fantastic plastic

InkTec Co., Ltd. (Korea) and Thin Film Electronics ASA (Norway/Sweden) announced fully-functional non-volatile memory devices fabricated using a high-volume roll-to-roll printing process.

From the press release:

A joint Thinfilm and InkTec project has been successfully completed to demonstrate fully R2R printed memories with a layout and device structure developed by Thinfilm, targeting applications such as game cards and toys. The work has been conducted under the Joint Development Agreement between Thinfilm and InkTec entered in June 2008.

The project has been a huge success with the realization of a R2R production worthy printing process capable of realizing printed memory cells with a yield in the 96-97 % range for the best device structure. Until now, several rolls, each with more than 100 meters of printed memory has been produced with a total of 5 printing steps.

A significant part of the work has been to develop inks suitable for the realization of the desired target. The ink compositions for the electrodes are based on InkTec’s proprietary non-particle based silver complex compound whereas the memory ink is based on a proprietary ferroelectric polymer jointly developed by Thinfilm and Solvay Solexis SA.

Via fabtech.org.

Solarmer Energy Inc., founded in 2006 to commercialise polymer solar cell technology developed by the Yang Yang group at UCLA, are using a new semiconducting material (”PTB1″) invented by University of Chicago chemists.

The University licensed the patent rights to the technology to Solarmer last September. The license covers several polymers under development in Yu’s laboratory [...].
An advantage of the Chicago technology is its simplicity. Several laboratories around the country have invented other polymers that have achieved efficiencies similar to those of Yu’s polymers, but these require far more extensive engineering work to become a viable commercial product.
“We think that our system has potential,” Yu said. “The best system so far reported is 6.5 percent, but that’s not a single device. That’s two devices.”
By combining Solarmer’s device engineering expertise with Yu and Liang’s semiconducting material, they have been able to push the material’s efficiency even higher.

Via Science Daily

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed flexible photodetectors consisting of 250 nm thick single-crystal germanium membranes transferred onto 175 µm thick PET substrates using a dry printing technique. This could allow distortion-free photos without the need for fancy lenses.

Inspired by the human eye, Ma’s curved photodetector could eliminate that distortion. In the eye, light enters though a single lens, but at the back of the eye, the image falls upon the curved retina, eliminating distortion. “If you can make a curved imaging plane, you just need one lens,” says Ma. “That’s why this development is extremely important.”

Ma and his group can create curved photodetectors with specially fabricated nanomembranes — extremely thin, flexible sheets of germanium, a very light-sensitive material often used in high-end imaging sensors. Researchers then can apply the nanomembranes to any polymer substrate, such as a thin, flexible piece of plastic. Currently, the group has demonstrated photodetectors curved in one direction, but Ma hopes next to develop hemispherical sensors.

The work has been published in Applied Physics Letters: Flexible photodetectors on plastic substrates by use of printing transferred single-crystal germanium membranes.

[via The Register]

HP and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) have demonstrated a protoype flexible display fabricated using HP’s self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL). SAIL (3D resist mask on a multi-layer stack and several consecutive etching steps) enables the patterning of multiple layers without alignment issues in a roll-to-roll process.

The first practical demonstration of the flexible displays was achieved through collaborative efforts between the FDC and HP as well as other FDC partners including DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink. To create this display, the FDC produces stacks of semiconductor materials and metals on flexible Teonex® Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrates from DuPont Teijin Films.

HP then patterns the substrates using the SAIL process and subsequently integrates E Ink’s Vizplex™ imaging film to produce an actively addressed flexible display on plastic.

UK start-up PolyPhotonix are to set up a production line for large-area OLED lighting at the Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC, part of NETPark in County Durham, UK).
They will be using PLED (polymer OLED) materials under license from CDT.

[CEO Richard] Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will pay for the production line and 30 months of operations.
The firm already has some funding through the Government’s Technology Strategy Board through a project called Manufacturing Emissive Nanotechnology Devices in Polymers (MENDIPs). [...]
PolyPhotonix’ intended main markets are automotive and architectural lighting, but Kirk also expects some interest from makers of general lighting products.
The production line will initially make its OLED emitters on 200×200mm glass substrates. “We are taking the best materials as they are today,” said Kirk.
Flexible plastic substrates are also on the cards once glass-based emitters are in production.

___________________________
Update 2009-02-18: According to IDTechEx’s Printed Electronics World, PolyPhotonix have now raised GBP 4.5 million.

A team of researchers at MIT, headed by Marc Baldo, have developed solar concentrators based on coatings of organic dyes on glass or plastic substrates. Sunlight absorbed by the dye molecules is re-emitted at different wavelengths and waveguided to the photovoltaic cells at the edge of the glass substrate. From the press release:

The dye-based organic solar concentrator functions without the use of tracking or cooling systems, greatly reducing the overall cost compared to other concentrator technologies. [...] Some light passes through the concentrator and can be absorbed by lower voltage solar cells underneath. Alternatively, the partially transmissive concentrator can function as a window.

