Next-Generation Simulator for Flexible Electronics Design

Many factors contribute to the allure of flexible electronics; however, like with standard electronics, countless design iterations and dozens of physical prototypes needed to develop new products are expensive and time-consuming. Simulation analysis has become the norm to accelerate electronics' design process and predict critical physical phenomena at the design stage such as electromagnetic interactions. Unfortunately, the conventional tools do not account for the "flexible" properties of flexible electronics designs; thus, limiting the benefits of simulation on the speed, cost, and feature capacity of flexible electronics. To advance flexible electronics design, designers must have access to specialized design flows with simulation tools that account for flexible electronics' properties and generate an accurate analysis of each electronic component and the system as a whole. By implementing new adaptive algorithms and reusing previous simulations within the design optimization, we developed a robust tool for accurate electromagnetic simulation of flexible electronics that provides 10–100x increased efficiency and speed than other tools without sacrificing the results accuracy. The resulting simulation tool will enable designers to evaluate the feasibility of new designs quickly, identify the practical capabilities, test for robustness (stress test), and predict design defects. This dedicated electromagnetic simulation tool for flexible electronics will enable the structural optimization and improvement of products. The next step for the study will be integrating this tool into the designers' current design flows.