2016
“Our vision is to develop enabling technologies and processes that make it easier for manufacturers and integrators of largearea electronics to put together multifunctional systems that end-users can readily incorporate into their products.� Chris Rider, Centre Director
Contents Executive summary
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The world of large-area electronics
Welcome to the third annual report of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics. Having established our core technology project portfolio during our first two years, we have been focusing on growing the number and depth of our industrial collaborations in our third year of operation. This has been supported by significant growth in industry numbers at our second national conference, innoLAE 2016 and by four new Pathfinder projects, three of which are led by investigators that are new to our Centre, involving a total of nine new companies. This report provides an overview of our projects, our capabilities, our people, our plans and most importantly, it describes how you can engage with us as an academic or industrialist working in the same field. We invite you to partner with us as we play our part in facilitating the growth of an emerging industry.
Chris Rider Centre Director
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About us
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Technical programme
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Advanced manufacturing processes
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Plastic nanoelectronics by adhesion lithography (PLANALITH)
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Meet Dr James Semple
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Advanced rheology for printing large-area electronics (ARPLAE)
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Meet Dr David Beynon
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Towards single micron LIFT technology (SIMLIFT)
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Laser annealing for improved flexible electronics (LAFLEXEL)
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Patterning strategies for integration of multifunctional organic material (PASMOMA)
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System integration
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Flexible energy harvesting for low power mobile devices (Flexipower)
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haRFest 32 Security tags enabled by near field communications united with robust electronics (SECURE)
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Meet Dr Stuart Higgins
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Flexible printed energy storage (FlexEn)
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Offset lithographic printing of nanocomposite barium titanate capacitors (OPCAP)
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Integration of printed electronics with silicon for smart sensor systems (iPESS2)
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Meet Dr Daniel Tate
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Interconnection technologies for integration of active devices with printed plastic electronics (ITAPPE)
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Spray coated nanowires; enhanced stability for touch sensing and solar cell applications (Stable Nanowires)
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Platform for high speed testing of large-area electronic systems (PHISTLES)
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In-line quality-control of UV offset lithographically printed electronic-ink by THz technology (IQ-PET)
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Printed electronics for neuromorphic computing (pNeuron)
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Emerging technologies
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Multiphoton fabrication of bioelectronic biomaterials for neuromodulation (MFBBN)
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Implantable biosensor technology
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Meet Edward Tan
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Outreach and networking
50
Our people
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The year ahead
64
Collaborate with us
62
Our partners
66
CONTENTS
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Executive summary
"Our partnership with the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics has helped us both articulate and then realize a compelling vision for how flexible electronics will be manufactured. This has been invaluable in our conversations with our customers and manufacturing partners." Mike Banach, Technical Director, FlexEnable
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics has completed its third year of operation. This report provides an overview of our progress in the last year.
Our industry Large-area electronics (LAE) is, at heart, a new way of making electronics that offers benefits not just in the manufacturing process, but also in the final product where new form factors1, design and integration options are enabled. We work with a wide range of new electronic materials that are powering the LAE manufacturing revolution: organic and metal-oxide semiconductors, graphene and other forms of carbon and 2D materials, plastics, nano-particulate metals etc. We build systems that include unpackaged and thin silicon to preserve thinness and flexibility, and we are part of an emerging industry that is being led by hundreds of small innovative companies, many of which started life in the UK as university spinouts from pioneering academic research groups. Increasingly, however, we are seeing engagement with much larger enduser companies that are starting to understand the potential benefits of incorporating LAE technology in their products. We are also seeing the emergence of completely new applications such e-textiles where the woven fibres themselves incorporate electronic functionality and bioelectronics for healthcare.
1 “New form factor� refers to the product’s ability to conform its shape to another surface, to flex or to stretch.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Our technology portfolio Our Centre reached its important mid-point milestone in April 2016 and is currently in the process of refreshing its technology strategy with input from a broad range of our industry partners. Our vision remains the same: to tackle the technical challenges of multifunctional integration of LAE systems to make it easier for UK manufacturers to produce products that end-users are demanding. As part of our refresh, we’ll confirm which system integration challenges are now seen as the critical ones by LAE manufacturing industry. Of the six core projects that were started, two have now been completed and the others will finish in the coming months. We will define the next set of projects using output from our strategy refresh. One of our integration projects, iPESS, which brings together solutionprocessable gas sensors and amplifiers into a multisensor array, recently held a well-attended dissemination meeting and has attracted eight industry partners wishing to collaborate with us in a follow-on project. Our project portfolio is supplemented by small feasibility projects called “Pathfinders”. Although not all the 2015 Pathfinders have yet been completed, we are delighted that one (FlexEn) was the precursor to a printable battery spinout, Zinergy. We announced a second Pathfinder call in February 2016, open to any UK academic wishing to assess the feasibility of a new idea in a short project that, if successful, could lead to significant impact in the LAE sector. This year we saw a doubling in the number of proposals to twenty four of which four were funded. Ten companies of which seven are new to the Centre are collaborating with us on these four projects. One of the new projects is our first venture into bioelectronics, an area that we believe will be highly important in the future. The other three involve a novel bonding process for bare silicon die to plastic circuits, a high-resolution laser transfer process and a real-time quality control system using THz radiation for contact printed conductive materials.
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Two new Innovate UK projects were added to our portfolio in the last year as a means of accelerating knowledge transfer to industry. We were also very pleased to receive news of five successful Horizon 2020 European proposals, four of which are building on the PASMOMA and iPESS core projects. The largest one, 1D Nanofibre ElectroOptic Networks (1D Neon), a €9M project with fourteen partners and led by the University of Cambridge, gives the Centre a strong connection to the emerging technology of e-textiles. You’ll find more information about all our projects in the following pages.
Outreach Due to the emerging nature of our industry and the large percentage of small companies in the UK value chain, our EPSRC Centre has taken a novel approach to dissemination and outreach. Recognising the need to bring together UK researchers and UK companies to build and strengthen LAE networks, we saw an opportunity to fill a gap by creating an annual UK conference, Innovations in Large-Area Electronics (innoLAE), at which the latest academic research results and the most recent industrial innovations, in both product and process are presented. Our second conference, innoLAE 2016 was again a sellout, despite having moved to larger premises, enjoying an increase of 30% in total delegate numbers and 16% in the number of companies attending. We have secured still larger facilities for innoLAE 2017 for both the conference and exhibition spaces. To help potential end-user organisations visualise what LAE can achieve and so to promote market pull for the EPSRC Centre and UK value chain companies, we have initiated a project to produce a well engineered working demonstrator incorporating LAE technology from seven UK companies and the Centre for Process Innovation, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. The demonstrator that will take the form of an interactive book will be on show at InnoLAE 2017.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Image credit: Copyright of Dr Sheida Faraji, University of Manchester, 2016.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Outputs 79
engagement activities
64
presentations
32
invited talks
(conference presentations, lectures or workshops)
29 publications
Total audience > 10,000
Funding
Source of grant funding
New grant funding for Centre partner institutions (EPSRC, innovate UK, H2020):
other
£4.61m
H2020
£575,000 £2,373,769
EPSRC
£1,103,779 iUK
£392,482 Govt
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£168,700
new grants awarded UK Industry Funding (inkind and cash): £1.36m Funding generated for UK industry partners: £1.68m (iUK and H2020 project funding) • £5.95m leveraged funding exceeds grant award • Total Project size £8.6m in UK (£13.5m EU)
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Networks and Events Events 250
255
200
195
150
145
100
Centre events
7
185
Total attendance
640
Attendees
151
100 2013/14 C ompanies in network
academic 2014/15
36%
2016
N on-Centre UK academics in network
• 157 are UK-based
• 44 UK universities
• 275 UK individuals
• 309 worldwide academics from 57 institutions
industry
52% other (RTO/Govt)
12%
People 24 PDRAs have been involved in Centre projects or related projects (e.g. i-UK)
13 members of Advisory Board
5 members of operations team
7 PhD (or MRes) students associated with Centre projects
13 further Director and 13 coInvestigators
investigators/coIs associated with Pathfinder projects
Partners 16
collaborative projects with industry
29
Industry Partners have supported centre projects
6
Projects with external UK academic institutions
7
external UK academic institutions involved in projects
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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The world of large-area electronics
"Large-area electronics (excluding OLED display), currently a $9B industry, continues to grow and is experiencing significant interest from multinationals across a wide range of markets. With the additional opportunities from the exciting new fields of bioelectronics and e-textiles, requiring radically new approaches to the manufacturing of electronic systems that can be enabled by large-area electronics, we see a bright future for the sector." Chris Rider, Centre Director
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
What is large-area electronics? Large-area electronics (LAE), including printed, plastic, organic and flexible electronics, is a new way of making electronics that: • is enabled by new materials that can be processed at low-temperatures; • permits the use of new manufacturing processes such as printing and digital fabrication for electronics; • makes it possible to have products with new form factors, new cost structures and the potential for customisation. LAE approaches can produce ultrathin (less than 100 microns), lightweight (less than 100 g), flexible and rollable devices that: emit or reflect light for displays, lighting and smart windows; transduce light for sensing and photovoltaic energy generation; sense a variety of physical, chemical and biological parameters; form flexible or stretchable circuits for analogue and digital electronics; harvest and/ or store energy. Emerging LAE technologies include fibre electronics for smart textiles and bioelectronics for a new class of wearable and implantable devices.
The future enabled by large-area electronics The interface between silicon and LAE is critically important to allow electronic systems of the future to combine the power of silicon with the form factor and manufacturing benefits of LAE. These multifunctional systems will provide the engine of innovation for new high-growth markets such as healthcare, automotive, wearables and the ‘Internet of Everything’ as electronics moves increasingly off the rigid circuit board and onto textiles, packaging, glass, 3D product surfaces and even onto and into the human body.
THE WORLD OF LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS
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Sensors (optical, physical, chemical, biological)
Photo credit: EC project FP7 247710 Interflex
Thin and flexible photovoltaics, energy harvesting and storage devices
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Automotive (comfort and safety)
Photo credit: X2 Biosystems
Smart cities (energy autonomous distributed wireless sensors and Internet of Things)
Electronic circuits (analogue and digital)
Multifunctional integrated smart systems on foil
Photo credit: www.audio-luci-store.it Photo credit: Dave See
Healthcare (diagnostics and therapeutics)
Photo credit: Steffen Ramsaier
Photo credit: BodyTel
Displays, lighting and smart windows (emissive or reflective)
LAE Markets
Food and packaging (active sensors, active anti-counterfeiting and interactive packages)
Sport and fitness (wireless wearable smart devices)
Photo credit: Tetra Pak
Photo credit: Inhabitat
LAE Devices
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Growth opportunities The Internet of Things (IoT) represents a significant growth opportunity for LAE, as moving electronics onto a whole range of objects is enabled by new form factors and cost structures. According to CISCO, there will be in excess of fifty billion connected objects worldwide in 2020. Of these, wireless connected objects are expected to grow fast with 25% CAGR in 2015-2020, more than ten times faster than the semiconductor market (source: CISCO VNI mobile 2016). The UK is well placed to lead the field of IoT with companies like ARM developing IP across the whole range of connected objects, and PragmatIC Printing pioneering the field of flexible IC technology in sectors such as consumer goods, security printing and wearables working with companies like Procter & Gamble, De La Rue and Hallmark.
PragmatIC’s flexible integrated circuits on foil (Source PragmatIC)
The market for wearable electronics is predicted to grow to $70 billion, at 11% CAGR (source: IDTechEx “Wearable Technology 2015-2020”), with the largest sector in the long term represented by health, medical, fitness and wellness. In wearables and displays, FlexEnable, a British company that spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2000, has developed the world’s first industrially-proven organic transistor technology platform as the key to truly flexible and cost-effective electronics over large and small surfaces. Their technology can drive organic liquid crystal displays (OLCD) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens and sensors. They are paper-thin and flexible enough to be wrapped around a pencil. Not only does this mean screens can be integrated more seamlessly into wearable devices, it will make the way we interact with displays feel more natural.
