Buckling of a stiff thin film on a compliant substrate under anisotropic biaxial prestrain

The structure of stretchable electronics is based on the buckling of a thin film on a compliant substrate. Under anisotropic bi- axial prestrains, this structure may buckle into several patterns, including cylindrical, checkerboard, and undulating patterns. The displacement and energy of each pattern are deduced analytically. By comparing their minimum potential energies, the critical buckling condition of each pattern is determined. After secondary bifurcation, the checkerboard pattern occurs just above the critical prestrains, but the undulating pattern dominates other regions. The buckling amplitude and wavenumber of the undulating pattern are shown under biaxial prestrains. Even if the structure is under equi-biaxial prestrains, it may buckle into an asymmetric undulating pattern.