Shape-shifting electronics have potential for implants and movable medical sensors

The circuits are the result of a collaboration between the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the University of California, Berkeley and the team refers to them as "silicon honeycomb-serpentine reconfigurable electronic platforms". The primary reason for the research, which is described in Applied Physical Letters, was to devise systems that could conform to the changing shape of human bodies by stretching, bending and twisting.

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The team describes circuits that can assume three different shapes without affecting the connectivity between components: quatrefoils (a four-lobed shape), stars, and irregular forms. "Quatrefoils can be used for rectangular object-based operation, while stars are for more intricate architectures, and irregular-shaped ones are specifically for implanted bioelectronics," said Muhammad Hussain, co-author and a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

As with many engineering systems, the inspiration for the morphing circuits came from nature, Hussain explained. "Think of how flowers bloom. Based on the same principle, we gathered many videos of flowers blossoming, analysed their geometric pattern and used them for our first set of designs," he said. In particular, we analysed their stress distribution in an iterative manner, taking design architecture, materials and their properties into consideration. It's a tedious process to reach the optimal balance, but this is where engineering helps."