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86 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2022 Flexible circuits are arguably the first instan- tiation of electronic interconnections. A flex- ible interconnection structure was first dis- closed in patent literature by Albert Hansen— unearthed by gied researcher, innovator, and self-described technology generalist Dr. Ken Gilleo 1 . e roots of flexible circuits, as deter- mined by the patent Gilleo uncovered, date back to a 1903 British patent issued to Albert Hansen of Germany, entitled "Improvements in, or Connected with, Electric Cables and the Joining of Same." e invention was designed to serve the new world of telephony and improve interconnection design. Hansen was an amazingly prescient inventor who not only appears to have anticipated the flexible interconnections the industry relies so heavily on, but in a later disclosure, something that looks very much like a multilayer circuit of sorts. In the beginning, the flexibility of the cir- cuit enabled the user to utilize all three dimen- sions of space to accomplish their design for interconnection needs. Today this continues to be an objective of all interconnections with 3D having become a watchword in electronic design at every level—from semiconductor chips and chip-lets to forkli installed sys- tems—all of which take advantage of flexible circuit technology. Since Hansen's invention, a hallmark mea- sure of flexible circuits is how they have become a ubiquitous chameleon-like technology for The Chameleon of Interconnection Technologies Flexible Thinking by Joe Fjelstad, VERDANT ELECTRONICS