Abstract
Flexible electronics have seen extensive research over the past years due to their potential stretchability and adaptability to non‐flat surfaces. They are key to realizing low‐power sensors and circuits for wearable electronics and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Semiconducting metal‐oxides are a prime candidate for implementing flexible electronics as their conformal deposition methods lend themselves to the idiosyncrasies of non‐rigid substrates. They are also a major component for the development of resistive memories (memristors) and as such their monolithic integration with thin film electronics has the potential to lead to novel all‐metal‐oxide devices combining memory and computing on a single node. This review focuses on exploring the recent advances across all these fronts starting from types of suitable substrates and their mechanical properties, different types of fabrication methods for thin film transistors and memristors applicable to flexible substrates (vacuum‐ or solution‐based), applications and comparison with rigid substrates while additionally delving into matters associated with their monolithic integration.
Metal oxides play an increasingly important role in flexible electronics that aim to deliver emerging applications such as novel computing systems, integrating thin‐film transistors and resistive memories (memristors) in crossbars arrays. Due to the low temperature processing in metal oxides, mechanical flexibility has been increasingly studied in related devices, and therefore it is covered in this review.