Analysis of Impact Mechanical Stress on Flexible Electronics - Conventional Design vs Split Channel Design

Abstract

As semiconductor devices proliferate in demanding operational environments, mechanical impacts present significant reliability concerns that can compromise device integrity and performance. This work explores an alternative transistor architecture designed to enhance resilience against impact-induced damage. Through integrated simulation approaches combining mechanical and electrical analysis, we evaluate architectures featuring spatially segmented active regions compared to conventional designs. Results indicate that the proposed architecture demonstrates improved damage containment characteristics, with performance degradation reduced by a factor of approximately 1.6 under comparable impact conditions. The protective mechanism is attributed to impedance discontinuities that limit stress propagation, enabling progressive rather than catastrophic failure modes. While spatial considerations present implementation trade-offs, the architecture offers a promising design strategy for applications requiring enhanced mechanical robustness. This research establishes a framework for architectural approaches to reliability enhancement in mechanically challenging environments.