Optomec Inc. recently announced that one of its long-time production customers purchased another five Aerosol Jet 3D Electronics Printers, bringing its total count overtime to 15 systems. The $1+ million order is part of a production ramp plan that will grow to more than 25 systems over the next 12 months. "Optomec’s patented Aerosol Jet 3D Electronics Printers are an additive electronics solution uniquely capable of directly printing high-resolution conductive circuitry, with feature sizes as small as 10 microns. The process is further differentiated by its ability to print onto non-planar substrates and fully 3-dimensional end-parts. Production applications include direct printing of 3D antennas, 3D sensors, medical electronics, semiconductor packaging, and display assembly." "A primary high-value use case in semiconductor packaging is the printing of 3D interconnects to connect chips to other chips, traditional circuit boards, and even directly integrated into end-products, such as wearables. In this case, the process replaces legacy wire-bonding due to its advantages in terms of smaller space claim, lower loss (especially in high frequency and mmWave), and greater mechanical reliability." “This most recent multi-system 3D additive electronics order is further testimony to the production viability of Optomec’s solutions,” said David Ramahi, Optomec CEO. “We look forward to supporting this industry-leading user as they continue to grow their fleet of production system...

Speaker: Jonathan Waldern | Company: META (Metamaterial) | Date: 11-12 May 2021 | Full Presentation Bio This presentation reviews two of META’s key technology development strands: metaOPTIX™ holographic optical technology and NanoWeb® transparent conductive nanostructures metaOPTIX™ holographic optical components are fabricated on META’s Holography platform. Interference patterns are recorded with a laser into a light-sensitive photopolymer material to form Volume Holographic Gratings (VHGs), which transmit or reflect light in various ways, depending on the geometric structure of the recorded pattern. NANOWEB® is a transparent conductor made of an invisible metal mesh that can be fabricated onto any glass or plastic surface. It offers a superior alternative to Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), Silver Nanowire (AgNW), graphene and carbon nanotube among other ITO-alternative technologies. Join TechBlick on an annual pass to join all live online conference or online version of onsite conference access library of on-demand talks (600 talks + PDFs) portfolio of expert led masterclass year-round platform https://www.techblick.com/ And do NOT miss our flagship event in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 focused on Reshaping the Future of Electronics. This event attracts 550-600 participants from all the world and offers a superb ambience and dynamic exhibition floor. To learn more visit https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped To see feedback about previous event see https://www.techblick.com/e...

A team of researchers at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research "SANKEN" at Osaka University and Joanneum Research has succeeded in precisely tune the electronic properties of organic polymer by exposing it to UV light. Their work "Heterogeneous Functional Dielectric Patterns for Charge-Carrier Modulation in Ultraflexible Organic Integrated Circuits" can help in commercializing the flexible electronics that are used in healthcare monitoring and data processing. "While the integrated circuits inside your smartphone are quite impressive, they lack certain important features. Because the electronics are silicon-based, they are very rigid, both in the literal sense of being inflexible, as well as having chemical properties that are not easily altered. Newer devices, including OLED displays, are made from carbon-based organic molecules with chemical properties that can be tuned by scientists to produce the most efficient circuits. However, controlling the characteristics of organic transistors usually requires the integration of complex structures made of various materials. The team has used UV light to precisely change the chemical structure of a dielectric polymer called PNDPE. The light breaks specific bonds in the polymer, which can then rearrange into new versions, or create crosslinks between strands. The longer the light is on, the more the polymer gets altered. By using a shadow mask, the UV light is applied to just the desired areas, tuning the circuit beh...

Brilliant Matters, one of the exhibitors on the TechBlick Platform for Emerging Technologies, has announced a strategic investment to accelerate production of their high-performing, reliable and scalable Semiconductors for Printed Electronics. Brilliant Matters is proud to announce the closing of an oversubscribed $3.5M seed round. The round was led by Ecofuel Fund, a specialized and dedicated cleantech fund, together with Investissement Québec, Anges Québec and GSI Creos Corporation. Founded in 2016, the company uses an innovative clean and reliable production method to produce a new generation of printable and flexible semiconductors that offers an eco-friendlier and cost-effective alternative to traditional electronics. Using their proprietary process, Brilliant Matters’ polymers and compounds were able to increase the performance and stability of organic printed solar modules, two key competitive factors in the solar energy market. Owing to the impact of this technological advance, Brilliant Matters has received this investment to scale up production in the market. Furthermore, the company will also expand into other high value markets that will benefit from their technology, such as photodetectors, memory chips, and IOT applications. “The Brilliant Matters project holds great promise for Quebec, both economically and in terms of sustainable development. By giving young companies the means to bring innovative and environmentally responsible products to market, we are crea...

