Handwritten, Soft Circuit Boards and Antennas Using Liquid Metal Nanoparticles

Soft conductors are created by embedding liquid metal nanoparticles between two elastomeric sheets. Initially, the particles form an electrically insulating composite. Soft circuit boards can be handwritten by a stylus, which sinters the particles into conductive traces by applying localized mechanical pressure to the elastomeric sheets. Antennas with tunable frequencies are formed by sintering nanoparticles in microchannels.