Murata introduces stretchable printed circuits for flexible, customizable and comfortable medical wearables

     Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has unveiled an innovative scalable printed circuit (SPC) technology that marks a significant development in printed circuit technology. Its SPC represents the next advance in substrate development, providing flexibility and stretching and deforming capabilities while maintaining full functionality. It is ideal for manufacturing advanced medical products, such as wearable therapeutic devices and life monitoring tools, that offer better accuracy, durability and patient comfort than comparable devices today.

     SPC excites in its inherent flexibility, stretchability and adaptability, supporting multi-sensing capabilities to meet the needs of different users. The material is very soft on the skin, making it ideal for medical and health devices such as electroencephalograms, electromyograms, and electrocardiograms. Its stretchable properties allow a single device to adapt to different body areas and patients of different sizes, allowing for easier continuous monitoring applications in previously challenging areas such as the elbow or knee joint.

     SPC has cutting-edge features, including a printed stretchable electrode compliant with ANSI/AAMI EC12, paving the way for the next generation of medical devices. It enables seamless integration and optimal performance through innovative telescopic component mounting and hybrid bonding technology between substrates. By effectively blocking EMI noise, the unique shielding layer provides reliable protection for the signal path. In addition, the substrate construction has excellent reliability, with high resistance to moisture and the ability to withstand high pressure for long periods of time, while allowing more flexibility in component installation and giving designers more freedom to innovate.

     The company's SPCS can be tailored to meet individual customer specifications, helping its extensive resources to facilitate collaborative product development. This can be used by product designers, allowing them to optimize their designs. It can further support development by testing under a variety of conditions and resolving failure patterns by determining the root cause of failures. Depending on the required specifications, filters, amplifiers and multiple sensors can be installed on a single chip, enabling accurate data acquisition and sensing of multiple items. With this solution, the company performs custom design, prototyping and validation, and mass production according to the required specifications.