EE Colloguium: Rubbery Electronics: Electronics and Circuits Entirely Based on Rubbers

Dr. Cunjiang Yu, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Penn State, will be the speaker.

Abstract:

Electronics that can seamlessly integrate with the human body could have significant impact in medical diagnostic therapeutics. However, seamless integration is a grand challenge because of the distinct nature between electronics and the human body. Conventional electronics are rigid and planar, made of rigid materials. Human bodies are soft, deformable, and curvilinear, comprised of biological materials, organs, and tissues. This talk will introduce our solution to address the challenge through the invention of a new class of electronics, namely rubbery electronics. Rubbery electronics is constructed based on elastic rubber electronic materials of semiconductors, conductors, and dielectrics, which possess tissue-like softness and mechanical stretchability to allow seamless integration with soft deformable tissues and organs. Rubbery electronic materials (particularly semiconductors) and device innovations set the foundation for rubbery electronics. This presentation will feature the development and understanding of rubbery semiconductors, rubbery transistors, integrated electronics, sensors, and bioelectronics. In addition, rubbery electronics-enabled functional systems will also be demonstrated. As a platform technology, rubbery electronics opens numerous opportunities for many different fields such as healthcare, cyborgs, and robotics.

Bio:

Dr. Cunjiang Yu is the Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering at Penn State. He obtained his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University in 2010 and performed post-doctoral training at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2010-13. He was a faculty member at the University of Houston before joining Penn State. His recent research concerns the fundamentals and applications of soft and curvy electronics. Dr. Yu is a recipient of several awards, including the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Medal Award, National Institutes of Health Trailblazer Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, MIT Technology Review TR35 Top Innovator, SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, AmVSy Young Investigator Award, and SPIE Rising Researcher Award.