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Speaker: Daniela Werlich | Company: Customcells | Date: 9-10 Feb 2022 | Full Presentation The cathode material gives a lithium-ion cell its decisive characteristics. It is therefore an important factor, especially with regard to the ever-increasing demands on energy density. We would like to show you which special parameters are important when choosing the right cathode material and we will go into the current trends and developments in this area. We will not only share information about the electrochemical characteristics but also examine challenges in processing, the cell design and the economic as well as ecologic components. 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/ Our next battery-related event will take place on 15-16 FEB 2023, covering 1) Solid-State Batteries: Innovations, Promising Start-Ups, & Future Roadmap 2) Battery Materials: Next-Generation & Beyond Lithium Ion The speakers include: General Motors, Graphenix Development, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fraunhofer IKTS, RWTH Aachen University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Meta Materials Inc, Skeleton Technologies, Solid State Battery Inc, Argonne National Laboratories, OneD Battery Sciences, VTT, Leyden Jar Technologies B.V., b-Science, Rho Motion, Wevo-Chemie, LiNA Energy, CNM Technologies, Ionblox, Empa, Zinc8 Energy Solutions, Avicenne Energy, Echiontech, South8 Technologies, Basquevolt, NanoXplore, Chasm, Li Metal, Sila Nanotechnologies, Quantumscape (tentative), Fraunhofer ISI, etc https://www.techblick.com/

Within the joint project LAOLA (funding code: 03INT509AF), which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and has now been completed, large-area lighting applications with organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on flexible substrates should be developed. The project focused on ultra-thin glass, which offers advantages compared to plastic as a substrate due to its excellent barrier properties. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, the OLEDs were applied to the flexible glass using a roll-to-roll process. A surgical light designed using this process will be presented at LOPEC 2022, on March 23 and 24, 2022, in Munich, at the joint booth of the project coordinator Organic Electronics Saxony e.V. (OES), No. B0.308. The glare-free, homogeneous light of large-area organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is perceived as very pleasant and offers many advantages for product design. In the recently completed LAOLA project, OLEDs were therefore developed as planar lighting for a wide range of applications on flexible substrates. The project focused on flexible ultra-thin glass, which offers advantages over plastic as a substrate due to its excellent barrier properties. Some of the technologies were researched as part of the internationalization project between Japan and Germany associated with LAOLA with cooperation partners from the Japanese partner cluster YUFIC at Yamagata University. In particular, the establishment of flexible ultra-thin glass as a substrate was advanced here. In order to consider suitable applications in addition to technological developments, WOLFRAM Designers and Engineers (WDI) worked out a concrete area of application for OLED on ultra-thin glass. This was implemented in the form of a surgical light, which combines large OLED luminous surfaces with LED spotlights in its shape design. The OLEDs are installed as wing elements and provide indirect, glare-free illumination, while the LED spotlights enable direct illumination. German-Japanese cooperation for expertise on ultra-thin glass technologies A number of other partners collaborated to produce the actual OLED on ultra-thin glass. The beginning of this value chain is Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. (NEG) as a manufacturer of ultra-thin glass rolls. At Yamagata University a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) was deposited n the ultra-thin glass with a width of 300 millimeters for further processing as the anode material for the OLED. However, the sheet resistance of ~30 ohms per square meter is not sufficient to homogeneously illuminate the entire luminous area of 206 × max. 95 mm². To solve this, thin gain lines were printed. This was done on a roll-to-roll screen printing system at Yamagata University in collaboration with the company SERIA ENGINEERING, INC. (roll-to-roll screen printing process) and Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. (printing paste manufacturer). New technologies for evaporation, cutting, and structuring processes "Ensuring the long-term stability of the OLED devices and the hygienic surface of the luminaire played a key role in the selection of ultra-thin glass as a substrate," explains Dr. Jacqueline Hauptmann, a scientist at Fraunhofer FEP. "One focus of the project was the retrofit of an existing roll-to-roll vacuum coating system at Fraunhofer FEP to easily wind, coat, and encapsulate pure ultra-thin glass of 50 and 100 micrometers thickness with strip tensions in