Conformable organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) by FlexEnable (source: Reproduced with permission from FlexEnable 2016)
Another promising opportunity for the UK LAE community is in the field of bioelectronics. Using organic materials in combination with flexible, stretchable and also degradable substrates helps develop bioelectronic interfaces that optimally interact with organs, and several examples of such smart devices were reported at the innoLAE conference in 2015 and 2016. LAE technology can overcome the challenges for conventional technologies in this field related to the mechanical and electrical compliance of smart implants and achieve better compatibility. The scale of interest in bioelectronic medicine is illustrated by the announcement in August 2016 from GlaxoSmithKline and Google's holding company Alphabet of a joint venture "Galvani Bioelectronics", which will be headquartered in the UK with the parent companies contributing an investment of up to £540 million.
Bioelectronics, use cases for implantable devices (source: L. Occhipinti, Keynote speech at NGPT 2016)
A bright future for large-area electronics in the UK The UK has been a pioneer in the field of organic and printed electronics for over two decades from initial inventions in UK universities up to the present, when leading companies are scaling up key materials and processes and new device forms are moving into pilot production and towards volume manufacturing. The UK has a broad range of companies active in LAE materials, processes and devices and has many worldclass academic research groups able to support the science and innovation needs of this growing industry. In addition, the UK is home to many end-user companies operating in the packaging, security and consumer goods sectors. We are seeing increasing awareness of the benefits of LAE amongst these end-user companies and an increasing engagement with the emergent UK value-chain. With a growing demand for the features and benefits of LAE and with the increasing maturity of the technology, we see a bright future for large-area electronics in the UK.
Flexible OLED display by FlexEnable (source: Reproduced with permission from FlexEnable 2016)
THE WORLD OF LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS
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About us
Our mission: To tackle the technical challenges of multifunctional system integration of large-area electronics (LAE) in high growth industrial sectors through an innovative programme of manufacturing research, in a strong partnership with both industry and academia.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics was formed to address the challenges of scale-up and high-yield manufacture of large-area electronics (LAE) systems and to improve key manufacturing processes for enhanced performance. We work with a wide range of companies who are pioneering this electronics manufacturing revolution and with end-users who see its commercial potential, helping to establish a vibrant new electronics systems manufacturing industry. The Centre opened in October 2013 with funding of £5.6m over five years awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). In June 2016 we held our midterm review with an external panel of distinguished experts to reflect on the progress achieved to date and consider the best strategy to maximise the Centre’s impact in the future.
ABOUT US
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The Centre is a partnership between the University of Cambridge (Cambridge Innovation and Knowledge Centre, CIKC), Imperial College London (Centre for Plastic Electronics, CPE), Swansea University (Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, WCPC) and the University of Manchester (Organic Materials Innovation Centre, OMIC. A further seven UK academic institutions are involved in projects with the Centre.
The Centre has built up a portfolio of six core projects, nine Pathfinder projects, four innovate UK funded collaborative projects, and two projects funded from other sources. The Centre director is assisted by the operations team of four people and there are thirteen co-investigators on the core grant and a further thirteen academics are collaborating with us on our Pathfinder projects. Twenty four post-doctoral researchers have been involved in the Centre projects to date, and seven PhD and MRes students are associated with the Centre. In total twenty nine Industry partners have supported Centre projects and in addition, thirteen companies have been in collaborative projects with us.
About EPSRC Centres for Innovative Manufacturing We are one of sixteen Centres for Innovative Manufacturing funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of a novel approach to maximise the impact of innovative research for the UK, supporting existing industries, and more importantly, opening up new industries and markets in growth areas. Each Centre has received five years of funding to retain staff, develop collaborations, carry out feasibility studies, and support research projects. Each Centre has been co-created with business, with EPSRC support being used as a platform from which the Centres have secured further investment from industry and other funders.
The objectives of the EPSRC Centre are to: • address the technical challenges of manufacturing multifunctional LAE systems; • d evelop a long-term research programme in advanced manufacturing processes aimed at ongoing reduction in manufacturing cost and improvement in system performance; • s upport the scale-up of technologies and processes developed in and with the Centre by UK manufacturing industry; and • p romote the adoption of LAE technologies by the wider UK electronics manufacturing industry.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
ABOUT US
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Technical programme
"At Beko UK R&D Centre we are actively seeking to engage with partners developing innovative technologies that can be applied to products for the home environment and the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in LargeArea Electronics provides an excellent opportunity for this. The iPESS project’s groundbreaking work on sensor development has great potential to provide either new features for our existing product range or to enable new products for the home. By engagement in the project we can assess real-time the compatibility with our potential use cases as well as gain a deeper insight into the underpinning technology." Dr Natasha Conway, R&D Manager, Beko
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
The Centre’s technical programme is designed to deliver a coherent programme of research that will address industrial needs and provide the capabilities to meet the manufacturing requirements of early market opportunities for LAE systems. The programme is organised into themes:
dvanced A manufacturing processes The advanced manufacturing processes (AMP) theme investigates concepts for high-resolution high-yield, high-volume methods to increase functional device performance and reduce cost • D eveloping high resolution patterning processes for higher device and system performance. • D evelopment of novel multifunctional materials systems and patterning processes for improved manufacturability.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System integration
Emerging technologies
The system integration (SI) theme addresses the end-user need for multifunctional systems in a range of applications that either require significant printing content or the distribution of functions over a large area and therefore where a printing-based manufacturing approach makes economic sense. All these applications require some form of on-board power, a sensor, some processing and an output. This theme is developing innovative, cost-effective processes for high-yield LAE system manufacture by approaching the task from first principles, considering and co-optimising all aspects including system design, materials selection, process development and testing.
Part of the strategic role of the Centre is to identify new technology platforms and exciting application areas. This year we have identified two areas of emerging technology that will be increasingly important in the future and are strategically linked to our large-area electronics portfolio: 1. B ioelectronics, we have a growing activity in this field including a Pathfinder project for 2016 and a PhD studentship 2. E -textiles, through participation in a newly funded H2020 project (1D-NEON)
• D eveloping innovative approaches to multifunctional system manufacture of large-area electronics using processes that minimise cost.
The diagram below shows how our process and technology elements are organised within these three themes. Our portfolio of projects is described in the following pages; on each page the icon highlights the relevant elements of the technical programme.
• R educing the cost of system integration by developing a design for manufacture approach which co-optimises yield and performance. • D eveloping novel approaches to high-throughput functional testing.
Advanced manufacturing processes adhesion lithography
printed antennae
high-speed diodes
energy harvesting subsystem
contact-printed
advanced rheology
rechargeable batteries
capacitors
multi-sensor subsystem
customisable
hi-res LIFT (laser transfer)
OFET gas sensors
complementary TFTs
analogue electronic circuits
LAE + Silicon
laser annealing
thermosonic bonding to flex
transparent electrodes
neuromorphic computing circuits
topology defined patterning
Manufacturing processes & supporting science
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System integration
Solution-processed devices, processes and components
high-speed testing
THz for print control
Testing methods
Subsystems
System integration demonstrators
bioelectronics
e-textiles
Emerging technologies
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Our projects cover a range of size and timescales, including short feasibility studies, PhD theses, collaborative projects with industry and our large flagship projects.
Flagship projects Flagship projects form the core of the technical programme; each addressing a major challenge in LAE manufacturing. The projects typically involve one or two post-doctoral researchers working for two years. There were six flagship projects in the initial tranche of projects, most of these will conclude by the end of 2016 and therefore we are in the process of renewing the Flagship portfolio for the second half of the Centre programme.
Pathfinder projects Pathfinder projects are small feasibility projects that are funded for six months with a budget of £50,000 and are intended to develop a proposal for a significant new research programme in LAE manufacturing or facilitate industry collaboration by establishing the technical feasibility of an ambitious new concept. Project activity is expected to leverage new funding and attract industrial support. The objectives of the Pathfinder projects are:
The Pathfinder programme was initiated in 2015 with five projects, and a second call was made in Spring 2016 which resulted in the selection of a four further projects to start in Autumn 2016. To date, the Pathfinder programme has introduced nine new academics to the Centre programme, four new universities and fifteen industrial partners.
Collaborative projects The academic research at early technology readiness levels funded by the EPSRC grant creates a platform to leverage further funding from a variety of sources and the significant involvement of industry partners. As examples of this, we have been partners in four projects funded by Innovate UK and are involved in five successful Horizon 2020 European proposals.
Student projects Seven MRes and PhD students have been involved in the Centre cohort and we are looking to increase this number and build on our links with a number of Centres of Doctoral Training (CDT) in this field over the second part of the Centre funding (including among others, the CDTs in Industrial Functional Coatings, Plastic Electronics, Sensor Technologies and Applications etc).
Jan 14 Feb 14 Mar 14 Apr 14 May 14 Jun 14 Jul 14 Aug 14 Sep 14 Oct 14 Nov 14 Dec 14 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 May 15 Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 15 Sep 15 Oct 15 Nov 15 Dec 15 Jan 16 Feb 16 Mar 16 Apr 16 May 16 Jun 16 Jul 16 Aug 16 Sep 16 Oct 16 Nov 16 Dec 16 Jan 17 Feb 17 Mar 17 Apr 17 May 17
• T o broaden the Centre’s research portfolio, increase the number of its collaborators and promote technology transfer to and collaboration with industry.
• T o pump prime new research collaborations and facilitate larger scale collaborative projects leading to significant new funding involving the Centre.
Flagship projects PASMOMA ARPLAE PLANALITH iPESS 1 iPESS 2 PHISTLES 1 & 2 Flexipower Pathfinders FlexEn OPCAP LAFLEXEL pNeuron Stable Nanowires MFBBN IQ-PET SIMLIFT ITAPPE Collaborative projects haRFest SECURE 1D-NEON
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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FLAGSHIP
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
THOMAS ANTHOPOULOS DIMITRA GEORGIADOU JAMES SEMPLE
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Plastic nanoelectronics by adhesion lithography (PLANALITH) The level of performance in the majority of electronic devices is governed by two key parameters: (i) the properties of the electroactive materials employed, and (ii) key device dimension(s). Much attention has been paid to the former parameter in the field of large-area electronics, particularly in the search for high quality printed semiconductors. However, little has been done to address a cost-effective solution for the latter, i.e. minimising device dimensions to the nanoscale. The PLANALITH project aims to address this shortcoming.
Project achievements • Fabrication of nanogap electrodes (aluminium and gold) with spacing of <20 nm and aspect ratios >100,000,000. • Automation and optimisation of this process through the development of the a-lith stripper. • Printed rectifiers compatible with high frequency (HF) radio frequency identification (RFID) technology (capable of outputting 1.3 V direct current for a ± 4V alternating current input at 13.56 MHz). • Printed diodes operate up to 1 GHz.
