side of the textile layer, and wherein providing an electrically conductive material at the predetermined contact location is performed from a second side of the textile layer opposite the first side.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the electrically conductive material is an isotropic conductive adhesive material comprising metal particles.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing an electrically conductive material at the predetermined contact location comprises curing the electrically conductive material for providing a permanent bond between the respective contact pad and the respective electrically conductive yarn.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises providing at least one encapsulation layer for at least partly encapsulating the interposer device.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the encapsulation layer is made from a stretchable insulating polymer-based material.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises curing the at least one encapsulating layer.

14. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the curing is performed at a curing temperature of at least 15° C. and at most 25° C.

15. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the curing is performed at a curing temperature of at least 15° C. and at most 25° C.

16. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the curing is performed at a curing temperature of at least 15° C. and at most 25° C.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one contact pad has a central opening.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the central opening is used as an alignment marker for locally removing, at the at least one contacting location, electrically insulating materials present between the at least one contact pad and the at least one electrically conductive yarn.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the stretchable electrically conductive structure comprises at least one stretchable interconnect.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the at least one stretchable interconnect comprises a metal track which follows a meandering path.

Assignees

• Imec Vzw
• Univ Gent

Inventors

• Van Keymeulen Bjorn
• Bossuyt Frederick
• Vervust Thomas

Classifications

• H05K1/189

  characterised by the use of flexible or folded printed circuits · CPC title

• H05K2201/0969

  Apertured conductors · CPC title

• H05K2203/107

  Using laser light · CPC title

• H05K3/321

  by conductive adhesives · CPC title

• H05K1/038 Primary

  Textiles (used as reinforcing materials for organic insulating substrates H05K1/0366) · CPC title