Image of the Week - 03 October 2006

Stretchable Silicon

This image is from a <a href="http://www.itg.uiuc.edu/exhibits/iotw/2006-10-03/siliconfold.mov">short animation</a> that illustrates the concept of stretchable silicon from <a href="http://rogers.mse.uiuc.edu">John Rogers' research group</a>. Flexible electronics may enable a variety of useful products, including flexible displays, cell phones that roll up inside your pen, and surgical gloves that can report continuous feedback on blood parameters. The animation was created in the VMIL using Maya, a 3-D modeling and animation program. The piece has already been used for a variety of venues, including 1) being posted on PC Magazine's website to accompany their article about Rogers' work as one of their <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1988185,00.asp">"10 Coolest Technologies You've Never Heard Of"</a>, 2) incorporation into a larger piece that includes video and audio for a recent UIUC Foundation tour of the Beckman Institute, and 3) incorporation into a similarly larger piece to accompany an exhibit on Rogers' work at the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA.

Image Courtesy: Janet Sinn-Hanlon, Imaging Technology Group and John Rogers, Beckman Institute and Dept. of Materials Science

Contact: j-sinn@uiuc.edu