Specifically, the compatibility of electrodes separated on the order of nanometres (nanogap electrodes) with large-area electronics is investigated utilising adhesion lithography. By taking advantage of devices with ultrasmall device dimensions, losses due to non-ideal printed semiconductors can be mitigated. One example of where this approach is of interest is in high frequency electronics. A specific application of interest here is passive radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and energy harvesting systems. Adhesion lithography has potential advantages over alternative techniques in its ability to be implemented over large-area on flexible substrates and at low cost. A further distinct advantage critical to device operation is the ability to pattern nanogap electrodes between dissimilar metals. Significant progress has been made over the past year on optimising the adhesion lithography process. Key to this has been the development of a semiautomated peeling tool, the a-lith Stripper. Procedures have been developed to achieve yields of > 90% in the fabrication of uniform gaps with separation < 20 nm. The scaling of electrode width has been increased up to 1 metre, so that nanogaps with aspect ratios of ~ 100,000,000 have been demonstrated. To date, this represents the largest aspect ratio nanogap electrode fabricated, using arguably the most cost-effective technique. We have been exploring the use of nanogap electrode structures for the development of radio frequency (RF) diodes by combining them with high quality printable semiconductors. Several material classes have been investigated, including both organics (such as buckminsterfullerene C60) and inorganics (metal oxide semiconductors). The devices are capable of converting alternating current to direct current at the HF RFID benchmark of 13.56 MHz with substantial efficiency, and in fact operate well over the critical band of 13.56 MHz up to several hundred megahertz. Such performance is unprecedented for printed diodes. Thus the work done within the Centre presents a promising method for the development of next generation RFID and energy harvesting systems. Attention is now being focused on the integration of devices with more components, and scale-up of the technique through collaboration with industrial partners.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Meet
Dr James Semple Dr James Semple is a Research Associate at the Centre for Plastic Electronics and Department of Physics in Imperial College London. He is working under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Anthopoulos on the Centre's PLANALITH project. The project focuses on optimising device structures to enable high frequency printed diodes for radio frequency identification (RFID) applications. James received his PhD in Physics from Imperial College London in 2016, on the topic of large-area plastic nanoelectronics, with a focus on electronic devices based on adhesion lithography. Prior to that, he received his BA in Physics from Trinity College, Dublin, with projects focused on the mechanical and optoelectronic properties of solution processed two dimensional composite materials. His research interests include printed radio frequency Schottky diodes, photodetectors and memory devices, based on planar electrode device architectures.
I was delighted to have the chance to begin working within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in LargeArea Electronics after finishing my PhD at Imperial College in April of this year. Since then, I have been working on the PLANALITH project, with the aim of further developing solutionprocessed high frequency diodes for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Much of the focus of my PhD had been on developing adhesion lithography, a technique to create nanoscale separation between metal electrodes at low cost and with high throughput. Working on the PLANALITH project has afforded me not only the opportunity to put the skills and knowledge gained through my PhD into practice, but to do so while envisaging a real world application of my research. The shift from pure academic research to addressing problems of a more industrial nature has been challenging but at the same time incredibly gratifying. In particular, I am looking at high frequency rectifying diodes. The nanoscale dimensions afforded by techniques such as adhesion lithography allow the potential for high frequency electronic operation, exceeding what is possible in traditional design concepts using printed semiconductors. A great deal of work has already been done; my primary job is to optimise the devices, integrate them with external components and scale up the process.
Developing this type of innovative manufacturing process is crucial to the progress of the field of large-area electronics. The PLANALITH project presents the opportunity to prove to researchers, industry and investors that nanoscale patterning is compatible with large-area electronics. If that assertion holds true, it opens the door to a multitude of applications, and even beyond the scope of high frequency electronics. There is of course a vast amount of subject-specific knowledge within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics, and the ability to tap into that is invaluable from the perspective of a newcomer. What has struck me more, however, is the level of enthusiasm from all working in the Centre, from the students to the investigators to the operations team. The aims of the Centre, in addressing the key challenges in large-area electronics and promoting its industrial uptake, while certainly ambitious, seem all the more achievable in this environment. Working within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in LargeArea Electronics has allowed me to meet a fascinating network of people. I look forward to continuing working on ambitious research topics with ambitious researchers, and am excited to see what the next year holds for the ever advancing field of large-area electronics.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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FLAGSHIP
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Advanced rheology for printing large-area electronics (ARPLAE)
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
RHODRI WILLIAMS TIM CLAYPOLE DAVID GETHIN DAVID BEYNON DANIEL CURTIS JAMES CLAYPOLE
Key achievements • Rigorous validation of controlled stress parallel superposition rheometry. • Demonstration of the utility of superposition rheometry in providing data of both process and material relevance to the printed electronics industry. • Rheological characterisation and print trials on a number of model functional ink formulations.
Lines printed using identical print process with inks that are indistinguishable under quiescent conditions. Under CSPS conditions the distinct rheological characteristics of the materials become apparent.
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The ARPLAE project addresses fundamental rheological challenges to achieving high-resolution features in the production of functional inks in high-yield contact printing processes. Typically, the ink systems used in these processes display complex rheology (deformation and flow properties) which can complicate the characterisation of the materials and hinder attempts to predict process performance. Improved understanding of the rheological aspects of these processes and materials is required to establish a rigorous basis for their better prediction and control. Project objectives • A radically improved understanding of functional ink formulation and its interaction with the image carrier and substrate to optimise performance for high resolution printing; • The development of scientifically rigorous techniques for characterisation of the critical rheological properties of fluids in high deformation rate shear and extensional flows in order to achieve optimal performance; and • The establishment of performance metric(s) based on the first two objectives. Methods of fluid characterisation capable of replicating industrially relevant rates of deformation, deformation amplitudes and timescales are largely inaccessible to industry and our study has demonstrated that the rheometrical techniques employed by many lack process and material relevance. The ARPLAE project is developing advanced rheological techniques and characterisation processes which have been employed successfully in other areas e.g. in rheological aspects of high speed machine lubrication. These techniques are presently focussing on the exploitation of superposition flow rheometry in which small amplitude oscillatory flows are used to probe fluid microstructural responses to imposed, process-relevant large amplitude shear flows hence providing information possessing both process and material relevance. By measuring the rheology of a range of functional inks using state-of-the-art characterisation tools and by understanding the effect of rheology on physical processes such as cavitation that occur during printing, the data for a predictive model is being obtained to enable ink rheology to be optimised for improved quality and yield in printing. The project seeks to define a measure of functional ink characteristics which can be incorporated in the development of better performing fluids, and in improved methods of predicting the consequences of changes in ink formulation. The initial phase of the ARPLAE project involved a scoping study which identified target functional inks and print processes where performance improvements will have highly significant commercially benefits. The project has a special focus on gravure printing due to its suitability for the production of quality-sensitive layers like organic semiconductors and semiconductor/dielectric-interfaces in transistors. The initial phase of the project has demonstrated that the new rheometry being developed under ARPLAE provides a successful new basis for predicting the outcomes of an industrial print process in terms of a product performance metric – with significantly improved outcome over established techniques in terms of relating changes in product formulation to product functional performance. The current phase of ARPLAE is building on these exciting findings with a range industrial partners and model formulations based on silver, carbon and zinc oxide functional components. Further rheometric advances are being explored that optimise the information content of the tests.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Meet
Dr David Beynon David is a Research Officer based in the Welsh centre for Printing and Coating. Having completed a PhD researching ink transfer mechanisms in flexographic printing David’s research interests have grown to include graphics, electronic and functional printed materials. Recent projects have included functional printed devices including electromagnetics, sensors and rheological characterisation of functional inks working in collaboration with academic and industrial partners. In his last position he worked with the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics formulating functional inks for the ARPLAE and Flexipower projects and is now working on commercialisation.
As an undergraduate in Chemistry I was involved in the formulation of light emitting polymers; however during my study, I always wondered what you do with these once they have been formulated, that is, how do you make use of these materials? This interest lead me lead me towards engineering and the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating research group where I studied for a Masters degree in printing and coating technology which gave me a strong background in the many different technologies that come under the umbrella of printing. I followed this with an EPSRC funded PhD, examining ink transfer mechanisms in the flexographic printing process, which I completed in 2007. This grounding in the principles of scientific rigour and design of experiments where there are a great deal of interacting parameters has found me in good stead for future projects as a post-doctoral researcher where I have moved into the field of printed functional materials including printed sensors, printed motors and printed electromagnetics for advanced wound healing. In late 2015 and into 2016 I had the opportunity to work for the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics formulating functional inks for the “ARPLAE” and “Flexipower” projects. ARPLAE (Advanced Rheology for Printing large-area electronics) is focussed on the application of the most advanced rheological measurement techniques to large-area electronic inks. Inks used for functional printing are complex fluids whose formulation is often dictated by the functional material they are carrying. The specific visco-elastic properties of an ink must be within the process-operating window, however the desire to load the ink with as much of the active material as possible can result in difficulties in both processing and printing.
My role on the ARPLAE project was to formulate model inks for the verification of the new advanced rheological techniques being developed; this is a challenging proposition as all the materials must be sourced from repeatable sources so that the exact same formulation can be produced through the lifetime of the project and into future projects and collaborations. The usual off–the-shelf solutions were not available and a minimum number of components was desirable, so modification of ink formulation through use of additives was ruled out. The formulation we developed contained only three components; polymer, active particles and solvent. With the modification of particle loading, the full operational window can be achieved. Combining print results with rheometric measurements has shown that the novel controlled stress parallel superposition (CSPS) technique offers superior performance as a predictor of print outcome. The ability to predict print performance means that this advanced technique is a valuable tool for informing and optimising formulation efficiently. During my time working on the Centre’s projects I have had the opportunity to work and network with different groups across the Centre at cohort meetings and other events. Being part of the same Centre creates opportunities for sharing information and collaboration between the four partner universities allowing for accelerated advancement of a number of projects. Through the Pathfinder project the Centre has given me the opportunity for career advancement through application for the SIMLIFT project as a co-investigator. Through this project I look forward to continue working with the Centre.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2016
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
DAVID BEYNON DAVIDE DEGANELLO DAVID GETHIN PARTNERS OXFORD LASERS MICROSEMI NSG PRAGMATIC PRINTING NEUDRIVE
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Towards single micron LIFT technology (SIMLIFT)
Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) is a key enabling technology for large-area processing of electronics and is capable of printing a wide range of materials rapidly and digitally. A major barrier for large scale adoption of the technology is the current achievable printing resolution, commonly limited to tens of microns. SIMLIFT or Single Micron LIFT aims to be a transformative development of this technology, overcoming current limits and refining resolution to a new level. In LIFT, a donor substrate ink carrier is locally irradiated by a short laser pulse causing the transfer of material from the donor layer to a receiving substrate. The donor layer and laser processing are key to achieving precision in patterning. To address the challenge of reliable single micron patterning, SIMLIFT will analyse the effect of varying thin film donor deposition processes on the donor film morphology and resulting transfer; and it will explore the interaction with laser pulse duration which dictates the physical ejection mechanism (from nanosecond to femtosecond duration). The accuracy of laser processing will be further explored through the novel integration of microlens arrays for affordable accurate digital patterning. The parameters will be systematically analysed and compared at a dimensional scale close to that of the laser wavelength; introducing novelty both in donor deposition and laser processing, to provide new insights and scalable technological solutions. This Pathfinder project brings together academic and industrial partners to provide a unique perspective through the combination of various stakeholder skills. The project will be led by Davide Deganello at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (Swansea University), a leading research centre in printing and printed electronics, with the key partnership and support of Oxford Lasers, a leading British Industrial laser technology system integrator. The project will also benefit from the support and guidance offered by a dedicated industrial enduser advisory board, whose members include NeuDrive, PragmatIC, Microsemi and NSG, who will be looking to help ensure the sustainability of this newly developed technology.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2015
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
SPILIOS DELLIS NIKOLAOS KALFAGIANNIS DEMOS KOUTSOUGEORGIS IVAN ISAKOV THOMAS ANTHOPOULOS JOHN ARMITAGE HENNING SIRRINGHAUS PARTNER PRAGMATIC PRINTING a
b
drain (AI)
source (AI)
5-10nm of spin-coated InOx 400nm of SiO2 gate (p+-Si)
c
d
a) Interdigitated sample contact layout. (b) Schematic representation of TFT devices. (c) Sample contact layout. (d) TFT devices. The highlighted areas show the regions of laser annealing.
