This book addresses issues pertinent to mechanics and stress generation,
especially in recent advanced cases of technology developments, spanning
from micrometer interconnects in solar photovoltaics (PV), next-gen
energy storage devices to multilayers of nano-scale composites enabling
novel stretchable/flexible conductor technologies. In these cases, the
mechanics of materials have been pushed to the extreme edges of human
knowledge to enable cutting-edge, unprecedented functionalities and
technological innovations. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction, in situ
small-scale mechanical testing combined with physics-based computational
modeling/simulation, has been widely used approaches to probe these
mechanics of the materials at their extreme limits due to their recently
discovered distinct advantages. The techniques discussed in this
manuscript are highlights specially curated from the broad body of work
recently reported in the literature, especially ones that the author had
led the pursuits at the frontier himself. Extreme stress generation in
these advanced material leads to often new failure modes, and hence, the
reliability of the final product is directly affected. From the recent
topics and various advanced case studies covered in this book, the
reader gets an updated knowledge of how new mechanics can and has been
applied in Design-for-Reliability (DfR) for some of the latest
technological innovations known in our modern world. Further, this also
helps in building better designs, which may avoid the pitfalls of the
current practiced trends.