the range of 30 – 50 newtons. The retrofit of the plant was successfully carried out by the company FHR Anlagenbau GmbH." For the deposition of thin metal layers in a roll-to-roll process for anode and cathode coating, the metal evaporator was converted by the project partner CREAVAC-Creative Vakuumbeschichtung GmbH. This allowed calcium and silver to be evaporated simultaneously to achieve transparent layers of 8 nanometers thickness (calcium/silver ratio 1:7) over a width of 290 millimeters with a layer thickness variation of ~1%. The necessary laser cutting and structuring processes for the separation and interconnection of the OLEDs proved to be a further challenge. Together with the project partner Heliatek GmbH, an alternative structuring method was developed that has enormous potential for subsequently structuring already completed devices with low particle counts. For this purpose, the anode, which is covered with printed passivation, is lasered through the ultra-thin glass. Furthermore, the use of thermally evaporated melamine was validated in the project and advanced with the project partners Creaphys GmbH and Heliatek GmbH. Both technologies have enormous potential for use in new fields of application in flexible organic electronics. Results ready for technology transfer to industry The final separation of the OLED could be successfully developed within the project with the project partner 3D-Micromac AG. With the help of a laser-equipped with Bessel optics1, the so-called filamentation of the ultra-thin glass on both sides on the substrate and encapsulation side and subsequent mechanical separation of the adhesive could be demonstrated. Cutting speeds of 400 millimeters per second were achieved. From the project partner Tesa SE, different adhesive tapes for encapsulation in the thin glass laminate, also with water trap components, were tested and the cut glasses and glass-adhesive-glass laminates were examined for mechanical strength. A flexible stainless steel film from NIPPON STEEL Chemical & Material CO., LTD was tested for the encapsulation of opaque OLED devices. The 30-micrometer thin film can be processed very well by the roll-to-roll method and holds prospects of being a promising alternative to ultra-thin glass encapsulation due to its more favorable temperature management. The separation of the glass-adhesive-stainless steel OLED was carried out here by Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co, Ltd (MDI)2. In addition to project coordination, Organic Electronics Management GmbH has prepared a market study for the lead applications developed by WDI, as well as a manufacturing concept, paving the way for technology transfer by the partners. Dr. Jonas Jung, project manager at OES, says: "By applying innovative production technologies across all partners, a promising OLED demonstrator has been developed, opening up new application possibilities for flexible electronics. This great result of the LAOLA project underlines the innovative power of the long-standing German-Japanese collaboration." The results obtained in the three-year LAOLA project (2018 – 2021) can be directly transferred to other existing roll-to-roll tape lines. The successful separation of OLED modules from the bonded glass-glass composite, which was in a rolled-up state after processing, can also be easily transferred in the future. We thank the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the support in the LAOLA project (Large-area OLED lighting applications on thin flexible substrates, funding code 03INT509A), as well as all German and Japanese project partners. 1 White paper: „Optimized Laser Cutting Processes and System Solutions for Separation of Ultra-Thin Glass for OLED Lighting and Display Applications “, René Liebers 2 „Roll-to-Roll Fabrication for OLED Lighting Using Ultra-Thin Glass Substrate and Encapsulating Stainless Steel Foil” - Tadahiro Furukawa, Jacqueline Hauptmann et.al., IDW’21, FLX5/FMC6-1 2021 More information: https://www.fep.fraunhofer.de/en/press_media/01_2022.html

and process monitoring Speaker: Thomas Kolbusch | Company: COATEMA Coating Machinery GmbH| Date: 11-12 May 2021 | Full Presentation Coatema delivered a pilot line in 2012 to the University of Thessaloniki in Greece. (Auth). Since them there had been a continuous scale up of the system with the integration of different quality control systems like inline spectroscopy and others. In a new European project called Real Nano additional quality control systems are being installed. The talk describes the used systems, the influence of the different parameters like coating, drying, tension control and others. Thomas Kolbusch Vice President @ Coatema® Coating Machinery GmbH Bio Thomas Kolbusch is Vice President of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, an equipment manufacturing company for coating, printing and laminating solutions located in Dormagen, Germany. He is member of the board of the OE-A (Organic Electronic Association) in Germany, a global association for printed electronics. He serves in the advisory board of Fraunhofer ITA institute. He served as member of the board of COPT.NRW, a local association in Germany, as well as exhibition chair of the LOPEC in Munich for five years. Thomas is active in the field of fuel cells, batteries, printed electronics, photovoltaics and medical applications. He organizes the international Coatema Coating Symposium for over 19 years and represents Coatema in a number of public funded German and European projects. Thomas Kolbusch studied Business Economics at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and got his degree as business economist in 1997. He started his career at 3M, Germany. Since 1999 he is working for Coatema Coating Machinery in different positions. 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/events-agenda