In the published work (Science) the dye layers were deposited from the vapor phase, but solution processing is in principle also possible.
Apparently very similar luminescent solar concentrators were first developed in the 1970’s, but suffered from absorption of the light before it reached the edges, as well as poor stability of the dyes.
While the stability of the current devices is also not good enough yet for products, the inventors believe the technology could be commercialized within three years.
Covalent Solar, a company being spun out of MIT by three of its inventors (Michael Currie, Jon Mapel, and Shalom Goffri) is working on achieving this goal.

The ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) is teaming up with the Holst Centre to transfer their lab-scale solar cell processing to Roll-to-Roll production:

At ECN, organic photovoltaics are being researched for almost a decade. The knowledge of materials, system designs and production processes has come to a point where transition to large scale manufacturing has to be envisaged.
At Holst Centre, the recently opened Roll-to-Roll research line for printed electronics will be used to complement the knowledge of ECN and support the further research towards low-cost, large-area manufacturing. To guarantee the low-cost potential, the upscaling will initially be done with active materials that are abundantly available, although an eye will be kept on new high-performance materials. In a first phase the investigated processes will be slot-die coating and gravure printing. Within the ECN labs, efficiencies of over 4% have been obtained. Aim is to at least sustain this level of efficiency when going towards roll-to-roll production.
Being research centres, ECN and Holst Centre will not take any of the technology in production themselves. The open-innovation program aims at industrial parties to subscribe and assign resident researchers to join the research teams on site.

From the press release:
Ciba has developed a deep red phosphorescent OLED emitter that functions optimally in combination with the Novaled PIN OLED™ technology, delivering a lifetime of 50,000 hours at an initial brightness of 1,000 cd/m2. The new material supports the market trend toward high-performance, low-voltage OLED devices for display and lighting applications.

“We want to provide the market with efficient phosphorescent materials,” says Rolf Drewes, Global Head of Business Line Electronic Materials at Ciba. “In this project, we are developing the full color range of emitters compatible with Novaled’s proprietary OLED technology. Our deep red, the first to become commercially available, offers customers not only long-lifetime performance but also excellent thermal stability. Green and blue are now in progress.”

“Phosphorescent emitter materials together with low-voltage devices are mandatory for the future of the OLED industry, and Novaled is very pleased to see a key industry player developing such materials,” adds Gildas Sorin, CEO of Novaled AG. “This deep red phosphorescent material provides a long lifetime at a lowest operating voltage of 3.3 V as well as good power efficiency of 8.1 lm/W, making it suitable for displays as well as for completely new lighting applications. OLED technology even has potential to surpass the efficiency of energy-saving bulbs.” [...]

In 2006, Ciba and Novaled entered an industrial collaboration to create organic dopant and transport materials for the Novaled PIN OLED™ technology, which enables highly power-efficient OLED performance.

“PolyIC, BASF, Evonik Industries, Elantas Beck and Siemens have announced the launch of a new German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)-sponsored alliance project called MaDriX to advance the development of high-performance printable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. [...]

PolyIC leads the consortium engaged in the three-year joint project. The total investment sum amounts to some €15 million, with the BMBF contributing approximately €8 million. The project is funded as part of the BMBF’s 5th Framework Program “Key Technologies – Research for Innovations, Communications Technology Sector.” The German Aerospace Center, DLR, is acting as project sponsor. With MaDriX, the companies involved in the alliance and the federal ministry will secure Germany’s current leadership as a research base in the printable electronics sector. [...]

The close cooperation between the companies involved is a key to the success of the MaDriX project. PolyIC engages with the issues of component characterization, process development and setting up demonstrators. BASF, Evonik Industries and Elantas Beck will supply new materials to produce semiconductors and insulators for use in electronic circuits. Siemens is developing new real-time visual print inspection processes for quality control in the printing process. A number of universities and research institutes are also involved in the MaDriX project.”

New Scientist is reporting on printable batteries with carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes.

The batteries were created by George Gruner and colleagues at the University of California in Los Angeles, US, and use the same zinc-carbon chemistry as ordinary non-rechargeable batteries.

To make the battery, a layer of nanotubes is first deposited in the form of “nanotube ink” onto a surface. This layer acts as the charge collector, which removes current from the battery.
Next, a layer of nanotube ink mixed with manganese oxide powder and electrolytes, which carries charge within the cell, is applied on top. This layer acts as the cathode. Finally, a piece of zinc foil – the anode – is applied.
“The batteries are similar to conventional batteries,” says Gruner, “with the electrically conducting nanoscale networks replacing conventional metals and electrodes.”

The researchers also made supercapacitors using the inking technique and plan to combine these with batteries for applications requiring more power.
Furthermore, since both printed batteries and supercapacitors can be made entirely at room temperature, it should be possible to mass-produce them using established printing methods, Gruner says.

IDTechEx points out that

Professor Gruner is also Chief Technical Officer of Unidym Inc a company he funded in 2005 which focuses on nano-structured materials applications for flexible/transparent electronics.

