Printed Electronics

During the last decades, the field of printed electronics was investigated all over the world in order to reduce production costs and integrate electronics on non-conventional substrates. Although it is obvious that printed electronics cannot replace silicon electronics, fields of application emerge starting from simple conductor lines to sensors based on resistive or capacitive measurement set-ups, or for sensing functionalities based on printable smart materials. Nowadays, these printed electronic functionalities are combined with conventional silicon components addressing the field of hybrid electronics.

CeSMA is developing printable dielectrics and passivation materials, based on cross-linkable hybrid polymers that can be applied by different printing techniques (ink-jet, (rotary) screen-printing) and show a high stability and material compatibility although curing temperature is moderate.
 

The materials can be used for interlayer dielectrics (low-k) and gate dielectrics (high-k) for conventional but also for high frequency or power electronics. The fact that these materials also show a high transparency, opto-electronic devices are feasible as well.

Another set of materials developed at CeSMA are printable piezopolymers in order to realize pressure and bending sensors with high-throughput printing techniques like roll-to-roll coating. These piezopolymers can be printed on plastic films or paper in correspondence to the application.

In the last years, the focus shifted to printable flexible or even stretchable electronics. CeSMA has developed printable dielectric, conductors, and piezopolymers for flexible and stretchable applications, as well. Besides, printed electronics is also interesting for display industries since the resolution of electronic structures on the display panel is low compared to electronic circuits.

Today, 3D printed electronics and optics draws more and more attention, enabling the realization of electronic circuits and components on 3D shaped surfaces.