Tech
A biocompatible and stretchable transistor for implantable devices
Recent technological advances have opened new possibilities for the development of advanced biomedical devices that could be implanted inside the human body. These devices could be used to monitor biological signals that offer insight about the evolution of specific medical conditions or could even help to alter problematic physiological processes.
Despite their potential for the diagnosis and treatment of some conditions, most implantable devices developed to date are based on rigid electronic components. These components can damage tissue inside the body or cause inflammation.
Some electronics engineers have been trying to develop alternative implantable electronics that are based on soft and stretchable materials, such as polymers. However, most known polymers and elastic materials are not biocompatible, which means that they can provoke immune responses and adversely affect the growth of cells.
Researchers at Kyung Hee University, Sungkyunkwan University and other institutes in South Korea have introduced a new organic transistor, a device that modulates the flow of electrical current in circuits, which appears to be both stretchable and biocompatible.
Their device, introduced in a paper in Nature Electronics, was made using a blend of extremely thin semiconducting fibers and a biocompatible composite elastic material.
“For more than a decade, our group has been working on intrinsically stretchable semiconductors that can elongate like human skin while still functioning as transistors,” Jin Young Oh, senior author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.
“While we made progress in mechanical stretchability, one critical limitation remained: most elastomers used in research were industrial grade, lacking true biocompatibility for safe long-term implantation. This challenge inspired us to rethink materials at a fundamental level.”
The researchers involved in the development of the new transistor have been exploring the use of organic semiconductors and medical elastomers for the development of biomedical devices for some time now.
Building on their earlier work, they tried to realize the first transistor that is stretchable, but that can also be safely inserted inside the body without causing inflammation or damaging tissue.
“Our transistor is built from a composite of a high-performance semiconducting polymer (DPPT-TT) and a medical-grade rubber called brominated isobutylene–isoprene rubber (BIIR),” explained Oh.
“Using a vulcanization process which is a classical rubber crosslinking method, we created a nanofiber network of semiconductors embedded in an elastic, biocompatible matrix. This architecture provides both stable charge transport and exceptional mechanical softness.”
The researchers designed dual-layer electrodes for their device that are made of silver and gold, two materials that are conductive, chemically stable and would not become corroded when placed in bodily fluids for prolonged periods of time.
In initial tests, they found that their transistor could stretch up to 50% strain, successfully enduring 10,000 cycles of stretching while still operating normally.
Oh and his colleagues also implanted their device under the skin of mice, to assess its performance and safety in biological environments. They found that the transistor performed remarkably well, while also conforming to the animals’ tissue and resisting degradation when in contact with biological fluids.
“We showed not only stable device operation under physiological conditions but also excellent in vitro and in vivo safety, with no inflammation or fibrotic encapsulation after 30 days of implantation,” said Oh. “We further validated logic gates and active-matrix arrays, proving the scalability of the platform.”
The soft and biocompatible transistor developed by this team of researchers could soon be used to develop a wide range of electronics. These include biosensors that can monitor physiological processes, smart implants for the precise delivery of drugs, prosthetic systems that connect the brain with robotic limbs and even new types of consumer devices.
“Our next studies will follow two distinct directions,” said Oh. “On the hardware side, we aim to further improve transistor performance, scalability, and integration into complex circuits such as logic-in-memory architectures. On the biomedical side, we plan extended in vivo studies to validate long-term safety and reliability.”
Eventually, Oh and his colleagues would also like to explore the possibility of using their transistor to create implantable brain-inspired devices. For example, they envision new energy-efficient and AI-powered systems that could sense the environment inside the body, while also making predictions based on the data they collect.
“Ultimately, we envision combining hardware advances with AI-driven software to create self-learning implantable electronics,” added Oh.
Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive.
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More information:
Kyu Ho Jung et al, A biocompatible elastomeric organic transistor for implantable electronics, Nature Electronics (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-025-01444-9.
© 2025 Science X Network
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A biocompatible and stretchable transistor for implantable devices (2025, September 17)
retrieved 17 September 2025
from https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-biocompatible-stretchable-transistor-implantable-devices.html
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In a world first, researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have successfully developed a resonant tunnel diode (RTD) that operates at room temperature made entirely from Group IV semiconductor materials.
The development of an RTD that operates at room temperature means the device could be deployed at scale for next-generation wireless communication systems. The use of only non-toxic Group IV semiconductor materials also supports more sustainable manufacturing processes.
This research marks a pivotal step toward terahertz wireless components that deliver unprecedented speed and data handling capacity with superior energy efficiency.
“Compared to InGaAs-based Group III-V RTDs that include toxic and rare elements, such as indium and arsenic, Group IV compounds-based RTDs are safer, lower cost, and offer advantages for creating integrated production processes,” said senior author Dr. Shigehisa Shibayama from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Engineering.
The results are published in the journal ACS Applied Electronic Materials.
