Two buckling modes have been observed in thin films: buckle-delamination and wrinkling. This Letter identifies the conditions for selecting the favored buckling modes for elastic films on elastic substrates. Transition from one buckling mode to another is predicted as the stiffness ratio between the substrate and the film or the interfacial defect size varies. The theoretical results are demonstrated experimentally by observing the coexistence of both buckling modes and mode transition in one film-substrate system.

No abstract

No abstract

Channeling cracks in brittle thin films have been observed to be a key reliability issue for advanced interconnects and other integrated structures. Most theoretical studies to date have assumed no delamination at the interface, while experiments have observed channel cracks both with and without interfacial delamination. This paper analyzes the effect of interfacial delamination on the fracture condition of brittle thin films on elastic substrates. It is found that, depending on the elastic mismatch and interface toughness, a channel crack may grow with no delamination, with a stable delamination, or with unstable delamination. For a film on a relatively compliant substrate, a critical interface toughness is predicted, which separates stable and unstable delamination. For a film on a relatively stiff substrate, however, a channel crack grows with no delamination when the interface toughness is greater than a critical value, while stable delamination along with the channel crack is possible only in a small range of interface toughness for a specific elastic mismatch. An effective energy release rate for the steadystate growth of a channel crack is defined to account for the influence of interfacial delamination on both the fracture driving force and the resistance, which can be significantly higher than the energy release rate assuming no delamination.

Currently, with the development of electronic skins (e-skins), wearable pressure sensors with low energy consumption and excellent wearability for long-term physiological signal monitoring are urgently desired but remain a challenge. Capacitive-type devices are desirable candidates for wearable applications, but traditional capacitive pressure sensors are limited by low capacitance and sensitivity. In this study, an all-nanofibrous ionic pressure sensor (IPS) is developed, and the formation of an electrical double layer at the electrode/electrolyte contact interface significantly enhances the capacitance and sensing properties. The IPS is fabricated by sandwiching a nanofibrous ionic gel sensing layer between two thermoplastic polyurethane nanofibrous membranes with graphene electrodes. The IPS has a high sensitivity of 217.5 kPa −1 in the pressure range of 0−5 kPa, which is much higher than that of conventional capacitive pressure sensors. Combined with the rapid response and recovery speed (30 and 60 ms), the IPS is suitable for real-time monitoring of multiple physiological signals. Moreover, the nanofiber network endows the IPS with excellent air permeability and heat dissipation, which guarantees comfort during long-term wearing. This work provides a viable strategy to improve the wearability of wearable sensors, which can promote healthcare and human−machine interaction applications.