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Laser annealing for improved flexible electronics (LAFLEXEL)
The “Laser Annealing for improved FLEXible Electronics” (LAFLEXEL) project aims to deliver high performance metal-oxide thin‐film transistors (TFTs) by introducing a photonic process, namely laser annealing. LAFLEXEL has focused on metal oxides, which represent an emerging family of semiconductors for application in future generations of TFTs. Most of the recent efforts have been focusing on: (i) improving the carrier mobility, (ii) improving the operating device stability and (iii) development of alternative deposition and post-processing methods with the ultimate aim the lowering of process temperature. Despite the tremendous promise shown in recent reports on optical sintering, the lengthy exposure times needed renders the process unsuitable for roll-to-roll manufacturing. Therefore, alternative methods that can deliver speedy and scalable conversion methods are urgently required. In LAFLEXEL we are overcoming this limitation through the development of a fully automated excimer laser annealing (ELA) process. The method is demonstrated for room temperature conversion of InOx and In4ZnO (sol-gel) and IGZO (sputtered) thin films and their application in high performance TFTs. Our approach allows facile optimisation of the process conditions using a versatile system developed at Nottingham Trent University to meticulously vary parameters including: fluence, number of pulses, wavelength, environmental parameters (pressure, chemical composition) and temperature of the substrate. In collaboration with Imperial College London, we have successfully fabricated InOx-based TFTs, prepared by spin-coating. Metal oxide conversion was confirmed, with the best InOx TFTs reaching a mobility of 14 cm2/Vs (as high as the current state-of-the-art photochemically activated InOx TFTs) without the requirement to store them in an inert atmosphere. ELA is capable of changing the electrical characteristics of InOx in specific areas (selective treatment/ patterning) of the film, eliminating the need for a photolithographic step to pattern the semiconductor. As a result, the leakage current of the laser annealed TFTs is always very low, in addition to having a good ON-OFF current ratio. In collaboration with University of Cambridge, we fabricated indium zinc oxide (In4ZnO) transistors. TFT devices with similar performance, but with highly improved Von, compared to thermally annealed counterparts have been prepared, employing a three step annealing process: two thermal annealing steps (at 120°C) separated by ELA. This mild thermal annealing process has potential for a unique capability for the preparation of oxide TFT devices on polymeric substrates. In collaboration with PragmatIC Printing, we have fabricated high performance a-IGZO (sputtered) TFTs on flexible substrates. Effort has been focused on the improvement of the stability and reproducibility of devices, which could lead to reduced production costs, through yield improvement and a reduction in performance spread. Additionally, we have improved the performance of TFTs in terms of hysteresis and ON-OFF current ratio.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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STUDENT
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
NATALIE STINGELIN SHENGYANG CHEN
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
Patterning strategies for integration of multifunctional organic materials (PASMOMA)
Key results
The objective of the ‘Patterning Strategies for integration of Multifunctional Organic Materials’ (PASMOMA) project was to develop high-resolution patterning of multifunctional materials without the use of complex lithography methods and to scale the technique up for the fabrication of large-area multifunctional arrays for photonic and electronics applications. This work is now being continued by Shengyang Chen–funded by an Imperial College CSC scholarship-as his PhD topic.
1. Different sizes of microor nanoparticles can be deposited into grooves homogeneously and with an ordered structure;
One promising strategy developed in the project is “nano-pinballing” which uses convective self-assembly (CSA) to deposit nano- to micro-sized particles of functional materials into surface relief structures in a controlled manner under the action of solvent evaporation and capillary forces.
2. There is some potential for scaling up the process for larger area (e.g. by adjusting the amount of the colloidal suspension and the size of the blade), although the deposition process is currently slow.
The project has achieved controlled and patterned deposition of insulating, conducting and light-emitting nanoparticles from microemulsions onto patterned substrates over areas as large as 2 x 2 cm2 and demonstrated that a variety of complex, hierarchical architectures can be produced with intriguing optical characteristics. A laser characterisation rig has been set up and 2D diffraction patterns used to calculate the periods of the ordered arrays of nanoparticles.
Above Polystyrene particles Good filling and well-ordered structures can be achieved with the model system of polystyrene particles deposited into channels of width 2 microns Below Conjugated polymer particles Conjugated polymer particles (polyfluorene-co-vinylbenzene) were deposited into patterned structures and good alignment was achievable
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
FLAGSHIP
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
TIM CLAYPOLE DAVID GETHIN DAVID BEYNON TIM MORTENSEN
An RF energy harvesting system comprises a number of building blocks:
antenna
rectifying circuit
voltage multiplier
voltage limiter
energy storage element
output device
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Flexible energy harvesting for low power mobile devices (Flexipower) Devices created using high-volume, large-area, manufacturing techniques are increasingly in need of a power source which doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compromise the low cost, thin and flexible, nature of these printed devices. Coin cell batteries are a common choice due to their relatively low cost, however they can significantly increase the overall size of a printed device and their rigid form factor can reduce or negate the flexibility of the device. Flexipower is a printed energy harvesting system that can capture energy from a nearby radio frequency (RF) energy source using a printed or part-printed design. The use of printing technology will enable the devices to retain their low price and thin flexible form factor and eliminate the need for primary batteries in a wide range of applications. The Flexipower project is developing architectures and processes to enable printing of RF energy harvesting components as a route to very high-volume, low-cost manufacture and to develop high-volume processes for the integration of these components into a thin, flexible system. The project is led by the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating which has the expertise and infrastructure to enable the demonstration of the manufacturing of printed devices that can be scaled to very high volume â&#x20AC;&#x201C; up to hundreds of millions. The project will focus on the most important opportunities for a printed solution, aiming at breakthrough technology which is well ahead of current industrial capability. In many circumstances it may be cost-effective or necessary to combine silicon-based electronics with printed circuitry to provide features for certain applications. The creation of hybrid printed and conventional circuits will dramatically reduce the cost of devices compared to conventional electronics and allow novel designs freed from the constraints of rigid fibreglass PCBs. The project has developed a number of demonstrators which incorporate a range of conventional components such as LEDs and ICs to give capabilities which would be hard or impossible to achieve with printed electronics. These designs focus on three main frequency regions which were selected based on feedback from industry. A device based on a bespoke 500kHz transmitter was created to demonstrate the maximum possible short range (<10cm) energy transfer. Such a device can provide enough power to light up dozens of LEDs and could be used to create an interactive packaging system. A second device was created to utilise the 13.56MHz RFID frequency present in most smartphones. These devices operate over a similar range, with lower powers, but the transmitters would already be owned by a large number of people. Finally, a system for the UHF RFID standard to transmit even smaller amounts of power but with a potential maximum range of 1m. Work in the Flexipower project continues with the primary focus on developing high performance printed rectifiers to produce an entirely printed device. The project is also working to optimise the other system elements, especially energy storage devices in the form of supercapacitors or secondary batteries. We are working to match these devices with the needs of industry and will work closely with industry on related projects, especially in areas where improved materials are believed to be necessary to achieve the performance requirements.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
COLLABORATIVE
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
YOUMNA MOUHAMAD DAVIDE DEGANELLO ANDREW FLEWITT LUIGI OCCHIPINTI ABHISHEK KUMAR ABHAY SAGADE PARTNERS PRAGMATIC PRINTING CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
haRFest
The haRFest project uses printed electronics manufacturing techniques to produce battery-free RF-powered systems. The project is developing RF energy harvesting modules that have a thin and flexible form-factor, exploiting the existing and widespread Near Field Communication (NFC) infrastructure, and using devices and manufacturing processes to optimise system performance and cost. RF energy devices are manufactured on low-temperature foil substrates and include RF printed antennas, printed tuning capacitors that are trimmed during manufacturing in order to compensate for tolerances in manufacturing and parasitic parameters, to maintain optimal levels of power output through inductive coupling with NFC reader devices. For that, standard measurement methods of actual resonance of printed devices and Q factor need to be adapted to roll-to-roll manufacturing, which would allow us to perform testing and matching of RF system parameters â&#x20AC;&#x153;on the flyâ&#x20AC;?. This method may lead to fully-printed RF-powered scalable system modules for high-volume applications in consumer packaging, document and brand security, in addition to wireless sensor networks for defence industry, healthcare and medical devices. haRFest aims to advance the state-of-the-art by developing technologies for high volume manufacturing of self-tuned energy-harvesting modules, which fits the requirements of flexible, disposable and wearable applications. haRFest is an 18-month collaborative project funded by Innovate UK (Application No. 350257 under the call Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Electronics 2015), which is led by PragmatIC Printing, a global leader in flexible integrated circuits, and involves the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) alongside the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics, represented by its academic partners, the University of Cambridge and the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) at Swansea University. The project builds on the capabilities of our partners who are leaders within the complimentary aspects of this venture; in printing of conductive structures (WCPC, CPI), in logic circuitry (PragmatIC) and development of technologies for cost-effective electronics manufacturing on foil, including test (University of Cambridge, PragmatIC, CPI) and in system integration (PragmatIC, CPI).
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
"Our various collaborations with the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics provide access to world-leading academic knowledge and allow us to explore ideas from advanced materials to novel fabrication techniques. This significantly reduces the risk before moving these concepts into industry." Dr Richard Price, Chief Technology Officer, PragmatIC
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
STUART HIGGINS HENNING SIRRINGHAUS PARTNERS FLEXENABLE DE LA RUE
Motivation • Radio tags are widespread across multiple industries: identification, asset tracking, contactless payments. • Large-area solution-processing offers form factors and integration opportunities not possible with silicon.
COLLABORATIVE
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Security tags enabled by near field communications united with robust electronics (SECURE) The objective of this projects is to develop high-speed rectifying circuits, enabling low-cost flexible security tags for product verification. A low cost, flexible integrated device consisting of a communication function, user input, a logic operation, and an output display is of great interest to brand owners who are looking for more secure packaging concepts. Near Field Communication (NFC) has emerged as a short-range wireless connectivity standard that significantly simplifies the interaction of consumer devices in a range of applications. While communication back to the NFC source provides extra security for the supplier, a display on the package is required to provide confidence for the user that a transaction has been made with a unique code. Developing a platform technology that can be integrated on a flexible substrate using innovative manufacturing concepts will be the focus of this project. This vision will be realised with a consortium consisting of the University of Cambridge for the development of high-quality organic rectifiers and digital logic, FlexEnable for the display technology and integrated manufacturing, and De La Rue for the unique protection of the product and the product development.
• Solution-processed organic semiconductors have potential to undercut the cost of silicon chip attachment in existing products. • Current organic rectifiers are limited by undesirable processing or poor electrical performance.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Meet
Dr Stuart Higgins Dr Stuart Higgins currently works on the Innovate UK funded project ‘Security tags Enabled by near field Communications United with Robust Electronics’ (SECURE), in the Optoelectronics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He completed his MSci in Physics at Imperial College London, staying on to study organic transistors and complementary circuits for his PhD under the supervision of Dr Alasdair Campbell. His research focuses on understanding and applying organic materials in the context of printed and flexible electronics.
Over the last sixteen months I have been working on the Innovate UK funded project ‘SECURE’. The goal is to produce a flexible security tag for packaging. A customer or supplier can interact with the tag, to verify whether the contents are genuine. The project is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, FlexEnable (producer of flexible electronic displays, sensors and circuits), and De La Rue (manufacturer of bank notes, passports and security products). In my role I have been working to develop and integrate high performance organic rectifiers into a flexible logic circuit. The rectifier converts the radio signal produced by a smartphone or smart card reader and turns it into a source of power for the circuit. Working closely with industrial partners offers a different perspective to a purely academic approach, as there are much stricter constraints when developing new technology that aims to be commercially viable. I find this often necessitates coming up with multiple solutions for a given problem, in order to find one that satisfies all of the technical requirements. I also feel industrial insight has led me to be more critical when developing my own ideas. When proposing research that targets a specific application, it’s important to be aware of how manufacturers operate to ensure that the perceived benefits are real and applicable to that industry.
