| Humans live in an inherently three-dimensional world, yet modern electronics are all in two-dimensions. In recent years, there has been growing interest in electronics on non-developable surfaces (surfaces that cannot be formed by simple bending) such as domes. Potential applications for such technologies span the fields of aerospace, optics, and consumer electronics. Almost all of the potential applications require some type of electronic arrays to be fabricated on a non-developable surface. The work presented in this dissertation proves that such arrays are possible to produce.; This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first presents work done on technologies that are necessary to fabricate electronic arrays on a dome, namely substrate deformation and thin film material mechanics. The second part presents experiments and results on three different electronic arrays on a dome. Several important advances were made in this dissertation. These advances include a better understanding of the mechanics of spherically deforming substrates with thin film islands, methods for patterning interconnects on a dome, fabrication of fully insulated X-Y interconnect matrixes on a dome, and fabrication of Organic Light Emitting Diode displays on a dome. The bulk of the presented work covers design and manufacturing domed arrays. However, when possible, simple numerical and mathematical models were created in order to explain experimental results. Many imaging techniques were used to qualify and quantify experimental results. The results of this dissertation prove that it is possible to create fully functioning, high yield, three-dimensional electronic arrays on polymer domes. |
