Stretchable Printed Circuit Board Meets Stretchable Light Emitting Gallium Nitride

The human body is a dynamic three-dimensional soft entity. Metal lines in commercially available electronic devices are mechanically flexible yet insufficiently deformable, enabling rigid circuits with excellent electronic characteristics but limited compliance to mechanical stress. Future electronics need to be independent of rigid electronic components to adapt to anatomical movements. Recent interest in elastic printed circuit boards (E-PCB) has been enhanced by their potential applications in skin electronics, implant electronics, electronic bio-interfaces, electronic muscles, and stretchable electronics. The new concept of metamorphic electronics involves circuits printed on a substrate that can dynamically change shape in response to external conditions. The term “metamorphic electronics” is inspired by the biological process of metamorphosis which represents the evolution of living organisms after birth. Systematic investigation of two aspects is required to ensure a longer lifetime of stretchable electronic devices: • Stretching capability of each component in the devices is required, and • Seamless integration of inorganic, energy-efficient components into the deformable active matrix. In this paper, we discussed the fundamentals of metamorphic electronics implementation of a single stretchable metallization layer to achieve a reliable, industry-compatible stretchable printed circuit board (SPCB), the challenges and its applicability in modern-day electronics. As well as fabricating stretchable type III-nitride semiconductor optoelectronic devices and assembling these devices on S-PCBs. These S-PCBs show a stretchable (260%) active matrix. We will also discuss the challenges in fabricating and assembling these devices on the SPBBs. We will discuss frontiers, challenges, and prospects for stretchable metamorphic electronics.