Transient electronics represents a class of technology defined by components that physically or chemically disintegrate, dissolve, or otherwise disappear in a controlled manner for application opportunities that lie outside of those that can be addressed with conventional, permanent devices. Materials and system designs that allow for initiation of the transient processes upon well-defined trigger events are of particular interest for uses in areas such as hardware-level data security, unrecoverable proprietary electronics, and certain classes of temporary biomedical implants. Progress relies on the development of advanced materials for this purpose and a detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which they respond to various physicochemical stimuli. This review summarizes a diverse range of materials recently explored in this context, with responsiveness to changes in temperature, exposure to water, illumination with light, and delivery of electrical current. Subsequent sections present demonstrations of these materials as the basis for triggered transient devices with active operation. Strategies that exploit a cascade or a combination of triggering events represent important additional trends in this field of technology, laying the groundwork for a broad range of electronic devices with precisely controlled lifetimes.

瞬态电子器件代表一类技术，这些组件通过物理或化学方式可控地分解，溶解或消失，从而获得了超出常规，永久性设备无法解决的应用机会。允许在明确定义的触发事件后启动瞬态过程的材料和系统设计对于诸如硬件级数据安全性，不可恢复的专有电子产品以及某些类型的临时生物医学植入物等领域的使用特别感兴趣。进步取决于为此目的开发高级材料，以及对它们对各种物理化学刺激作出反应的机理的详细理解。这篇评论总结了在此背景下最近探索的各种材料，具有对温度变化，暴露于水，光照和电流传递的响应能力。随后的部分将展示这些材料的演示，以作为主动操作触发瞬态设备的基础。利用级联或触发事件组合的策略代表了该技术领域的重要附加趋势，这为寿命精确控制的各种电子设备奠定了基础。