Researchers Report a New Way to Produce Curvy Electronics
September 27, 2019 | University of HoustonEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Contact lenses that can monitor your health as well as correct your eyesight aren’t science fiction, but an efficient manufacturing method—finding a way to produce the curved lenses with embedded electronics—has remained elusive.
Until now. A team of researchers from the University of Houston and the University of Colorado Boulder has reported developing a new manufacturing method, known as conformal additive stamp printing, or CAS printing, to produce the lenses, solar cells and other three-dimensional curvy electronics. The work, reported in the journal Nature Electronics, demonstrates the use of the manufacturing technique to produce a number of curvy devices not suited to current production methods. The work is also highlighted by the journal Nature.
“We tested a number of existing techniques to see if they were appropriate for manufacturing curvy electronics,” said Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston and corresponding author on the paper. “The answer is no. They all had limitations and problems.”
Instead, Yu, who is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH, and his team devised a new method, which they report opens the door to the efficient production of a range of curvy electronic devices, from wearables to optoelectronics, telecommunications and biomedical applications.
“Electronic devices are typically manufactured in planar layouts, but many emerging applications, from optoelectronics to wearables, require three-dimensional curvy structures,” the researchers wrote. “However, the fabrication of such structures has proved challenging due, in particular, to the lack of an effective manufacturing technology.”
Existing manufacturing technologies, including microfabrication, don’t work for curved, three-dimensional electronics because they are inherently designed to produce two-dimensional, flat electronic devices, Yu said. But increasingly, there is a need for electronic devices that require curvy, 3-D shapes, including smart contact lenses, curved imagers, electronic antennas and hemispherical solar cells, among other devices.
These devices are small—ranging in size from millimeters to centimeters—with accuracy within a few microns. Recognizing that, Yu and the other researchers proposed the new fabrication method, conformal additive stamp printing, or CAS printing.
CAS printing works like this: An elastomeric, or stretchy, balloon is inflated and coated with a sticky substance. It is then used as a stamping medium, pushing down on pre-fabricated electronic devices to pick up the electronics and then print them onto various curvy surfaces. In the paper, the researchers describe using the method to create a variety of curvy devices, including silicon pellets, photodetector arrays, small antennas, hemispherical solar cells and smart contact lenses.
The work was performed using a manual version of the CAS printer, although the researchers also designed an automated version. Yu said that will make it easy to scale up production.
In addition to Yu, co-authors include Kyoseung Sim, Song Chen, Zhoulyu Rao, Jingshen Liu, Yuntao Lu, Seonmin Jang, Faheem Ershad and Ji Chen, all with UH, and Zhengwei Li and Jianliang Xiao, both with the University of Colorado Boulder.
This work was supported by National Science Foundation.
Suggested Items
IPC Bestows Posthumous Hall of Fame Award to Industry Icon Michael Ford
04/18/2024 | IPCIPC honored the late Michael Ford, Aegis Software, for his extraordinary contributions to the global electronics manufacturing industry with the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. IPC’s most prestigious honor, the Hall of Fame Award is given to individuals who have provided exceptional service and advancement to IPC and the electronics industry. Ford, an industry leader and valued IPC volunteer, died suddenly in January 2024.
SEMI Applauds U.S. Chips Act Award for Samsung Electronics Facilities to Strengthen Domestic Semiconductor Supply Chain
04/17/2024 | SEMISEMI, the industry association serving the global electronics design and manufacturing supply chain, applauded the United States Department of Commerce’s announcement of a Preliminary Memorandum of Terms for an award under the CHIPS and Science Act to support the expansion of Samsung Electronics’ presence in Texas and the company’s development and production of leading-edge chips.
Northrop Grumman honors Calumet Electronics with Supplier Excellence Award
04/17/2024 | Calumet ElectronicsNorthrop Grumman Corporation has recognized Calumet Electronics during the company’s 2024 Supplier Excellence Awards for “exceptional performance and unwavering commitment to delivering with excellence.” Calumet is one of 70 suppliers recognized from across the globe. In its award category of “Supplier Strategic Excellence,” Calumet was honored alongside global corporations such as Amazon Web Services, Dell Technologies, and Eaton Corporation.
Ark Electronics Expands Global Manufacturing Factory Network in North America and Europe
04/17/2024 | PRNewswireElectronic Manufacturing Company Ark Electronics recently announced the expansion of its Global Factory Network with the addition of Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) capabilities in Mexico and Europe.
Designing Electronics for High Thermal Loads
04/16/2024 | Akber Roy, Rush PCB Inc.Developing proactive thermal management strategies is important in the early stages of the PCB design cycle to minimize costly redesign iterations. Here, I delve into key aspects of electronic design that hold particular relevance for managing heat in electronic systems. Each of these considerations plays a pivotal role in enhancing the reliability and performance of the overall system.