This subsidiary of Arrowhead Research is developing printed carbon nanotube (CNT) technology for applications such as transparent electrodes, thin film transistors, and fuel cells.
The work has been published in Applied Physics Letters.

Konarka, developers of organic photovoltaics,

today announced it has raised $45 million in private capital financing. The financing was led by Mackenzie Financial Corporation, a leading investment management firm with over $60 billion in assets under management, and was co-led by existing investor, Good Energies, a leading investor in the renewable energy industry. Lead investors from prior rounds also participated, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Asenqua Ventures, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and 3i. Other participating current investors include Vanguard Ventures, Chevron Ventures, Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, NGEN Partners and Angeleno Group. The financing was agented by Lehman Brothers.

PolyIC, “The chip printers”, are announcing two product lines: PolyID® (RFID) and PolyLogo® (with additional display function).

Applications of products from the PolyID® and PolyLogo® lines will be presented at OEC [Organic Electronics Conference] 2007. PolyIC presents applications in the fields of brand protection, voucher systems, marketing, and logistics.

Within the PRISMA (Printed Smart Labels) project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and has PolyIC as its consortium manager, all tickets to the Organic Electronics Conference will have a PolyID® tag attached to them. The tickets will be evaluated with a radio frequency reader at 13.56 MHz. This ticketing field test is being coordinated by Bartsch GmbH.

The steady progress en route to products at PolyIC can also be seen with the results in the laboratory. Thus, 32- and 64-bit RFID chips have been produced in the clean room. This success shows that the production of RFID chips with more memory capacity on the basis of the polymer semiconductor polythiophene is possible.

Konarka (organic photovoltaics) and Toppan Forms (Data Print Services and information management services)

have signed a joint agreement to accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies for consumer and electronic applications. Under the agreement, the mutual goal is to bring Konarka’a organic photovoltaic material, Power Plastic®, to market.

“Konarka’s Power Plastic is flexible, thin, printable and low in cost, providing our organization with promising new business opportunities as we strive to become an integrated information management service company,” commented Masanori Akiyama, president and CEO of Toppan Forms. “With the full-fledged advent of the ubiquitous society under way, we need an ever-present power technology that can be integrated with pervasive networked devices for information collection and distribution. We are delighted to collaborate with Konarka, the world leader in OPV technologies, to accelerate the commercialization of this transformational power technology to the market place.” [...]

“The partnership with Toppan Forms represents a key milestone for the commercialization of Power Plastic,” commented Rick Hess, president and CEO of Konarka. “This relationship enables each company to focus its expertise and resources on key product development processes, continuing our go-to-market strategy of partnering with leading global companies for a variety of applications.”

According to the NewScientist, full-colour photonic crystal displays could be on the market within two years. A team of Canadian researchers have developed a reflective display based on silica microspheres which can produce the whole visible spectrum without the need for colour filters.

The researchers stretch the crystals by bonding them to an electroactive polymer that expands when a voltage is applied to it, causing a change in the crystal structure. “By gradually increasing the voltage, we can span the whole visible spectrum, and even the UV and IR ranges. Such full-colour tuning is unprecedented,” says Arsenault, who has co-founded a start-up company called Opalux to commercialise the technology.
The crystals could be used to make full-colour flexible electronic paper, small displays, and large roadside billboards, say the researchers. But this will involve scaling up the process, a task that has proven challenging for other display technologies.

The work was published in Nature Photonics.

[Update:]
The Opalux web page has a few more details on the P-Ink (photonic ink) display technology:

The materials are based on highly reflective synthetic opal. Colors produced are brilliant and pure. Other features:

1. Full color display from single material for low materials and production cost.
2. Meet signage needs in size from shelf edge to highway billboards.
3. High brightness, peak reflectivity up to 95%.
4. Low power consumption.
Low voltage and current during switching.
Minimal power consumption when image is static.
5. Sub-second switching speed.
6. Heat management through controllable IR reflectivity.
7. Applicable on rigid or flexible substrates.
8. Lightweight, rugged, durable, and damage tolerant.
9. Costs scales only linearly with size.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed thin, flexible energy storage devices consisting of more than 90 percent cellulose. The paper is infused with aligned carbon nanotubes (electrodes), and an electrolyte (e.g. an ionic liquid). The technology allows to fabricate batteries, supercapacitors, or devices which combine both functions.

According to the press release, the devices can be biocompatible

and these new hybrid battery/supercapcitors have potential as power supplies for devices implanted in the body. The team printed paper batteries without adding any electrolytes, and demonstrated that naturally occurring electrolytes in human sweat, blood, and urine can be used to activate the battery device.
“It’s a way to power a small device such as a pacemaker without introducing any harsh chemicals – such as the kind that are typically found in batteries — into the body,” Pushparaj said.

Regarding manufacturing:

The materials required to create the paper batteries are inexpensive, Murugesan said, but the team has not yet developed a way to inexpensively mass produce the devices. The end goal is to print the paper using a roll-to-roll system similar to how newspapers are printed.

The work has been published in PNAS (Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper), and a patent has been filed.