The stress applied to electronic components in flexible electronic devices
To reduce the stress itself, within the flexible substrate
Designing a method for inserting a soft material layer


A flexible substrate has been developed that allows the bending of a rigid material by inserting a layer of soft material inside the substrate on which components are placed in electronic devices.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 6th that Professor Jeong Yoon-young's research team at POSTECH succeeded in developing a technology to implement next-generation foldable electronic devices that induce a stress reduction effect by inserting soft materials inside the substrate.

The results of this study were published in the international academic journal 'Scientific Reports' on May 6th (Korean time), and the research team applied for domestic and US patents for the related technology.

According to Research&Market, the global flexible display market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.9% from USD 7.91 billion in 2019 to USD 31.5 billion in 2025.

Flexible electronics require materials that are both bendable and have excellent electrical and optical performance. However, graphene, carbon nanotube, and polymer-based materials developed so far to implement flexibility have limitations in that their performance and mass production are far lower than those of existing rigid materials.

The research team devised a method to insert a layer of soft material into a flexible substrate to reduce the stress applied to the electronic components in flexible electronic devices.

In the case of a flexible substrate with an inserted stress-reducing layer, not only is the surface strain greatly reduced compared to a general flexible substrate, but there is no performance degradation due to bending even when using a conventional rigid material.

The research team proved this fact through experiments using indium tin oxide (ITO), a material already widely used in display products.

Professor Jeong Yoon-young said, “Utilizing stress-reducing flexible substrate technology, it is possible to implement flexible electronic devices using metals and ceramics with proven performance,” and “It is expected to be of great help in increasing dominance in the rapidly growing flexible electronic device market.”