Interface comparison involved in flexible electronics using molecular modeling

Although the area of flexible circuits is not new, current display and portable electronics consumer markets are driving device and packaging designs that will require increasingly higher robustness, especially as more devices are driven toward lightweight, wearable designs that enhance the personal IOT (Internet of Things) association. There will be an advantage for developers in flexible electronics to fully understand critical interface weaknesses that can in-turn help to push new material development. The use of molecular modeling to study interfacial failure has been applied to the flex circuit adhesive-to-metal interfaces in order to understand the relative weaknesses at these interfaces. Specifically copper/adhesive and chromium/adhesive interfaces have been modeled using the major polymer components of the adhesive and the metal oxides. This paper will discuss the results of these models and how polymer composition may be contributing to specific interface failure, and consistencies with observed failure.