Abstract

Nearly sixty years back when Jack Kilby built the first integrated circuit (IC), it was also the beginning of today's advanced and matured complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology whose arts and science of miniaturization has enabled Moore's Law to double up the number of devices in a given area in every two years. It has also been possible because CMOS technology has consistently adopted new materials and processes. High performance (data processing speed in computational devices), energy efficiency (for portable devices) and ultra-large-scale-integration (ULSI) density - all these features have been added to every major technology generation in additive manner. As we go forward and embrace Internet of Everything (IoE) where people, process, device and data are going to be seamlessly connected, we may want to ask ourselves a few fundamental questions about the future

Abstract

The design and fabrication of a rolled dielectric elastomer actuator is described and the parametric dependence of the displacement and blocked force on the actuator geometry, elastomer layer thickness, voltage, and number of turns is analyzed. Combinations of different elastomers and carbon nanotube electrodes are investigated and optimized to meet performance characteristics appropriate to tactile display applications, namely operation up to 200 Hz with a combination of a 1 N blocked force and free displacement of 1 mm, all within a volume of less than 1 cm3. Lives in excess of 50 000 cycles have been obtained. Key to meeting these objectives is control of the multilayering fabrication process, the carbon nanotube electrode concentration, the selection of a soft elastomer with low viscous losses, and a proof‐testing procedure for enhancing life cycle reliability.