Overview of Flexible Electronics Technology

This chapter provides an overview of the history, concepts, and possible applications of flexible electronics from the perspectives of materials and fabrication technology. The focus is on large-area capable electronic surfaces. These are made of backplane and frontplane optoelectronics that are fabricated as fully integrated circuits on flexible substrates. The discussion covers flexible electronics, and reaches back to rigid-substrate precursor technology where appropriate. Flexible electronics is a wide-open and rapidly developing field of research, development, pilot production, and field trials. The chapter puts a perspective on the technology by systematizing it and by describing representative examples.

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