History of E-Textiles

Origins of traditional textiles refer to a woven clothing that was being produced on looms 27000 years ago (Dr.David Whitehouse, 2000, BBC News).

In the 19 th century, the development of vacuum tube was a great turning point in the electronics industry. These were quite heavy, generated a lot of heat, had a short life-time, required warm-up and DC voltages of 300V or higher (Smith, H. T.)

The advances in semiconductor manufacture in the 20 th century resulted in the development of integrated circuits that are more efficient, cost effective, reliable and small. Currently these semiconductor devices are available in different

The textile that has integrated electronics devices within textile is called e-textiles. 1st generation of e-textiles was developed by attaching all the electronic components such as mobile phone, MP3 player externally to the garment.

2nd Generation of E-textile was created by attaching PCBs or other electronic components onto surface of the fabrics

Yarn has embedded a functional semiconductor devices within the fibres of a yarn (e-yarn).This e-yarn has been developed by Dr.Anura Rathnayake.