Being part of the Centre has connected me with researchers from across the country. Events such as cohort meetings and the innoLAE conference have allowed me to meet people in person, leading to conversations that have cross-fertilised new ideas. Particularly rewarding was the opportunity I had to facilitate a workshop for the Centre’s researchers. The workshop resulted in five new product concepts for plastic electronics, demonstrating the power of bringing people together in the right environment. Working in Cambridge, I have benefitted immensely from being surrounded by a huge range of world-class expertise, allowing me to continuously learn from colleagues in different areas. Flexible, plastic and organic electronics are well-established academic research areas. We are already starting to see the emergence of this technology, in examples such as flexible displays, but there’s considerable potential still to be unlocked. In my mind, the challenge is now to bring together individual high performing components into complete integrated systems. This is key to my research at Cambridge – developing a bridge between the cutting-edge science being discovered in the lab, with the more mature technologies of industrial partners. This is essential for ensuring that the academic investment doesn’t go to waste, and to unlock the full potential of the field.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2015
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
PRITESH HIRALAL GEHAN AMARATUNGA
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Flexible printed energy storage (FlexEn)
A suitable, printed rechargeable store of energy is required to complement energy harvesting and provide the power for the many large-area printed electronics devices that are being under development. We have previously developed a printable zinc based chemistry which is rechargeable (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2014, 6 (23), pp 20752) and is a promising candidate for a printed energy store with high energy density. The objective of the FlexEn project was to formulate these newly developed electrodes for screen printing and demonstrate the viability of printing to produce rechargeable batteries which can be easily integrated with other printed devices. All the electrode components used in zinc based batteries have been formulated into screen printable pastes, with optimised rheology and particle size, and printing tests conducted in a commercial printing press have demonstrated their electrochemical performance in a battery configuration, however there remains further work to be done to improve the cyclability. The project has contributed to attracting investor interest in our battery capabilities, resulting in the formation of a start-up company Zinergy, that is developing printed, flexible batteries (www. zinergy-energy.com).
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2015
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
NERANGA ABEYWICKRAMA BOB STEVENS PARTNERS NANO PRODUCTS NOVACENTRIX PROMETHEAN PARTICLES BOWATER INDUSTRIES
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Offset lithographic printing of nanocomposite barium titanate capacitors (OPCAP) Advances in conductive printing inks and stable multi-layer printing processes enable various passive electronic circuit components to be formed on low cost flexible substrates, for example connectors, resistors, inductors and low value capacitors. Printed hybrid flexible electronics combines these printed passive components with conventional silicon, and III-V semiconductor devices, to create functional electronic sub-systems. One area of particular interest is printed intelligent labels. However, these require additional circuit elements to create working systems, such as high value capacitors (> 10nF). The aim of this project is to use offset lithography to print high-K dielectric parallel plate capacitors to remove the need of the discrete capacitors. The project objectives are to; 1. Investigate a new nanoparticle loaded UV curable ink made from barium titanate nanoparticles. 2. Offset printing BaTiO3 ink onto different substrates and photonically sinter the dielectric layers to remove the polymers in the ink, and maximize the capacitance per unit area.
(a) Picture of dielectric ink transferring process.
Graphene electrode
BaTiO3 dielectric
The UV curable BaTiO3 ink was formulated by mixing 10nm, 50 nm or 100 nm BaTiO3 nanoparticles (Pharm2Farm) with UV polymer and UV reduce fluids/ gels. Different loadings of BaTiO3 nanoparticle inks were formulated and printed onto graphene electrode layers. Test devices were fabricated by sequential offset printing and UV curing of the graphene electrode, dielectric layer and top graphene electrode. The bottom electrode graphene layer was modified to improve the conductivity and minimise features which may lead to low leakage current. It was evident that due to large agglomerations of the nanoparticles (>20 Âľm), usable inks could not be produced due to poor ink pick up and transfer between rollers during printing. Therefore further work was carried out to mill the powder before formulating the ink. However, it has not been feasible with this technique and equipment available to reduce the particle size to submicron levels. It may prove to be necessary to coat appropriate capping agents on the BaTiO3 particles during synthesis to prevent particle agglomeration and to aid dispersion in the UV carrier polymers. This research has demonstrated that it is feasible to formulate and offset lithographically print flexible capacitors on flexible polymer substrates and the printed capacitor test devices exhibited low leakage current. However, the aim of a significant step change in dielectric constant has not been achieved, but lessons for future work have been learned.
Graphene electrode
(b) Offset printed BaTiO3 layers on printed graphene electrode.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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FLAGSHIP
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
EHSAN DANESH DANIEL TATE VINCENZO PECUNIA IYAD NASRALLAH MIKE TURNER KRISHNA PERSAUD STEVE YEATES HENNING SIRRINGHAUS PARTNERS ALPHASENSE ANALOG DEVICES ARM BEKO CAMBRIDGE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY DSTL FLEXENABLE SYNGENTA
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Integration of printed electronics with silicon for smart sensor systems (iPESS2) Low cost, smart integrated sensors are an important element of emerging technology trends, such as the Internet of Things, wearable electronics or personal health monitoring. Low cost, smart integrated sensors are an important element of emerging technology trends, such as the Internet of Things, wearable electronics or personal health monitoring. They are needed to record vital physical, chemical or biological signals and parameters and have to be integrated into a broad range of environments ranging from buildings to human bodies with full internet connectivity. The vision of the iPESS project is that these sensors are best realised using a hybrid technology approach, combining commercial small-size silicon microelectronic chips for complex data processing and communication tasks with printed electronic components for the sensors and the signal conditioning of the sensor outputs. This is particularly appropriate for applications where multiple sensors that can’t be easily miniaturized are distributed over a relatively large substrate area. Our approach aims to realize such smart sensors in new mechanically flexible form factors and at low cost. In the first phase of the iPESS project we have been developing the key building blocks for such hybrid sensors, in particular • an array of printed field-effect transistor (FET) sensors with high chemical specificity, initially for gas sensing applications (lead partner: University of Manchester). • a printed electronics analogue frontend that provides adequate signal amplification and signal conditioning for the sensor signal to be recorded by a silicon microcontroller (lead partner: University of Cambridge). In the first phase of the iPESS project by the team at the University of Manchester demonstrated an OFET sensor array that operates at <3V and is capable of detecting volatile organic compounds and sub-ppm levels of ammonia under ambient conditions of oxygen and water. The sensor was solution processed on flexible plastic substrates and integrated into a palmsized system capable of real-time analyte detection when connected by a USB cable to a laptop. This sensor system was demonstrated for ethanol detection at a very successful industry workshop on Printed Gas Sensors and at the KCMC Showcase 2016 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Left: Demonstrator for the gas sensing technology: A model train is carrying a bottle of ethanol and is passing through a tunnel. The air in the tunnel is being sampled by a pump to the sensor which causes a real-time change in the electrical current of the OFETs due to the exposure to the alcohol vapour. Right: The quantitative detection of ammonia vapour by the sensor array under humid conditions (80% RH), the lower limit of detection was 600 ppb.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
In iPESS phase 1 by the team at the University of Cambridge demonstrated an integration process for low-voltage complementary circuits based on n-type oxide and p-type conjugated polymer TFTs on flexible substrates and successfully realised complementary differential amplifiers (Fig. 2(a)). We were able to fabricate complementary TFTs operating at voltages as low as 3V (Fig. 2(b)) and differential analogue amplifiers operating at VDD = 5-8V supply voltage with a high gain up to 1000 (Fig. 2(d). To the best of our knowledge these are some of the highest performance analogue circuits at battery compatible operating voltages realised with solution-processed large-area electronics. We are now entering the second phase of the iPESS project in which we will develop a system integration approach based on the sensor and analogue amplifier technology developed in the first phase of the project. We will be engaging with industrial partners to realise integrated sensor systems for a range of applications, including gas safety, food/crop monitoring as well as healthcare. We are actively seeking to engage new research and industrial partners and would welcome discussing your sensing requirements with us.
a
b Polymer Dielectric MOxS
OS
plastic substrate
c
d
Figure 2: Realisation of low-voltage complementary TFTs on flexible, plastic substrates and complementary differential amplifiers in IPESS (Phase 1)
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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Meet
Dr Daniel Tate Dr Daniel Tate received an MChem degree in Chemistry in 2004 from the University of Leeds. He also received a PhD in Chemistry in 2008 from the same institution through a CASE funded studentship with Merck under the supervision of Prof. Richard Bushby. Daniel’s research during his PhD led to the award of an EPSRC grant proposal, allowing him to fulfil his research interests in organic electronics further, specifically, the development of photo cross-linkable liquid crystals for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). He would later take up a position with Prof. Andrew Nelson (University of Leeds) in collaboration with Modern Water (Cardiff) prototyping a water toxicity monitor. In 2011, Daniel joined Prof. Michael Turner’s research group at the Organic Materials Innovation Centre, University of Manchester, being given the opportunity to unify two of his primary research interests into a single project- sensor technology and organic electronics. Since, Daniel has worked on a number of different projects concerned with OFET vapour sensors, the most rewarding of which has been the iPESS project within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics.
I joined the Centre in 2014 and I’m currently engaged with the research activities of OMIC within the iPESS project. The purpose of iPESS is to explore the use of materials and printing techniques for the development of a scalable manufacturing process for OFET devices for gaseous sensing applications. My primary responsibilities are to identify and prepare novel semiconductors as a sensing medium for a variety of gaseous analytes, which are of interest to the healthcare, securities and environmental sectors. Working closely with colleagues, we evaluate the performance of such devices towards analytes of interest, quickly identifying challenges associated with their fabrication/performance, optimising the materials for processability and sensor performance. Furthermore, working closely with colleagues on this interdisciplinary project, allows me to gain hands-on experience in manufacturing processes, which would otherwise not have been afforded to me. This enables me to understand manufacturing challenges in greater detail, which leads to the optimisation of novel materials at an earlier stage of the evaluation programme. This demanding role has allowed me to develop expertise in the key areas of industry-driven printed electronics. The Centre values my skills, opinions and creativity, providing the resources necessary for exploring new leads arising from the course of the research programme I am involved in. Since the Centre was established, all partners have taken part in regular Centre meetings, creating excellent opportunities to meet a
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talented group of individuals from internationally-respected academic institutions. As a direct result of such meetings and informal discussions about one another’s research over poster sessions/coffee/lunch/ dinner we have identified a number of areas where partner institutions and industry partners can complement and enhance not only the primary objectives of iPESS, but also research activities beyond iPESS/the Centre, opportunities that may have been missed otherwise. In addition, the Centre has established the excellent annual innoLAE conference, which presents additional opportunities for me to engage with and to establish collaborations with partners from academia and industry, both within and outside the Centre. Since this time last year, our research has moved beyond evaluation and refinement of individual sensors. We have developed a general platform for the manufacture of gaseous OFET sensors. In February, earlier this year, the Centre hosted the Printed Sensors workshop in London to showcase our technology. Delegates representing both end-users and the leading sensor manufacturers attended the event. The event was well received and our Train Set demonstrator caught the attention of delegates in attendance (video of this demonstration is available online at www-large-area-electronics. eng.cam.ac.uk/videos/) Whilst it was a bit of fun, it clearly demonstrated the performance and versatility of our sensing platform attracting new partners to join us in the next stage of our journey.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
GUANGBIN DOU ANDREW S. HOLMES PARTNERS CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION PRAGMATIC PRINTING TRIBUS‐-D
PATHFINDER 2016
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Interconnection technologies for integration of active devices with printed plastic electronics (ITAPPE) Printed electronic circuits on low-‐temperature plastic substrates have enormous potential across a range of consumer markets including automotive windows, wearable devices, healthcare devices and smart labels. Many of these applications require a combination of both printed electronics, which offers large area and flexibility at low cost, and conventional silicon electronics which allows much greater functionality. Currently the main technique used for integrating silicon devices with plastic electronics is isotropic conductive adhesive (ICA) packaging. With this approach, a conductive adhesive (typically a silver‐-loaded paste) is printed onto the substrate at sites where electrical connection is required. The silicon device is then placed in position, and the adhesive is cured. The same approach is also being used to mount flexible plastic electronic chips on plastic substrates. In this project we will investigate the use of non-conductive adhesive (NCA) packaging as an alternative route for integrating active devices on low‐-temperature substrates. With the NCA approach, electrical connections are mediated by conductive bumps on the active device, and the role of the adhesive is purely to pull these bumps into contact with the pads on the substrate. NCA packaging offers several advantages over ICA. Firstly it is more efficient at the point of assembly because it does not require selective deposition of the adhesive; instead the NCA is dispensed (or applied in film form) over the entire device area. Secondly, it inherently provides an underfill between device and substrate which improves reliability; thirdly it is scalable to finer interconnect pitches which will become important in the future. In addition to working on pure NCA packaging, we will also explore the feasibility of using thermosonic (TS) bonding to form metal‐-metal micro‐joints between the bumps and the substrate pads. TS bonding uses a combination of heat, pressure and ultrasonic energy to facilitate the formation of direct metal‐-metal bonds at lower temperatures and pressures than would be required for thermo‐compression bonding. If a working process can be established for plastic electronics then it will provide more reliable interconnections than any purely adhesive-‐based approach.
