Towards Fibered Electronics: Materials and Devices

In this paper, we present a synthetic review of the evolution of fibered electronics. Starting from inorganic materials used as coating layers for flexible yarns, and arriving at organic semiconductors, several attempts to obtain an active device in the form of a textile yarn have been presented in recent years and are described here. The challenge is to provide the basis for a new kind of electronic technology that combines the electrical properties of semiconductors (and the functions performed by active electronic devices) with the mechanical properties needed for textile technology. A further issue is to find the possibility of an easy and cost-effective fabrication of such structures. Finally, a perspective on the future promising evolutions of this field is also given.