A a new technology allows to create "self-repairing chips."

When a tiny circuit, integrated on a chip, breaks or fails, the entire chip, and even the entire device containing the chip is ruined. What if the circuit could be fixed alone, so fast that not even notice it's broken?

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois, United States, has applied its expertise in "self-healing polymers' to electrical systems, to develop a technology that could extend the life of electronic devices and batteries.

Specifically, engineers have developed a self-healing system that restores the electrical conductivity of a broken circuit in less time than blink of an eye.

Directed by the aerospace engineer Scott White, and the engineer specializing in materials science, Nancy Sottos, researchers have published details of its development in the Advanced Materials journal.

Simplifying systems

According to statements by Jaffrey Moore, another author of the progress, collected in a statement from the University of Illinois, this new technology will simplify electronic systems.

Thanks to it, instead of having to manufacture in excess to substitutions or having to manufacture diagnostic sensors for controlling the operation of the circuits, these problems can be repaired by themselves, said Moore.

As electronic devices evolve to perform increasingly sophisticated tasks, the density of the chips is increasing.

This higher density leads to many reliability problems, and failures as those caused by fluctuating temperatures derived from the operation itself or fatigue of the devices. Any problem at any point of the circuits can kill the whole set.

According Sottos the solutions in these cases are very limited, "there is little chance of manual reparation. Sometimes you can not access the inside (of systems). In a multilayer integrated circuit, for example, there are no openings. Normally, to repair it only remains to replace the entire chip. The same goes for batteries: it would destroy them to find the source of failure. "

As a result, most electronic devices need to be replaced fairly frequently, resulting in too many electronic waste.

How it works

To develop self-healing technology, the Illinois researchers first created a system of self-healing polymeric materials, which were subsequently adapted to conveyor systems.

Specifically, scientists spread small microcapsules with a diameter of only 10 microns (one micron equals 0.001 mm) on a gold bead functioning as circuit.

When in this cord a crack occurred, the microcapsules burst and released a liquid metal contained therein. This metal is introduced into the crack of the circuit, repairing and allowing it to be resumed electrical flow.

With this method, it was possible to restore the 99% of the conductivity. This success rate was repeated in 90% of cases tested, even using a small amount of microcapsules.

Scientists explain that these microcapsules are only open when intercepted by a crack, so that repair occurs only in the place that is broken, and not the entire surface of the conductor.