Step 1
metal track
Step 2
pad
plastic substrate
Step 3 pressure, heat and ultrasonic energy
TS bonding tool vacuum hole active device
bump
Step 4 TS bonding interface
thermally cured NCA Thermosonic‐ adhesive packaging process combining NCA packaging and thermosonic bonding.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2015
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
JEFF KETTLE SANJAY GHOSH DINESH KUMAR PARTNERS G24 POWER UPS2 CAMBRIDGE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION GWENT ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Spray coated nanowires; enhanced stability for touch sensing and solar cell applications (Stable Nanowires) Metallic nanowires with well-defined dimensions are a promising transparent conducting material for electrical and optical devices, particularly as flexible and conformal transparent electrodes, and are a strong candidate for ITO substitution. They combine several advantages such as high optical transparency, low sheet resistance and mechanical flexibility. These properties make them a candidate for applications like flexible and large area sensors and detectors, touch screens, flat panel displays, OLEDs and organic solar cells and layers for heated windows. However, their application to such devices, is challenging due to a highly non-uniform surface topography, which can cause shorting through thin interlayers and between electrodes. In addition, other challenges exist such as long-term environmental stability, contact resistance between electrode and active materials, which must be overcome to fully integrate these new electrodes into commercial devices. This project is addressing many of these challenges by developing new manufacturing approaches that enable enhanced conductivity and improved long-term environmental and electrical stability. Fundamental to this is the continued development of an approach developed at Bangor University, which enables AgNWs to be deposited onto a flexible substrate with low surface roughness and high electrical/optical performance. Through the ‘StableNanowires’ project, we have recently demonstrated sheet resistance, RSH=8Ω/ sq and transparency of 88% in the visible-SWIR spectrum (300-2500nm) onto PET substrates. To our knowledge, this is one of the best performances demonstrated for any transparent electrode materials commonly mentioned as an ITO replacement. An added advantage of the technique developed is that planarised layer (average surface roughness, RA, <8nm) is developed after processing, which significantly widens the future possible applications of metallic NWs and ensures that the AgNWs developed could be readily integrated into many process chains. During the project, we have shown that the electrodes can be integrated into functional organic and perovskite solar cells. Further work is ongoing to quantify the stability to high bias conditions relative to ITO technology. Enhanced bias stability is demonstrated by reducing the contact resistance and by material purification.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
FLAGSHIP
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
ANDREW FLEWITT ABHAY SAGADE
Objectives • To develop strategy for fabrication of diodes compatible with reel-to-reel manufacturing. • To create library of materials suitable for Schottky barrier diodes. • To establish device simulations for various geometry parameters to produce high performance and test diodes in UHF range. • To understand the device physics of different diode geometries.
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Platform for high speed testing of large-area electronic systems (PHISTLES)
In the first year of the PHISTLES project, we successfully developed ‘Simultaneous Multiple Device Tests’ (SMUDTs) to address the need for high-speed testing of large-area electronics produced by reel-to-reel (R2R) manufacturing. In the current phase of the project, we are considering the design and testing of fully printed high speed diodes. The diode is widely used in a variety of circuits such as rectifiers, voltage multipliers, and charge pump circuits, with particular for energy harvesting circuits to extract energy from radio frequency (RF) waves. These diodes have a critical role in the Flexipower project, whose aim is to produce all of the components for a printed RF energy harvesting system. Therefore a diode capable of operating at high frequencies should be part of the printed circuit. High performance printed rectifiers capable of operation in the UHF (300 MHz to 3 GHz) band is the cornerstone in interfacing printed electronics with mobile technology and hence in ‘internet of things’ (IoT) applications. There are several challenges in realizing such a printed UHF diode. Printing diodes requires semiconductor materials with high mobility and carrier concentration which can also be processed from solution and at low temperatures. Device geometry considerations are equally important, and we have come up with a device simulation strategy to optimise this. Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) are more suitable for high speed operation than p-n junction diodes: Firstly, the low barrier height in SBDs assists charge carriers to move more quickly into the circuit. Secondly, device fabrication is simplified with a semiconductor sandwiched between two different metals of appropriate work function. Thirdly, this simple processing reduces the cost of fabrication many fold. The different potential diode geometries are summarized schematically in Figure 1. Each of these three structures have their advantages: Device 1 shows minimal parasitic capacitance, which is highly desirable for UHF operation, but it is most suitable for materials with high mobility or conductivity. Device 3, in contrast, is more suitable for low conductivity materials but shows high parasitic capacitance. Device where the two metal electrodes are perfectly aligned 2, may be the best choice with low parasitic capacitance and a sufficiently low resistance path for conduction.
L M1
M2
Device 1 • Suitable for material with good conductivity • Minimal stray capacitance
M1
M1 L M2
L M2
Device 2
Device 3
• Suitable for any material
• Suitable for material with
conductivity
• Low stray capacitance
low conductivity
• Large stray capacitance
Figure 1: Various geometries of Schottky diode considering overlap between two metals (blue and yellow) of distinct work functions and semiconductor (light grey).
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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We carried out simulations of the diode structures using a software suite from SilvacoÂŽ. This industrial interaction has strengthened our understanding of the SBDs. The simulations have been performed with amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) as a model material, which is well known for its high performance in thin film transistors (TFTs). The device performance for geometries Device-2 and Device-3 are shown in Figure 2. The Device-3 shows a uniform distribution of electric field in the whole semiconductor from anode to cathode with very high electric current. For Device-2, the electric field is intense only at the facing ends of electrodes; shown by the dotted area. With the reduction in thickness of semiconductor, increased currents are seen for both structures. Although the current in Device-2 is two orders lower than Device-3, the ON/OFF ratio is very similar, ~108. Also, the turn on voltages for both devices are comparable. The important difference is found in capacitance values, for Device-2 it is two orders lower than Device-3 for a 0.1 Âľm semiconductor thickness; which is highly desirable for high frequency operation. These device simulations and analysis will provide guidelines for printing diodes for various applications.
Figure 2: Device simulation of Schottky barrier diodes for geometries of Device 3 (top) and Device 2 (bottom). The colour contours and arrows indicate electric field and electron current direction, respectively.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
BIN YANG ROBERT DONNAN BOB STEVENS PARTNERS NANO PRODUCTS TETECHS TERAVIEW NSI-MI-EUROPE
PATHFINDER 2016
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
In-line quality-control of UV offset lithographically printed electronicink by THz technology (IQ-PET) Printing technologies have been developed to pattern a wide range of functional materials on diverse substrates, even paper, to create multifunctional electronic systems. Reliable, fast and low cost in-line quality control for continuous, high-speed, sheet-to-sheet printing is an important requirement for the large-area electronics industry. Terahertz (THz) radiation spans from 0.1 to 10 THz (3.3 cm-1 to 333.6 cm-1) within the electromagnetic spectrum and has many beneficial characteristics, including being intrinsically safe, non-ionising and non-destructive. Detecting reflected THz radiation makes it possible to create spectroscopic information and 3D images with unique coherent sources, which offer many advantages, such as improved signal-to-noise and ultra-accurate complex amplitude data. THz energy can also probe low energy molecular motion and interactions within molecular lattices, meaning that THz spectroscopy and imaging systems have a wide range of applications from medical imaging, biological research, pharmaceutical monitoring and semiconductor testing to security, communications, manufacturing and quality control. This project will investigate the changes in THz spectra at each stage of the UV offset printing process for conductive and dielectric inks. This will provide a guide to where THz sensors should be located in a commercial press to achieve optimal real-time In-line Quality-control for UV cured offset lithographically Printed Electronic-Ink by THz technology (IQ-PET). We will use standalone systems developed in the lab (THz quasi-optical reflectometry),commercial THz TDS (time domain spectroscopy) and antenna Near-field Scanning (NSI) to advance quality control systems which can operate with high-speed sheet-to-sheet and roll-to-roll production lines for system level integration in large-area electronics manufacturing.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2015
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
KIRON PRABHA-RAJEEV PIOTR DUDEK LESZEK MAJEWSKI MIKE TURNER PARTNERS NEUDRIVE CENTRE FOR PROCESS INNOVATION
SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Printed electronics for neuromorphic computing (pNeuron) Some of the most challenging issues in printable large-area electronics are related to the reliability, variability and relatively low speed of individual devices, which make it difficult to implement more complex functionality, especially analogue signal processing circuits. Remarkably, biological systems have evolved solutions to these problems: neurons are slow, highly variable and volatile, and yet brains have an amazing ability to achieve robust operation, and process information at high speed and with low power consumption. Hence a question arises: can circuits based on neural principles provide useable solutions to coping with device issues in largearea electronics? Conversely, as the interest in brain-inspired systems continues to grow, with potential applications ranging from machine intelligence to brain interfacing and prosthesis, one of the challenges is to find suitable implementation technologies for the ‘neuromorphic’ (i.e. brain-mimicking) systems. These are usually implemented using conventional silicon integrated circuits; however, these have been optimised for high-speed numerical computation, and are not necessarily a most natural fit. Perhaps low-cost large-area printed electronics, with its inherently more “neuron-like” devices, could provide an ideal alternative technology for implementing such systems? We have started exploring these questions in this project. Our goal is to demonstrate spiking neuron circuits mimicking biological behaviour, fabricated using printed organic electronics technology. We have focused on designing pMOS circuits implementing integrate-and-fire neurons, and we have advanced our in-house inkjet printing based device fabrication technology. We have characterised our devices, and elaborated device models suitable for SPICE simulations, and we are currently developing complete neuron circuits using these devices. In a parallel effort, we are designing circuits in collaboration with NeuDrive, to be fabricated at the Centre for Process Innovation. These initial proof-of-concept designs are preparing the ground for future research, including larger collaborative research proposals.
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
PATHFINDER 2016
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
JOHN HARDY FRANCES EDWARDS PARTNERS GLAXOSMITHKLINE KANICHI RESEARCH SERVICES
b n eutral
delivery
stimulation
HO O O HO2C
CO2H
Axon valley
1mV
a d rug
1ms
ACSF 1ÂľM TTX
recording electrode
stimulating electrode
CA1
Figure 1: Conducting polymer-based electrode prepared by multiphoton fabrication for application as a neural electrode. (J. Mater. Chem. B. 2015, 3, 5001.)
