Wladimir Punt, European Business Manager Today's smart skin patches can incorporate a broad range of functions, employing hybrid printed electronics to enhance medical sensing capabilities and improve patient outcomes. Along with the enormous potential, though, there are also complex design challenges. The advance of electronics miniaturization is opening new frontiers in Medtech, including in the field of adhesive skin patches. In the past, a skin patch might contain a single wired sensor. But today’s smart skin patches incorporate a broader range of functions. Hybrid printed electronics permit a variety of electronic devices and noninvasive sensors to be affixed to a thin and flexible substrate, enabling designers to integrate sensors, microcontrollers, wireless connectivity and batteries into a capable, durable and connected device. Whether in a clinical or home setting, this enables far more comprehensive patient monitoring. Adding enhanced capabilities to lightweight and flexible skin patches allows patients to go about their day while they (or their healthcare provider) monitor vital signs or activity noninvasively. There is tremendous potential for this flexibility to improve patient monitoring and make it simpler, more comfortable and more accessible. The Evolving Need for Connected Medical Sensing The demand for mobile, connected and noninvasive medical sensing capabilities is growing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for hospitals and clinics to monitor patients remotely became clear. This capability did more than allow doctors to track their patients’ vital signs while maintaining social distancing — it also helped address hospital overcrowding and assisted in alleviating staffing issues. Smart skin patches have emerged as a lightweight, comfortable and portable method of monitoring patients both inside and outside a healthcare facility. The market for home health monitoring is flourishing as well. With smart skin patches, home users can monitor their heart activity, temperature and muscle health. These devices can be used for monitoring sleep and brainwave activity, making the low profile and light weight nature of smart skin patches especially helpful. Skin patches are increasingly popular for femtech applications such as pregnancy monitoring as well. Smart skin patches all use flexible printed circuit technology and safe skin contacting adhesive, but their design architecture varies depending on the application. Each skin patch design is customized and, depending on the need, can be disposable or reusable. Disposable and one-time-use skin patches have a flexible substrate, usually polyethylene terephthalate (PET), with the electronics affixed directly to the substrate. In reusable patches, the electronics are mounted inside a removable “puck” housing that mechanically and electrically connects to the substrate. The electronic components are reusable and only the electrodes in contact with the skin are disposable, reducing waste. This can, however, add logistics challenges and costs for the refurbishing process in some cases. Opportunities and Challenges of Smart Skin Patches Designers of monitoring systems can leverage a wide range of smart skin patch feature options. The skin patch can include various types of electronic devices. One or more sensors can be fitted, including temperature sensors, chemical sensors, electrodes and even optical sensors. The skin patch can also include a battery, a microcontroller and a radio frequency (RF) antenna to maintain a wireless connection to the network. These are the physical building blocks of the system, and to achieve a specific purpose designers can mix, match and customize them to meet performance targets. Different combinations of sensors and other devices can work with sophisticated software to noninvasively paint a picture of a patient’s condition or vital signs. Sounds simple, right? Alas, system reliability requires several different engineering disciplines. For example, material science is vital to ensure the substrate can accommodate the expected wear, yet also provide a secure anchor for the electronic components. The type of conductive paste and hydrogel must meet the system’s requirements for manufacturability, shelf life and performance. Electronic components need to operate reliably during the expected lifetime of the product. Robust testing and validation are necessary to ensure product performance and support regulatory compliance. From Concept to Production Creating a smart skin patch means assembling multiple puzzle pieces to create a complete system. Collaborating with a company with decades of experience in this field is crucial. At Molex, several engineering disciplines work together to achieve a unified goal: Hybrid printed electronics desig Material science Wireless connectivity Sensor integration Prototyping Testing and validation Production Packaging Involving Molex engineers from the earliest stages of the design process helps ensure the product meets performance specifications and manufacturing requirements. In addition to engineering expertise, Molex also offers global manufacturing capabilities to reduce supply chain risks and speed time to market. The need for smart skin patches to improve patient wellness and outcomes is enormous and continues to grow. Our medical expertise and collaborative design approach coupled with our diversified supply chain, high-volume production capabilities and regulatory compliance experience (including ISO 13485 standards) enables Molex to support development of innovative skin patches that improve lives. Explore the benefits of this evolving technology - contact us about customized smart skin patch solutions. We exhibiting in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023. Join us, 78 other exhibitors, 68 presenters and 600+ peers. Lets RESHAPE Electronics Together, making it Additive, Sustainable, Flexible, and Wearable. Explore now www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

