ABSTRACT
In this paper, we discuss the phototherapy concepts developed by Philips in the EU FP7 PLACE-it project. These concepts demonstrate the use of e-textiles for medical applications in a meaningful way. By introducing a comfortable, wearable technology, Philips has enabled a new world of devices which provide comfortable home treatment of different diseases and complaints. Here, we show concepts and clinical validation, and give insight in the development steps to be taken to build this kind of devices.
Subject(s)
Clothing , Phototherapy/instrumentation , Phototherapy/methods , Textiles , Equipment Design , Equipment Failure Analysis , Feasibility Studies , Humans , MiniaturizationABSTRACT
A promising approach to fabricating elastic electronic systems involves processing thin film circuits directly on the elastic substrate by standard photolithography. Thin film devices are generally placed onto stiffer islands on the substrate surface to protect devices from excessive strain while still achieving a globally highly deformable system. Here we report a new method to achieve island architectures by locally reinforcing polymeric substrates at the macro- and microscale using magnetically responsive anisotropic microparticles. We demonstrate that the resulting particle-reinforced elastic substrates can be made smooth enough for the patterning and successful operation of thin film transistors with transfer characteristics comparable to state-of-the-art devices.