Fiber batteries are millimeter-thin batteries based on fibers that can be woven into items of clothing or used to create highly flexible, wearable electronics. In recent years, many research teams worldwide have been trying to fabricate these batteries, using a range of different techniques and approaches. Most existing techniques for creating fiber batteries entail layer-by-layer coating processes that were adapted from the fabrication of planar batteries, a flat and thin battery technology. Despite their advantages, these processes typically enable the creation of a limited number of batteries at a time, thus they are unsuited for large-scale production. Researchers at Fudan University in China have recently introduced an alternative method for manufacturing fiber batteries that could be easier to implement on an industrial scale. This method, introduced in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, is based on a general, solution-extrusion technique that can produce batches of several fiber batteries in a single step. The production method proposed by the researchers relies on a spinneret structure, a cap or plate with several small holes on it that is often used to produce fibers. This structure, which has three main extrusion channels, can be used to create fiber batteries composed of a parallel cathode and anode, encapsulated by an electrolyte, with remarkable production rates of 250 m h-1. "Our three-channel industrial spinneret simultaneously extrudes and combines the electrodes and electrolytes of fiber batteries at high production rates," Meng Liao and his colleagues explained in their paper. "The laminar flow between functional components guarantees their seamless interfaces during extrusion." Compared to existing methods for producing fiber batteries, the researchers' approach can yield a remarkable 1,500 km of continuous fiber batteries for each individual spinneret unit used. This is over three times more batteries than those produced by the best-performing techniques developed so far. In their paper, Liao and his colleagues demonstrated the high potential of their method by using it to create roughly 10 m2 of fiber battery-based woven textiles. These textiles were specifically designed to be used to create smart and responsive tents and the fiber battery used to power them had an energy density of 550mWhm-2. The smart tent they designed has several interesting and advanced features. For instance, it can harvest energy from the sun, store it, and use it to control a display and other technologies inside it. In the future, the battery production method introduced by the researchers could be used to create similar tents or other textile-based electronics on a large scale, potentially facilitating their widespread use. "Our method is straightforward, and the flexible textile battery obtained is stable, durable, and safe," Liao and his colleagues wrote in their paper. "We anticipate that it will promote large-scale production and practical applications of fiber batteries for the next-generation electronics." More information: https://phys.org/news/2022-02-method-fiber-batteries-industrial-scale.html

Québec City, Québec, Canada and Westwood, MA, USA - Brilliant Matters and Nano-C are pleased to announce they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to pursue the development of advanced materials for high-performance and cost-effective printed organic solar cells and photodetectors. These technologies are part of a new wave of electronic and energy-production devices that are mainly made of plastics and contain no toxic materials or rare earths. As the integration of electronic components in everyday objects is on the rise, these technologies could offer enormous environmental benefits, being far less impactful when produced, and at the end of the product’s life. Both companies have collaborated in the past and offer complementary solutions and technologies that can work together to achieve their cost and performance targets, with Brilliant Matters producing high performance p-type polymers and Nano-C making unique n-type semiconducting carbon materials. When combined, these novel semiconducting materials create a photoactive layer that can convert light into electricity efficiently. And, a key benefit is that unlike commercially available technologies, both semiconductors are deposited simultaneously