At the interface of soft materials and electronics. Highlights from the July 2023 edition Wearable monitor detects stress hormone levels across a full day Early warning signs of diseases caused by dysfunctional levels of stress hormones could be spotted more easily owing to a new wearable device developed by endocrine researchers in Europe. Award for stretchable, heat-conductive smart textile A soft, breathable and stretchable smart textile that warms up in 30 seconds with a 5V2A power bank has received the Excellence in Technology Adoption Special Award at the HKMA/HKT Global Innovation Award 2022/23. Patch uses nanomagnets to detect muscle movement Using nanomagnets composites and conductive yarn, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have invented a smart textile that can sense and measure body movements, from muscles flexing to veins pulsing. To request a free sample of the July issue with the full stories, please email the address below with your company name and email address. Textile Media Services Ltd, UK Tel: +44 1603 308158 Email: info@textilemedia.com Web: textilemedia.com

Neil Chilton Technical Director With an increasingly large number of electronic additive-manufacturing processes available, it can be confusing to know which methods are applicable for your application. Printed Electronics Limited (PEL) is a manufacturer and product development company with very long experience printable electronics. PEL also represent some of the leading equipment manufacturers in the industry. In this short presentation we will provide some key pointers to assist in the choice of equipment and manufacturing approach.

Shailesh Patel | Senior Vice President Product Management Printed Energy, early-stage US based hard science company with deep expertise in electro chemistry, printed electronics, and manufacturing automation. The current focus is on flexible, printed, and thin batteries integrated into fully built-up circuits for a complete device such as active RFID. These batteries are non-toxic, environmentally friendly and can be manufactured in any shape and size based on customer requirements. Some of the applications include, smart tags and labels, wearables, medical supplies, tags for timed sporting events, and many other internet of things (IoT) uses. Even though Printed Energy is starting to enter the market, the team has been working on development of thin printed batteries for many years. The unique value that Printed Energy brings to its customer is the ability to manufacture fully integrated device that is cost competitive with coin-cell battery devices. Our proprietary manufacturing line allows us to enter the market and deliver high quality devices at a highly competitive price. Printed Energy’s initial product offering includes delivering disposable Active RFID tag solutions to an existing market with roadmap that includes Semi-Passive tags, temperature loggers and wearable cosmetic/medical patches.

Ravinder Dahiya | Professor,President,Fellow, Leader The miniaturization-based advances in electronics have revolutionized computing and communication. through high-performance planar electronics. However, electronics on planar and stiff substrates does not go well with several emerging applications (e.g., robots, wearables and vehicles, digital health etc.). These applications require electronics with high-performance (similar to the conventional silicon technology-based devices), flexible form-factors, and devices embedded in soft and squishy materials. The need for resource efficient manufacturing has also added new challenges to this field. This lecture will present some of the key technologies that are being explored to attain above features and their readiness for commercialisation. In particular, the talk will focus on high-mobility semiconducting nanostructures-based printed CMOS electronics. The methods for printing nano to cm scale structures (e.g., transfer printing, contact printing and direct-roll transfer printing etc.) will be presented along with the devices developed using them and future directions.