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Multiphoton fabrication of bioelectronic biomaterials for neuromodulation (MFBBN) Electromagnetic fields affect a variety of tissues (e.g. bone, muscle, nerve and skin) and play important roles in a multitude of biological processes (e.g. nerve sprouting, prenatal development and wound healing), mediated by subcellular level changes, including alterations in protein distribution, gene expression, metal ion content, and action potentials. This has inspired the development of electrically conducting devices for biomedical applications, including: biosensors, drug delivery devices, cardiac/neural electrodes, and tissue scaffolds. It is noteworthy that there are a number of FDA approved devices capable of electrical stimulation in the body, including cardiac pacemakers, bionic eyes, bionic ears and electrodes for deep brain stimulation; all of which are designed for long term implantation. Polymers are ubiquitous in daily life, and conducting polymers (e.g. polyaniline, polypyrrole, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) have shown themselves to be capable of electrically stimulating cells. Furthermore, when implanted in mammals their immunogenicities are similar to FDA-approved polymers such as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), supporting their safety in vivo. These preclinical studies suggest that conducting polymer-based biomaterials are promising for clinical translation. The aim of this project is to use multiphoton fabrication to print conducting biomaterials for use as neural electrodes, characterize their physicochemical and electrical properties, and to validate the efficacy of the bioelectronic devices to interact with brain tissue ex vivo in collaboration with Frances Edwards at UCL. Clinically approved electrodes are manufactured from inorganic materials (e.g. titanium nitride, platinum, and iridium oxide), however, their mechanical properties are far from those of soft tissues in the central and peripheral nervous system, and such mechanical mismatch leads to local tissue inflammation and their encapsulation in fibrous scar tissue that impedes the successful function of the neural electrode (in some cases this necessitates the application of up to 7V to stimulate the nerve tissue which leads to tissue damage). The development of neural electrodes with biomimetic chemical and mechanical properties is highly attractive as it may facilitate the widespread use of such electronic devices.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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STUDENT
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
System Integration
Devices, Processes and Components
Sub-Systems
System Integration Demonstrators
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Implantable biosensor technology
Manufacturing Processes & Supporting Science Testing Methods
Emerging Technologies
EDWARD KAH WEI TAN LUIGI OCCHIPINTI
The main objective of this PhD project is to develop an in-vivo chemical sensor based on stretchable, biocompatible and/or biodegradable/ bioeliminable polymer(s). Various biomaterials have already been used in the biomedical field for drug delivery, tissue scaffolding and medical implants. These biomaterials include polymers such as polycaproactone, PLGA and dextran. However, two main challenges remain: 1) suitable choice of substrate and 2) the manufacturing process. First, it would be ideal to create an implant that does not induce any foreign body reaction in the tissues surrounding it, that is stable over its pre-defined lifetime and that degrades into metabolites eliminating the need for its removal via surgery. Second, currently available metal/electronic circuit patterning techniques are optimized for silicon substrates, which are rigid, flat and able to withstand harsh processing conditions. We are now trying to apply conventional fabrication methods (photolithography, e-beam evaporation and etching) with some modifications onto chosen polymer substrates and exploring ways of applying new capabilities of conformable printing technologies, ( e.g. Aerosol Jet from Optomec) to print a wide variety of functional inks (metal, dielectrics, semiconductors, biomaterials, ceramics, etc.) directly onto a broad range of substrate materials.
A hydrogel-based biocompatible microneedle for subcutaneous metabolite sensing applications.
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We have had initial success with the fabrication methods described here and are currently optimising the process before moving to the next steps. Further work in this area is expected to enable the development of chemical sensors and biochemical sensors on suitable substrates, such as skin patches and 3D scaffolds of biodegradable materials, leading towards a new generation of smart implants for neuroprosthetic applications.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Meet
Edward Tan Edward started his PhD at the University of Cambridge in late 2015. He is supervised by Luigi Occhipinti at the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) of the university. His current research interests include the development of medical sensors via novel microfabrication techniques on flexible, conformable and biocompatible substrates. Prior to his graduate research, Edward graduated with a MEng in Chemical Engineering and MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from Imperial College London and University of Cambridge respectively.
2016 has been an exciting year for me, moving from a chemical engineering background to a role as a researcher affiliated to the Centre working on the next generation of electronics. The main focus of my PhD is to develop stretchable electronics; specifically, a medical sensor based on an electrochemical transduction mechanism that will continuously obtain vital health information from its wearer. Since the early stages of the project, there have been unexpected challenges; from the steep learning curve of getting familiarised with the fabrication and characterisation techniques for electronic devices, to the realisation that these conventional tools are optimised for rigid substrates such as silicon and are therefore not directly applicable to soft and elastic polymeric substrates. In order to move to the next phase, I am exploring different state-of-theart techniques, including inkjet and aerosol jet printing, and trying to modify the fabrication process to adapt it to existing technologies. Resolution and adhesion of metal patterns on platforms made of polymer are the two key issues to overcome. The aim is to develop a robust, reliable and scalable method that can be used to manufacture this new class of technology thereby enabling a wealth of novel devices such as smart wound dressings, electronic skin and wearable energy harvesters. Being a part of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics network that will eventually enable the commercialisation of largearea electronics is a great motivation for
me. I enjoy the multidisciplinary nature of my project and recognize that it is a privilege to work at the intersection of biology, medicine, materials and engineering. I am also very glad that I am able to work very closely with Dr Luigi Occhipinti, who is my supervisor on this project. Not only does he provide invaluable guidance through his knowledge and expertise developed over 18 years of working in industry, he also encourages me to try out some of my own ideas and new things for personal growth. I have benefitted immensely from my affiliation to the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in LargeArea Electronics. I feel fortunate to be a part of this inspiring community of individuals with such wide-ranging skills and experiences. Through the annual conference and networking sessions organized by the Centre, I am able to meet bright researchers from the other partner Universities, and to find out about the cool projects they are working on and the capabilities they have. In the near future, I will concentrate on refining my understanding of market needs in order to build a device that can truly add value to existing know-how. I am also going to continue to develop soft skills that are key to successful collaboration in interdisciplinary working environments either in academia or industry. In terms of research, I look forward to bringing my project a step closer to clinical trials and exploring opportunities for collaboration on stretchable or flexible electronics.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME
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Outreach and networking
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics promotes the large-area electronics (LAE) field by leading innovative manufacturing research programmes and collaborating with the academic and industrial communities to support the scaleup of technologies and processes and facilitate the adoption of LAE technologies by the wider electronics industry. The Centre acts on a national basis to champion links between university research and scale-up for industrial manufacturing and commercialisation, in collaboration with intermediate organisations such as the High Value Manufacturing Catapult.
innoLAE conference Earlier this year, we hosted the second â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Innovations in Large-Area Electronics Conference (innoLAE) at Robinson College, Cambridge, UK which saw attendance increase by 30% compared to 2015 with 200 delegates representing 88 different organizations from 11 countries in attendance. Delegates were equally-balanced between industry and academia, making innoLAE the best place for the UK LAE community to network and connect.
OUTREACH AND NETWORKING
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innoLAE 2016 featured a two-day presentation programme with thirty seven speakers, thirty six poster presentations and an exhibition with sixteen companies. With an emphasis on manufacturing, the conference provided an opportunity to hear new results from UK academic researchers, the latest developments from UK and international companies active in the technology, and featured keynotes from leading international organisations. The poster session, reception and conference dinner provided ample networking opportunities for all delegates. Our keynote speakers were Professor Donal Bradley from Oxford University, who gave the audience an overview of the plastic electronics: electrode materials, injection layers and solution-processed small molecule OLEDs, and Dr Faiz Sherman from Procter & Gamble, who talked about the significance of emerging technologies and the potential use of sensors in consumer goods. Other highlights included organic bioelectronics - new tools for medicine and biology, with invited talks delivered by Professor Stefanie Lacour, from EPFL in Switzerland, Professor Magnus Berggren, from Linköping University in Sweden, and Dr. Roy Katso, from GlaxoSmithKline in the UK. Advances in LAE technology and manufacturing were presented by leading players in the field who covered topics such as production and measurement of roll-toroll ALD barriers for electronic application, printed and flexible electronics in wearables and sensors, energy harvesting and storage, and cutting edge manufacturing technologies, and a panel discussion on laser
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microfabrication in flexible electronics was organised at the conference, moderated by Professor Bill O’Neill from the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University. There were also presentations about the Centre by Chris Rider, Centre Director, talks about the latest results from projects in the Centre presented by its academic members. innoLAE 2016 was generously sponsored by NovaCentrix, Beko, the Centre for Process Innovation and FlexEnable. They were joined in the exhibition area by Sherkin Technologies, RK Print Coat Instruments, Semilab, Meyer Burger, Haydale, Heraeus, IDTechEx, Inseto, Optomec, Oxford Lasers, Printed Electronics and SPS Europe. The best poster prize was awarded to the team led by Professor Martin Taylor (Bangor University) in a collaboration with Smartkem for their poster entitled “Organic ring oscillators with sub 200ns gate delay from a p-type semiconductor blend”. The innoLAE Programme Committee is now working hard to make sure that innoLAE 2017 offers another great opportunity for attendees to showcase their innovative technologies and hear about ground-breaking research activities from industrial and academic groups in the UK, Europe and worldwide. innoLAE 2017 will be held on January 31- February 1, 2017 at the Genome Campus Conference Centre in Hinxton, just outside Cambridge, in a purpose-built venue offering delegates and exhibitors plenty of space and greater comfort. For more information about the conference, go to: www.innolae.org
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
InnoLAE 2016 delegates said “Excellent conference- it has established a significant position in the UK large-area electronics sector.” – Jon Helliwell, Centre for Process Innovation "All presentations, posters and exhibitions were prepared to a very high standard. Really good balance between technical detail and 'big picture' applications discussion.” – Dr Alex Davis, Merck Chemicals "Hearing the industry perspective (both from talks but also from discussions on the exhibition floor) on what is valuable/important is very useful.” – Dr Stuart Higgins, University of Cambridge "I had some very good discussions with other companies...” – Dr Zlatka Stoeva, DZP Technologies
OUTREACH AND NETWORKING
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Large-area electronics demonstrator The Centre is developing an interactive demonstrator integrating technology provided by UK LAE manufacturers into an easy-to-use system that will be used to stimulate end-user demand for large-area electronics by illustrating the capabilities of LAE technologies to potential customers, end-users, product designers and the public. In the first phase of the project, we held a design competition with product design students at Central St Martins, University of the Arts London, who generated product concepts intended to show the power and flexibility of LAE in an attractive and compelling way. We are now developing the electronic and mechanical design and manufacturing of a working demonstrator based on one of the concepts presented by the students, the ‘Interactive Sample Book’. Industrial partners Cambridge Display Technology, FlexEnable, M-SOLV, PragmatIC Printing, Printed Electronics, Peratech, PST Sensors and the Centre for Process Innovation (part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult) are providing working examples of their technology for the demonstrator. This will consist of a ringbound A4-size portfolio containing a number of flexible sheets each including a combination of printed functional elements so that the user can interact with the page (*see figure below). The functional pages, together with explanatory text and graphics, will be attached to a spine which will contain any conventional electronic circuits required and a power source. We plan to manufacture twenty of the demonstrators to allow our academic and industry partners to use them to engage with end-users, designers, trade associations, public agencies and other communities interested in the new technology.
