Abstract :
E-textiles, also known as electronic textiles, are fabrics that can function electrically as electronics and behave
physically as textiles which enable computing ,digital components and electronics to be embedded
in them. Part of the development of wearable technology, they are referred to as intelligent
clothing or smart clothing that allow for the incorporation of built-in
technological elements in everyday textiles and clothes. It does not strictly
encompass wearable computing because emphasis is placed on the technology not
being visible on the fabric and a computer is not actually embedded into the
fabric. While not part of the mainstream form of fashion, its popularity is
increasing and more research is being devoted to it.
The field of e-textiles can be divided
into two main categories:
The first category involves mounting
classical electronic devices such as conducting wires, ICs, LEDs and
conventional batteries into garments.
The second category involves creating
electronic function directly on the textile fibers. These functions can either
be passive such as pure wires, conducting textile fibers, or more advanced
functions such as transistors, diodes and solar cells. The field of embedding advanced electronic
components onto textile fibers is sometimes referred to as fibertronics.
Construction of electronic function on
textile fibers requires the use of conducting and semi-conducting materials.
There are a number of commercial fibers today that include metallic fibers mixed
with textile fibers to form conducting fibers that can be woven or sewn.
However as both metals and classical semiconductors (such as Si) are stiff
material they are not very suitable for textile fiber applications where fibers are subjected
to large stretch and bending during use.
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