This paper presents the mechanical behaviors of different types of polyimide feedthroughs that are frequently used for implantable polymer encapsulation. Implantable packages of electronic devices often comprise circuits mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs) encapsulated in a biocompatible polymer material, with input/output feedthroughs for electrical interconnections. The feedthroughs are regarded as essential elements of the reliability of the package since they create inevitable interfaces with the encapsulation materials. Flexible materials are frequently used for feedthroughs owing to their ease of manufacturing; thus, their mechanical properties are crucial as they directly interact with parts of the human body, such as the brain and neurons. For this purpose, tensile tests were performed to characterize the mechanical properties of flexible PCBs (FPCBs) and photosensitive polyimides (PSPIs). Commercial FPCBs and homemade PSPIs of two different thicknesses were subjected to tensile tests for mechanical characterization. The FPCBs showed typical stress-strain curves, while the PSPIs showed brittleness or strain hardening depending on the thickness. The material properties extracted from the tensile tests were used for explicit modeling using the finite element method (FEM) and simulations to assess mechanical behaviors, such as necking and strain hardening.
Keywords: FEM (finite element method); implantable package; mechanical characterization; polymer feedthroughs; tensile test.