'Self-healing' electronics now possible

A new self-healing technology now being for electronics promises to restore conductivity to damaged circuitry in "milliseconds."

 

Researchers at the University of Illinois said the self-healing system uses microcapsules with gallium-indium liquid metal that flows to the damaged area.

 

"Healing is accomplished by the release and transport of a microencapsulated conductive material to the site of damage. Eutectic Ga-In (Gallium-Indium) alloy is chosen as the healing agent due to its low melting point (at) 16 (degrees Celsius), its relatively high conductivity ... and its previously demonstrated ability to form conformal electrodes," they said.

 

Such self-healing circuits will lead to increased longevity and device reliability in adverse mechanical environments, they said.

 

In turn, this will lead to new applications in microelectronics, advanced batteries, and electrical systems, they added.

 

"Beyond self-repairing devices, we envision the concepts described here could enable microelectronics that generate new circuits along stress-activated pathways, allowing for adaptive circuit architecture and improved circuit redundancy," they said.

 

The researchers included Benjamin Blaiszik, Sharlotte B. Kramer, Martha Grady, David McIlroy, Jeffrey Moore, Nancy Sottos, and Scott White.

 

A separate article on tech site CNET quoted Sottos, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as saying there's no opening up in a multilayer integrated circuit.

 

"Normally you just replace the whole chip. It's true for a battery too. You can't pull a battery apart and try to find the source of the failure," she said.

 

"Rather than having to build in redundancies or to build in a sensory diagnostics system, this material is designed to take care of the problem itself," added More, a chemistry professor. — TJD, GMA News