Gregory Berube | Director of Innovations Americas For decades, polymer thick-film (PTF) systems have provided a low-cost option for screen-printing simple electronic circuits, especially on temperature sensitive substrates. The ability to apply PTF pastes on a wide variety of substrates has facilitated numerous applications, for instance membrane touch-switch keypads, buss bars for touch screens, various types of sensors, and flexible circuitry. PTF is also commonly used in the rapidly emerging Printed Electronic market, where flexible, stretchable, durable materials are paramount to the success of these technologies. These pastes include silver pastes for conductors, carbon pastes for resistive applications, shielding and biosensors; silver-silver chloride pastes for glucose and other biosensors, and dielectric pastes. Carbon based PTF resistors are a low cost and easily scalable option for low temperature polymer-based heaters, especially since they may be printed on any type of surface. However, PTF heaters normally require complex control circuitry that add to the cost of the heater. Without these controls, the heater may overheat, resulting in injury or a fire. These types of risks are especially unacceptable in automotive applications, where occupant safety is paramount. However, it is possible to design a carbon paste that will print a resistor with the ability to self-regulate by dramatically increasing in resistance at and above the target operating temperature. This effect is called “positive temperature coefficient (of resistance),” or the PTC effect. Elimination of the control circuitry in PTC heaters results in lower cost and fewer potential failure modes. In our presentation, we will demonstrate a new line of self-regulating carbon resistor pastes that have target operating temperatures at approximately 60, 80, and 100oC. We will describe how the pastes are formulated, printed, and cured into a resistive trace. We will demonstrate how the sheet resistance can be tailored with blending allowing for more circuit design flexibility. Finally, we present data that will show the PTC effect and that the heater is self-regulating at the desired temperature while being robust against possible runaway conditions. These properties make the PTC heaters especially appropriate for in-cabin passenger comfort and other automotive low temperature heating applications.

Pradeep Lall | Professor & Director

Stefan Ernst | CEO The demand for printed sensors is constantly growing over the last few years. Of special importance for various industrial applications are force sensors. They measure stress or bending along one or more axis. Conventional sensors need a time consuming gluing process to mount the sensor onto the substrate. The force sensors from binder are printed directly onto the component where measuring is needed. For three dimensional or structured substrates pad printing is used. The challenge of this printing process is to apply a defined electrical resistor with high precision and reproducibility. The resistance can be adapted to typical conventional sensor values of 350 or 1kΩ. A typical line width is 80- 100 µm and a layer thickness of 8-15 µm. Normally a full bridge design is printed in order to compensate for thermal drifts. Different designs allow the customer to measure bending of the substrate, stress along an axis or torque. Typical K factors are between 2- 4 depending on the composition of the printing paste. To connect the sensor with the analysis unit a great variety of connection methods can be applied. A simple solution is conductive glue. Sensors on a copper basis can also be connected via a low temperature soldering process. Join us and the global community in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023. Lets RESHAPE the Future of Electronics, making it Additive, Sustainable, Wearable, and 3D. Explore the programme here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

David Lafourcade | Business Development Manager Belink Solutions has capitalized a strong knowledge of high volume manufacturing capabilities in conventional electronics as well as screen printing solutions. We design and produce from POC to mass production, flexible, expandable electronics, as well as 2D and 3D printed electronics with components or even modules! We manage the complete manufacturing process from screen printing to the final 2D or 3D shape in-house! Join us and the global community in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023. Lets RESHAPE the Future of Electronics, making it Additive, Sustainable, Wearable, and 3D. Explore the programme here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

One of most exciting and innovative companies in Printed Electronics is hiring! 🎉 Syenta are looking for three new amazing people in the following roles: - Senior Mechanical Engineer 🔧 - Materials Engineer (Electrochemistry) ⚡ - Software Engineer 🖥 Check out the roles available on our website here: www.syenta.com.au/careers Reach out to us at info@syenta.com.au if you have any questions! 😊 You can below see a presentation of what Syenta is upto to give you a good sense Their team will also be in Berlin so join us to meet them https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