Networking events As well as hosting visits from more than twenty national and international organisations, making presentations at conferences and participating in UK events such as Manufacturing the Future, the Centre organised a number of workshops in the past year on specific topics to disseminate our research results and engage with industry. LAE meets Silicon: from R&D to high-value manufacturing: the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics held a joint workshop with NMI entitled ‘large-area electronics meets Silicon - from R&D to High-Value Manufacturing’, at the Møller Centre in Cambridge in October 2015. The event was a great success with sixteen exhibitors and over eighty delegates in attendance. The workshop brought together conventional electronics system suppliers with large-area electronics (LAE) technology companies to discuss a hybrid approach to electronic systems, combining silicon and LAE to achieve new flexible, thin and light product form-factors and accelerate the development of new market opportunities. The event covered the whole ecosystem from research and development to high-value manufacturing with talks, panel discussions and structured networking sessions. Speakers and panellists included IDTechEx, FlexEnable, Polyphotonix, PragmatIC Printing, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Printed Electronics, Semitronics, the Centre for Process Innovation, NMI and our Centre. Gas sensor workshop: on February 9th, 2016 we held an industry consultation workshop to showcase the results achieved on printed gas sensors by the iPESS project and to engage potential partners for a follow-on project. This workshop was an excellent opportunity for the Centre to obtain guidance on the future direction of the project from UK experts in different fields. The project team is seeking to address real challenges with their printed gas sensor technology and system integration capability to enable the manufacture of pervasive, cost effective and accurate detectors for gases such as ammonia, methane etc. Fourteen companies participated in the workshop, representing the UK industrial community in the field of gas sensors covering the whole value chain from device manufacturers to system integrators and end-users in different sectors, such as the healthcare, consumer, automotive, defence and built environment market sectors. The interest generated at the event led to seven follow-up meetings which resulted in six projects partners being secured for the iPESS2 project.
Demonstrator: A4-size portfolio with interactive pages.
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Further project workshops are planned for the next year.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Partnerships The Centre for Process Innovation, one of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Centres, supports the growth of large-area electronics by offering SMEs the possibility to scale up their manufacturing with industrially-compatible tools, materials and processes at the National Centre for Printable Electronics in Sedgefield, UK. The EPSRC Centre and the Centre for Process Innovation are collaborating in Innovate UK funded projects and on the interactive demonstrator, provide mutual support to their respective advisory boards and participate in workshops and initiatives organised by the EPSRC Centres. Through
this strategic partnership, we are positioned to offer UK academics an opportunity to test their ideas and research outputs, assess and mature the corresponding technology readiness level and start the journey towards industrial scale up. The Centre is always open to meet with other research teams to explore opportunities for collaboration in one of the areas of its technical programme or discuss new technology or application fields.
Vision: Innovation through HVM
Lead commercialiser
Results of feasibility projects, e.g. new materials, process, new device architecture
EPSRC Centre and Partners
EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics 2016
Reduced risk to HVM Catapult
2016
Centre-funded projects, collaborative projects
TRL 1
New product concepts, new equipment, industrial process ready for scale-up
Reduced risk to the value chain Universities Scale-up of academic research
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OUTREACH AND NETWORKING
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Our people
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Chris Rider Centre Director
Dr Mark Leadbeater Programme Manager
Dr Luigi Occhipinti National Outreach Manager
Vika Lebedeva-Baxter Centre Coordinator
Dr Philip Cooper Special Projects
OUR PEOPLE
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Co-investigators
Professor Thomas Anthopoulos Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London
Professor Tim Claypole
Professor Andrew Flewitt
College of Engineering and Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, Swansea University
Professor David Gethin
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Professor Arokia Nathan
College of Engineering and Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, Swansea University
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Professor Krishna Persaud
Professor Henning Sirringhaus
School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester
Professor Mike Turner
Professor Natalie Stingelin
School of Chemistry and Organic Materials Innovation Centre, University of Manchester
Department of Materials, Imperial College London
Professor Rhodri Williams Centre for Complex Fluids Processing, College of Engineering, Swansea University
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Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Professor Stephen Yeates School of Chemistry, University of Manchester
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
OUR PEOPLE
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Project investigators
Professor Gehan Amaratunga FlexEn Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Dr Davide Deganello SIMLIFT College of Engineering, Swansea University
Dr Demosthenes Koutsogeorgis
Dr Robert Donnan IQ-PET
LAFLEXEL
School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London
School of Science & Technology, Nottingham Trent University
Dr Piotr Dudek pNeuron School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester
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Dr Guangbin Dou ITAPPE Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Dr Frances Edwards
Dr John Hardy
MFBBN
MFBBN
Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology, University College London
Department of Chemistry and Materials Science Institute, Lancaster University
Dr Nikolaos Kalfagiannis
Professor Andrew Holmes ITAPPE
LAFLEXEL
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London
School of Science & Technology, Nottingham Trent University
Dr Leszek Majewski
Dr Jeff Kettle
pNeuron
Stable Nanowires
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester
School of Electronics, Bangor University
Professor Bob Stevens OPCAP, IQ-PET Nottingham Trent University
Dr Bin Yang IQ-PET Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Chester
OUR PEOPLE
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Our researchers Dr David Beynon Dr Neranga Abeywickrama OPCAP
ARPLAE and Flexipower Research Officer at the WCPC, Swansea University.
Research Fellow iSMART, Department of Physics, Nottingham Trent University.
Formulating functional inks for the ARPLAE and Flexipower projects.
Dr Dan Curtis Dr James Claypole
ARPLAE
ARPLAE
Senior Lecturer, Complex Fluids Research Group, College of Engineering, Swansea University.
Research Assistant, WCPC, Swansea University. Understanding of the rheological aspects of high-resolution contact printing processes.
Understanding of the rheological aspects of highresolution contact printing processes.
Spilios Dellis
Dr Ehsan Danesh
LAFLEXEL
iPESS
Research Fellow iSMART, Department of Physics, Nottingham Trent University.
Research Associate, Organic Materials Innovation Centre, University of Manchester.
Laser annealing as an alternative to any heating processes in metal-oxide TFTs devices.
Design and realisation of printed sensors.
Dr Sanjay Ghosh
Dr Dimitra Georgiadou
Stable Nanowires
PLANALITH
Postdoctoral Research Officer, School of Electronic Engineering at Bangor University.
Research Associate, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London. Adhesion lithography (a-Lith) for solution-processed radio-frequency diodes and circuits.
New transparent electrodes for use in optoelectronic devices and actively involved in design, fabrication and testing of solar cells.
Dr Stuart Higgins SECURE Research Associate, Optoelectronics Group Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. Understanding and applying organic materials in the context of printed and flexible electronics.
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Dr Tim Mortensen Flexipower Research Associate, WCPC, Swansea University. Developing printed technologies to facilitate powering devices wirelessly through RF energy harvesting.
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Dr Youmna Mouhammad
Dr Iyad Nasrallah
haRFest
iPESS
Postdoctoral researcher WCPC, Swansea University.
Research Associate, Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
Working to develop and scale the production of an energy harvesting module concentrating on the printing of an integrated antenna and capacitor system.
Realising novel organic circuitry for signal conditioning in sensing applications.
Dr Kiron Prabha-Rajeev pNeuron
Dr Abhay Sagade
Research Associate, Electronics and Electronics Engineering Department at the University of Manchester.
Research Associate, Electronic Devices and Materials Group, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge.
Aiming to demonstrate spiking neuron circuits, mimicking biological behaviour, using printed electronics technology.
Development of novel testing concepts for large-area electronic devices.
PHISTLES
Dr James Semple
Dr Daniel Tate
PLANALITH
iPESS
Research Associate, Centre for Plastic Electronics and Department of Physics Imperial College London.
Research Associate, Organic Materials Innovation Centre, University of Manchester.
Adhesion lithography (a-Lith) for solution-processed radiofrequency diodes and circuits.
Developing chemical field effect transistor sensors.
Our students John Armitage
Shengyang Chen
PhD Student, Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory University of Cambridge
PhD Student, Centre for Plastic Electronics (CPE), Imperial College London
Bastian Hähnle
Supamas Nitnara
Research Student, Centre for Plastic Electronics (CPE) Imperial College London
MRes Student, Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London
Edward Tan
Gwenhivir Wyatt- Moon
PhD Student, Engineering Department, University of Cambridge
PhD Student, Experimental Solid State Physics Group Imperial College London
OUR PEOPLE
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The year ahead
September
2016
30 Sept
October
2016
innoLAE 2017 Call for Papers deadline
2016
EPSRC Centre strategy refresh
31 Oct
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Nov-Dec
Early Bird Registration deadline for innoLAE 2017
Industry workshop advanced rheology for printable electronics
EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
January
2017
30 Jan
31 Jan1 Feb
Mar-Apr
2017
2017
OE-A working group meeting in Cambridge
innoLAE industry day
innoLAE 2017 conference
September
Industry workshop energy harvesting manufacturing challenges
THE YEAR AHEAD
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Collaborate with us
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
How we work The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics funds core science and technology development from technology readiness level (TRL) 1 to 3 at the four partner universities of the Centre: Cambridge, Manchester, Swansea and Imperial College London. Our core projects target key largearea electronics manufacturing challenges in system integration and advanced manufacturing processes. Smaller Pathfinder projects enable us to fund feasibility projects at other leading academic groups in the UK. We also work with several Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) to co-supervise PhD student research in LAE. Building on this research base, we collaborate with industry in higher TRL projects funded through public sources such as Innovate UK or Horizon 2020 to develop technology further or to facilitate technology transfer. We also work with industry on company-funded projects. Our key downstream partner is the Centre for Process Innovation, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, with its scale-up capabilities in LAE.
COLLABORATE WITH US
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Why collaborate with us? Each member of our operations team has many years’ industrial experience in leading research and development teams, protecting intellectual property, setting up research collaborations and providing technology for commercialisation. Our investigator team brings together diverse expertise and facilities from the four largest academic groups in the field of large-area electronics in the UK, covering materials (organic and inorganic), devices (light-emitting, photovoltaics, sensors, transistors, diodes etc) and processes (contact printing, non-contact digital deposition etc). Several of them were among the early pioneers in the field and many have experience of commercialisation through spinout companies, and between them; they have close connections to six Centres for Doctoral Training.
Benefits of working with us to industry and academia:
As an academic, you can: • Join our community and be at the forefront of innovative research and new technologies. • Hear about the latest developments and publicise your own. • Attend our events and meet other researchers working in large-area electronics. • Connect with industrial partners looking to be part of the large-area electronics value chain. • Submit a Pathfinder project proposal – these are small feasibility studies in aspects of large-area electronics funded by us and open to any UK academic. There will be annual Pathfinder calls during the life of the Centre. • Collaborate with us in research projects and partner with us in the dissemination of large-area electronics research results.
As an industrialist, you can:
How to engage with us
• Accelerate knowledge transfer and partnership development by working with us in collaborative R&D projects tailored to your needs, accessing available funding schemes.
Our research programme is strongly influenced by industry input and as such we are always looking for industry partners to take part in collaborative projects that leverage our expertise.
• Get early access to emerging research results. • Talk to us about the technology readiness of emerging academic research and we will help you to identify next steps in its development for commercial use. • Leverage EPSRC funding to reduce your innovation risk. Talk to us about how our core project portfolio might benefit your business or let us know what your unmet innovation needs in large-area electronics might be. • Let us help you define and place a PhD studentship with access to the broader Centre facilities. • Gain access to resources at our four University Partners’ locations and benefit from collaborating with key UK academic groups through one organisation.
As a national outreach centre for the LAE community, we would be pleased to facilitate discussions regarding relevant funding calls, and help identify possible teaming partners with a particular expertise. You can engage with us in a number of ways: • S ponsor a PhD student on a topic of interest to your organisation • Work with us using KTP or other exchange schemes • Secondment of EPSRC staff to work in your organisation • Sponsor a student project • C ollaborate with us on a TSB or Horizon 2020 or other publicly-funded project • Join a multi-company technology programme
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
Contact us Electrical Engineering Division University of Cambridge 9 JJ Thomson Avenue Cambridge, CB3 0FA info@largeareaelectronics.org www.largeareaelectronics.org +44 1223 332838
COLLABORATE WITH US
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Our partners
Industry partners supporting centre projects
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EPSRC CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING IN LARGE-AREA ELECTRONICS ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
UK academic partners
Centre university partners
Sponsored by
OUR PARTNERS
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Contact us Electrical Engineering Division University of Cambridge 9 JJ Thomson Avenue Cambridge, CB3 0FA info@largeareaelectronics.org www.largeareaelectronics.org +44 1223 332838