Terahertz waves and quantum devices
Researchers have long struggled to achieve the high-speed and large-volume data transfer needed for sixth-generation (6G) cellular networks.
One promising solution is wireless communication using terahertz waves—electromagnetic waves that vibrate a trillion times per second, enabling ultra-high-speed data transmission. However, many technical challenges remain before this technology can be made practical for consumer applications.
A critical component for realizing terahertz communication is the RTD. This quantum device operates through negative differential resistance, a counterintuitive property where increasing voltage actually decreases current. When part of a properly designed circuit, this property allows the diodes to sustain high-frequency oscillations that would otherwise decay due to electrical losses.
Moving beyond laboratory constraints
The secret behind an RTD lies in its double-barrier structure, where electrons or holes tunnel through layers of different semiconductor materials, each only a few atoms thick. These layers have mainly been created from InGaAs-based Group III-V materials that include toxic and rare elements, such as indium and arsenic.
In previous research by the same group, the researchers created a p-type RTD using only Group IV materials, specifically germanium-tin (GeSn) and germanium-silicon-tin (GeSiSn) alloys. One limitation was that the diode only functioned at extremely low temperatures, around -263°C. Since consumer electronics and wireless systems cannot practically reach this level of cooling, the device would have remained a laboratory curiosity.
Shibayama and his colleagues have now discovered how to use only Group IV materials to produce a p-RTD that functions at room temperatures of around 27°C. This significant improvement opens new possibilities for the widespread adoption of terahertz semiconductor devices.
The research group achieved its breakthrough by introducing hydrogen gas during the layer formation process. They tested three different scenarios:
- introducing hydrogen gas to both the two GeSiSn layers and three GeSn layers
- introducing no hydrogen gas
- introducing hydrogen gas to only the three GeSn layers.
In the last scenario, hydrogen gas restricted island growth and mixing between layers, resulting in a smooth and well-ordered double-barrier structure.
“The RTD cannot function if these layers are mixed,” said Dr. Shibayama.
“If there are defects in the layers, electrons can tunnel through these easier routes, leading to current leakage. This leakage current needs to be reduced for negative differential resistance—the key property of an RTD—to occur.”
More information:
Shota Torimoto et al, Room-Temperature Operation of Ge1–xSnx/Ge1–x–ySixSny Resonant Tunneling Diodes Featured with H2 Introduction during Molecular Beam Epitaxy. ACS Applied Electronic Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.5c01049
Citation:
Room-temperature terahertz device opens door to 6G networks (2025, September 17)
retrieved 17 September 2025
from https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-room-temperature-terahertz-device-door.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Business confidence fell into negative territory in Q1 for the first time since 2022, weighed down by tax hikes, inflation, sluggish growth, and global uncertainty. Yet, the fashion sector’s standout sales performance hints that UK manufacturers may be finding unexpected opportunities amid international market disruption.
“The unusual business conditions of the first three months of the year had generally played out well for the country’s smaller producers, as had falling bank rates. Anecdotally, what we’re hearing from some of our customers is that Q1 brought welcome windfalls. Some tariff-affected international customers have turned to UK firms to do business, while others raced to order more before tariff pauses came off. That’s delivered a shot in the arm for some firms, but more importantly we’re hearing that steadily falling bank rates are starting to stimulate the economy, which obviously is very welcome to UK manufacturers who’ve posted a really strong start to the year,” Joe Llewellyn, GM of ERP Small Business at The Access Group, the parent company of Unleashed, said.
UK fashion manufacturers saw a 68 per cent quarterly and 171 per cent annual rise in Q1 sales, despite falling business confidence.
Tariff shifts and easing bank rates boosted demand, though profitability dropped 36 per cent year-on-year.
Faster delivery times offer margin hope.
Overall UK manufacturing sales rose 30 per cent quarterly, with 10 per cent higher profits.
However Unleashed’s data also showed profitability dropped compared to last year. Gross Margin Return on Inventory (GMROI) for the average clothing manufacturer declined -53 per cent against the fourth quarter and -36 per cent year-on-year, to £4.14 return for every pound spent on buying stock.
However, delivery lead times also dropped down to 19 days on average, which offers some reassurances. Faster delivery times allow businesses to reorder in smaller quantities, which is a more cost-efficient way to generate sales that improves margins.
Across all of the 12 manufacturing categories analysed, sales were up by 30 per cent in Q1 2025 compared to Q4 2024 – and 13 per cent year-on-year. Profitability also jumped by 10 per cent in Q1 2025.
It’s possible that the higher profit margins seen in Q1 across the wider manufacturing base were caused by purchasing managers deferring their inventory replenishment spend in response to low GBP-USD exchange rates. In January the pound dipped to $1.22, making international purchases more expensive for UK buyers of US-dollar denominated goods. By the end of March, however, the exchange rate had trended favourably and reached 1.34 at the end of April.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)
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Get a 10% Off Canon Promo Code When You Upgrade
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Exclusive Canon Discounts for Pros and Students
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