Healthcare is undergoing a transformative shift with the rise of stick-to-skin wearable monitoring devices. These innovative data-collecting marvels, such as continuous glucose monitoring devices and cardiac monitoring devices, offer a new level of convenience and real-time insights into our health status and wellbeing. This article explores the capabilities required, the diverse application areas, and the market trends that and driving the growth of this groundbreaking technology. Use Cases: Stick-to-Skin Wearable Monitoring Devices with flexible hybrid electronics find applications in a variety of areas within the life sciences and healthcare industry. For instance, continuous glucose monitoring devices enable individuals with diabetes to track their glucose levels throughout the day, promoting effective management of this chronic disease. Cardiac monitoring devices help monitor heart rate, heart rhythm, and other cardiac parameters, aiding in the detection and prevention of cardiovascular conditions. These devices exemplify the potential of stick-to-skin wearables to provide continuous, non-invasive monitoring for a wide range of healthcare needs. Production Considerations: The production of stick-to-skin wearable monitoring devices necessitates a partner with a very unique set of capabilities. Flexible circuit fabrication is essential but ideally having the abilities to both advance TRL and MRL prototyping and proof of concept creation, as well as fully scaled roll-to-roll long-run manufacturing is the very best of both worlds. Flexible Hybrid Electronics enables the creation of thin, conformable hardware containing both printed electronics and traditional IC all on a flexible substrate. Sensor integration expertise is crucial for seamlessly incorporating sensors, such as biosensors, thermistors, or electrodes, into on-body compatible, FDA approved materials resulting in devices that are comfortable, lightweight, and conformable to the body. Additionally, knowledge of packaging techniques, wireless connectivity, and quality control and testing are vital to produce reliable and effective stick-to-skin wearables. We exhibiting in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 - join us, 78 other, exhibitors, 68 presenters and 600+ peers. Let's RESHAPE Electronics Together, making it Additive, Sustainable, Flexible, and Wearable. Explore now www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Market Trends: The need for stick-to-skin wearable monitoring devices is on the rise driven in part by sharp demand for remote healthcare monitoring. These non-invasive, comfortable wearables allow individuals and their caregivers to monitor their health conditions from the privacy and comfort of their homes. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the desire to be proactive in monitoring and maintaining a heahealthythy lifestyle at any age necessitates solutions that provide continuous, remote monitoring, making stick-to-skin wearables a valuable asset. Particularly our aging population seeks healthcare solutions that support independent living, but family members and loved ones don’t always live nearby. This makes FHE wearables indispensable for ensuring the well-being of older adults. Technological advancements, wellness and fitness tracking trends, and integration with digital health ecosystems are further propelling adoption. Forecasted Market Growth: Over the next 5-10 years, the market for stick-to-skin wearable monitoring devices is poised for significant growth. Market research reports project the industry will experience a very robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) averaging 12-16% during this period. Contributing factors include increasing awareness of wearable technologies, advancements in sensor technologies, rising healthcare expenditures, and supportive government initiatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of remote monitoring solutions, further driving the market growth of stick-to-skin electronics-based wearables. Stick-to-skin wearable monitoring is revolutionizing healthcare by offering continuous, non-invasive monitoring capabilities. With their diverse applications in chronic disease management and general wellness tracking, wearables empower individuals to actively monitor their health and make informed decisions. Ongoing technological advancements in this field will play a pivotal role in transforming healthcare delivery and improving patient outcomes. Join us in Berlin to RESHAPE Electronics making it Additive, Flexible, and Wearable. Explore the program now www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped

