A Novel Method for Embedding Semiconductor Dies within Textile Yarn to Create Electronic Textiles

Electronic yarns (E-yarns) contain electronics fully incorporated into the yarn’s structure prior to textile or garment production. They consist of a conductive core made from a flexible, multi-strand copper wire onto which semiconductor dies or MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) are soldered. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFibers Vol. 7; no. 2; p. 12
Main Authors Nashed, Mohamad-Nour, Hardy, Dorothy, Hughes-Riley, Theodore, Dias, Tilak
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 2019
Subjects
Automation
Copper
Copper wire
Critical components
electronic textiles (E-textiles)
electronic yarns (E-yarn)
Electronics
electronics packaging
Encapsulation
Fourier transforms
intelligent textiles
Machinery
Microelectromechanical systems
Needlework
polymer resin
Polymers
Radio frequency identification
Resins
Sheaths
smart textiles
Tensile strength
Textile fibers
Textiles
UV curing
Yarn
Yarns
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Summary:Electronic yarns (E-yarns) contain electronics fully incorporated into the yarn’s structure prior to textile or garment production. They consist of a conductive core made from a flexible, multi-strand copper wire onto which semiconductor dies or MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) are soldered. The device and solder joints are then encapsulated within a resin micro-pod, which is subsequently surrounded by a textile sheath, which also covers the copper wires. The encapsulation of semiconductor dies or MEMS devices within the resin polymer micro-pod is a critical component of the fabrication process, as the micro-pod protects the dies from mechanical and chemical stresses, and hermetically seals the device, which makes the E-yarn washable. The process of manufacturing E-yarns requires automation to increase production speeds and to ensure consistency of the micro-pod structure. The design and development of a semi-automated encapsulation unit used to fabricate the micro-pods is presented here. The micro-pods were made from a ultra-violet (UV) curable polymer resin. This work details the choice of machinery and methods to create a semi-automated encapsulation system in which incoming dies were detected then covered in resin micro-pods. The system detected incoming 0402 metric package dies with an accuracy of 87 to 98%.
ISSN:2079-6439
2079-6439
DOI:10.3390/fib7020012