Interfacial slippage of inorganic electronic materials on plastic substrates

The stretchable and flexible electronics with the structure of inorganic films on plastic substrate has recently attracted an increasing interest. Interfacial failure inevitably occurs when the structure is subject to repeated bending or stretching in application. An analysis is presented in this letter on the slipping failure mechanism for the interface between inorganic film and plastic substrate. The critical radius of system curvature for the slipping crack propagation on its interface is obtained to analyze the bendability of the structure, which can provide the design guideline and characterization method to determine the interface fracture toughness of slipping failure.