A new generation of printed devices. Recent developments in nanochemistry have led to the creation of functional nanoparticle-based inks acting as a base for a new generation of printed devices especially in the bio- and optoelectronics fields of application. However, to take the full benefit of nanoscale properties, at least one dimension of the system must be below the characteristic length associated with the property that is being considered, e.g. thermal diffusion length, the thickness of the diffusion layer, a wavelength of electromagnetic radiation. An example of this principle concerns the realization of enzymatic cascade reactions, which requires the enzymes to be co-localized within a distance comparable to the diffusion layer thickness, i.e from 100 nm to 1 μm. Another example is represented by plasmonic structures such as Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) devices require achieving nanostructures separated by a gap smaller than the light wavelength in order to produce enhanced spectroscopic signatures of elements arranged in between. Such an application needs the pattern’s characteristic dimensions to be below 100 nm. All the high-added value applications considered here underline the need to control materials deposition and organization on a large scale which is sometimes up to three orders of magnitude, i.e. from 100 nm to 100 μm. The current limitations of printing techniques do not allow spatial resolution below the micrometer scale. Nevertheless, the field is extremely dynamic, and new methods of improving printing resolution have recently been explored. Two main approaches can be identified, namely the top-down and the bottom-up. In the top-down approach, the resolution issue is overcome by implementing physical or chemical nano- or micro structuration on the substrate to be printed, thus allowing control of the ink-wetting processes. In parallel, continuous advances made in the field of nano- and supramolecular chemistry are used directly to improve printing resolution through a bottom-up approach. Here, ink constituents are designed to organize themselves in multiscale patterns, including nanostructures. PRINTUP INSTITUTE Research activities PRINTUP INSTITUTE develops research activities at the intersection between printing technologies and deep-tech applications such as optoelectronics and (bio)detection based on its expertise in surface chemistry, nanochemistry, and supramolecular chemistry. We formulate functional inks showing high stability in physiological media but also smart formulations allowing to form structures having characteristic dimensions far below the conventional resolution limit of inkjet printing. One approach consists in tailoring the nanoparticles surface functionalization in order to induce their self-organization upon ink drying. Recently, we synthesized 160 nm SiO2 nanoparticles functionalized by ydrophobic groups (see Fig. a). SiO2 nanoparticles functionalization When a formulation containing 0,5 g/L of nanoparticles in 90:10 water: ethanol is used, the pattern obtained is composed of separate, regular ellipses showing an accumulation of NP on their perimeter and a zero quantity of NP in their center (see Fig. b). Printing of functionalized silica 0.5 g/L in a 90% water 10% ethanol mixture with a drop spacing of 5 μm, Each ellipse has an average size of 140 μm (main ellipse axe), and they are spaced about 10 μm apart. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) characterization indicates that the nanoparticles layer has a thickness of 200 nm (see Fig c). This structure is due to the Rayleigh-Plateau instability. When a line is printed on a surface, it may experience slight oscillations. These oscillations induce differences in the radii of curvature on the printed line. These differences in radii of curvature lead to differences in pressure (according to Laplace's law) creating a flow of material towards lower-pressure areas. Laplace’s law is expressed as ΔP= 2γ/R, with P the pressure, R the radius of curvature, and γ the surface tension. In the case of the formulations used, the associated oscillations and material flow lead to the breaking of the line and the formation of periodic ellipses. AFM characterization of the printed pattern The aforementioned elliptical periodic structure can be used as a template for the subsequent deposition of silver lines, printed perpendicularly to the ellipse's major axes. The interaction between the hydrophilic silver ink and the hydrophobic underlying SiO2 structures allows the creation of gaps between adjacent silver lines much smaller than those obtained in the absence of the SiO2 ellipses (see Figure d). Printing of the semiconductor in the gap and the corresponding profilometry measurements Subsequently, a semi-conducting, organic ink made of DPP-DTT (thiophene derivative) is printed. DPP-DTT makes it possible to locally cover the interline distance (see Figure d). Profilometry measurements were carried out to determine the topography of the gap. Two profiles were measured. The first one permits obtaining topographic information of the lines of Ag (cf. blue curve Fig. d) in the absence of the SiO2 underlying template. The distance between two lines is about 100 μm. When the silver is printed on the top of the SiO2 ellipses, the pattern has a pronounced coffee ring effect, which reduces the distance between the two parallel lines by one order of magnitude. The Ag deposit has a thickness of 1 μm in the center of the line and 2 μm on its two edges. When the semiconductor is printed (cf. red curve Fig. d) the coffee ring structure is maintained with a thickness of 1.25 μm in the center and about 3 μm on the edges. The electrical resistance of the semiconductor was determined using a semiconductor parameter analyzer; two values (resistance measured between the lines in the presence and in the absence of the micro structuring SiO2 pattern) were obtained and compared. Resistances of 750 Ω and 10 kΩ are obtained respectively with and without the micro structuring pattern. The resistance of this type of semiconductor linearly depends on the size of the gap. By considering a gap of 10 μm in the presence of microstructure and of 100 μm for an unmodified surface, the resistance ratio is close to the ratio of the gap lengths. Perspectives Several perspectives are opened by the results of this work. On the one hand, it is possible to modify a posteriori the chemical functions of the silica nanoparticles to adapt the surface energy contrast to ink other than Ag (silane chemistry). Similarly, the nanoparticle's surface chemical functions can be tuned to adapt to any substrates. The proposed micro structuring method, therefore, has significant potential in terms of versatility. On the other hand, it is possible to target other microstructures than periodic beads, in particular the formation of twin lines of micrometric thickness. By adopting the drop spacing, the formulation of NP inks, periodic structures of silica lines could be obtained and used as a template for printing Ag ink, this time in the direction parallel to the ellipse's major axes. By adopting the NP surface chemical functions, the Ag ink is expected to divide on either side of the silica lines to form periodic conductive lines separated by micrometric gaps and with a length that can reach several cm.