For the first time, the researchers from MIT and AFFOA have produced fibers with embedded electronics that are so flexible they can be woven into soft fabrics and made into wearable clothing. Courtesy of the researchers
Researchers incorporate optoelectronic diodes into fibers and weave them into washable fabrics. cloth that has electronic devices built right into it. Researchers at MIT have now embedded high speed optoelectronic semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and diode photodetectors, within fibers that were then woven at Inman Mills, in South Carolina, into soft, washable fabrics and made into communication systems. This marks the achievement of a long-sought goal of creating "smart" fabrics by incorporating semiconductor devices - the key ingredient of modern electronics - which until now was the missing piece for making fabrics with sophisticated functionality. This discovery, the researchers say, could unleash a new "Moore's Law" for fibers - in other words, a rapid progression in which the capabilities of fibers would grow rapidly and exponentially over time, just as the capabilities of microchips have grown over decades. The findings are described this week in the journal Nature in a paper by former MIT graduate student Michael Rein; his research advisor Yoel Fink, MIT professor of materials science and electrical engineering and CEO of AFFOA (Advanced Functional Fabrics of America); along with a team from MIT, AFFOA, Inman Mills, EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Lincoln Laboratory. A spool of fine, soft fiber made using the new process shows the embedded LEDs turning on and off to demonstrate their functionality.
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