Miura-ori enabled stretchable circuit boards

Origami, an ancient form of papercraft, provides a way to develop functional structures for engineering applications. In this paper, we report an approach to design and manufacture a stretchable circuit board (SCB) with origami structures. The benefits of developable, flat-foldable, and rigid-foldable origami-based structures as SCBs are discussed, and a representative structure, Miura fold (or Miura-ori), is chosen to be investigated. Under the constraints induced by the mounted components’ dimensions, the Miura-ori structures for specific applications can be defined. We propose three methods for better fabrication, including direct folding, stiffness modification, and kirigami enhancement, to improve a planar sheet’s foldability. A wearable ECG (electrocardiogram) system based on MO-SCB (Miura-ori enabled SCB) technology is built, and the stretchable portion is made of commercial FPCBs (flexible printed circuit board), providing desired stretchability and reliability. The proposed technology routine is compatible with industrial production and may pave the application of stretchable electronics.