Group of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center & St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have published in Science Translational Medicine "MXene-infused bioelectronic interfaces for multiscale electrophysiology and stimulation" a flexible MXene electrode that record brain activity, electromyography to measure muscle activation, electrocardiography to monitor heart activity, and electrooculography to map eye movement. "Soft bioelectronic interfaces for mapping and modulating excitable networks at high resolution and at a large scale can enable paradigm-shifting diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment strategies. Yet, current technologies largely rely on materials and fabrication schemes that are expensive, do not scale, and critically limit the maximum attainable resolution and coverage. Solution processing is a cost-effective manufacturing alternative, but biocompatible conductive inks matching the performance of conventional metals are lacking. Here, we introduce MXtrodes, a class of soft, high-resolution, large-scale bioelectronic interfaces enabled by Ti3C2 MXene (a two-dimensional transition metal carbide nanomaterial), and scalable solution processing. We show that the electrochemical properties of MXtrodes exceed those of conventional materials and do not require conductive gels when used in epidermal electronics. Furthermore, we validate MXtrodes in applications ranging from mapping large-scal...

Researchers from Penn State's Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics have published ACS Applied Materials & interfaces paper "Strain-Tunable Microfluidic Devices with Crack and Wrinkle Microvalves for Microsphere Screening and Fluidic Logic Gates" highlighting a simple, low-cost, efficient way to fabricate strain-tunable elastomeric micropatterns as microvalves in a microfluidic device. “The crack microvalves are closed before stretching but open as the tensile strain increases, whereas the wrinkle microvalves exhibit the opposite trend. The microfluidic device with crack and wrinkle microvalves is demonstrated for microparticle screening and fluidic logic operation in a programmable manner. The applied tensile strain changes the width and depth of the crack microvalves to control the selective transport of microparticles of different sizes. When the crack and wrinkle microvalves are integrated into the single microfluidic device, the fluid can be modulated to flow through the microvalves in a manner that represents the operation of the OR or AND logic gates. These controllable valves to adjust the reaction time and volume represent a viable path toward large-scale integration for potential applications in multiliquid, multistep sample preparation, and reagent processing. The programmable microfluidic system demonstrated in this study opens up additional opportunities to complement the prior reports in applications ranging from biomedicine and organ-on-chips to drug ...

Researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have created a biosensor microchip that does an accurate continuous readout of cortisol levels for real-time analysis and can be integrated into the wristband. They published their work in Science Advance "Single-step label-free nanowell immunoassay accurately quantifies serum stress hormones within minutes" "Cortisol and other stress hormones regulate many aspects of our physical and mental health, including sleep quality. High levels of cortisol can result in poor sleep, which increases stress that can contribute to panic attacks, heart attacks, and other ailments. Currently, measuring cortisol takes costly and cumbersome laboratory setups, so the Rutgers-led team looked for a way to monitor its natural fluctuations in daily life and provide patients with feedback that allows them to receive the right treatment at the right time. The researchers used the same technologies used to fabricate computer chips to build sensors thinner than a human hair that can detect biomolecules at low levels." "This study aims to bring laboratory-quality diagnostic to point of care and patient self-testing at a lower cost, and cortisol was chosen as a model analyte. The primary challenge faced by label-free technologies stems from measurement inconsistency, thus not being suitable for reliable quantification of molecular levels. The array structure of the sensor increases the probabilit...

Engineers at Purdue University have published ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces paper “Ultrawhite BaSO4 Paints and Films for Remarkable Daytime Subambient Radiative Cooling” where they created the world's whitest paint that could eliminate the need for air conditioning and reflects 98.1% of solar radiation while also emitting infrared heat. “Radiative cooling is a passive cooling technology that offers great promises to reduce space cooling cost, combat the urban island effect, and alleviate the global warming. To achieve passive daytime radiative cooling, current state-of-the-art solutions often utilize complicated multilayer structures or a reflective metal layer, limiting their applications in many fields. Attempts have been made to achieve passive daytime radiative cooling with single-layer paints, but they often require a thick coating or show partial daytime cooling. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate remarkable full-daytime sub-ambient cooling performance with both BaSO4 nanoparticle films and BaSO4 nanocomposite paints. BaSO4 has a high electron band gap for low solar absorptance and phonon resonance at 9 μm for high sky window emissivity. With an appropriate particle size and a broad particle size distribution, the BaSO4 nanoparticle film reaches an ultrahigh solar reflectance of 97.6% and a high sky window emissivity of 0.96. During field tests, the BaSO4 film stays more than 4.5 °C below ambient temperature or achieves an average cooling power of 117 W/m2...