from a single ink solution and require no further doping. Brilliant Matters’ CEO, Jean-Rémi Pouliot states “we are very excited to be collaborating with Nano-C on next generation products in organic printed electronics. I truly believe with our combined expertise we will be able to make an impact in the industry by introducing higher performing materials at an affordable price.” Nano-C’s Director of Business Development, Kerin Perez Harwood said “a key aspect of the Nano-C business model hinges on strong partnerships with key players in the industry and customers. We believe our partnership with Brilliant Matters will result in advanced materials solutions that address key market and technical needs required to drive organic electronics to mass production.” Brilliant Matters and Nano-C have an aligned vision to create clean technologies at an affordable price. This relationship is the first step the companies make together in their foray to create sustainable electronics, and we hope this agreement will lead to solutions that will benefit the entire printed electronics market. About Nano-C Nano-C is a leading innovator and manufacturer of nanostructured carbon materials, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNT), as well as their chemical derivatives and formulations. Proprietary materials produced by Nano-C are critical links in the value chain for next-generation electronics, sensors, semiconductor manufacturing, and therapeutics. Nano-C’s advanced materials and molecular platform encompasses a portfolio of unique solutions protected by over 215 global patents spanning methods of manufacturing to end-use applications. Through its patented products and processes, and its distinct competencies in the chemistry of these materials, Nano-C is enabling a revolution in device design, manufacture, and performance, and it is committed to their responsible development and use. For more information on Nano-C, Inc. please visit our website www.nano-c.com, follow us on LinkedIn, or email us at nanocinfo@nano-c.com. About Brilliant Matters Brilliant Matters is an innovator in chemical processes used to create and produce advanced materials for emerging printed electronics technologies. They specialize in organic semiconducting materials, an alternative technology that can be used to create environmentally friendly electronics. Their proprietary process offers the most reliable and scalable way to supply an industry with these materials. Their products offer an alternative solution to existing electronics that can truly be part of a sustainable future. Their materials are high-performing, reliable and scalable, and can be used in a variety of applications, including solar cells, sensors, transistors, and more. They offer performance materials, contract manufacturing services and contract research services for the printed and organic electronics industry. Their outstanding team of material science experts help their partners to overcome barriers and quickly become industry leaders in the world of printed and organic electronics.www.Brilliantmatters.com

The company is decoding performance with sweat-reading biowearables. Digital health startup Epicore Biosystems, makers of noninvasive biowearables, secured $10M in an oversubscribed Series A round. Its microfluidic (aka sweat-analyzing) patch is capable of measuring hydration, stress, and blood glucose levels — attracting a range of industries where performance is everything. A Performance Patch In partnership with PepsiCo’s Gatorade, the company’s Gx Sweat Patch launched in March 2021. The small, sensor-packed sticker is applied to an exerciser’s forearm, providing real-time hydration recommendations via a smartphone app for optimal athletic performance and refueling — a focus area for the beverage market at large. Its FDA-approved Discovery Patch System goes a step further, reading biomarkers in sweat to reveal personalized insights on stress and glucose levels, in addition to hydration needs. Now, this ability to monitor and manage performance is gaining steam beyond athletics. This latest funding round saw participation from Alumni Ventures, Joyance Partners, and, notably, Chevron Technology Ventures, who wrapped up a field study for monitoring heat stress in oilfield workers this past May. Early adopters also include the US Air Force, US Army, and National Institutes of Health, signaling broad applicability in human performance. Sweat is Data The next generation of health wearables is upon us, taking all sorts of form factors — rings, contact lenses, apparel, and rapid development of skin patches. With experts predicting the market for electronic patches to reach $18B by 2027, developers in sweat tech are emerging: Both UCSD and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology are developing patches that continuously track blood pressure and heart rate while monitoring glucose, caffeine, and alcohol levels. In November 2021, Biolinq secured $100M for its glucose-monitoring skin patch. FLOWBIO, creators of a biowearable patch that detects electrolyte and fluid loss in real-time, is launching a closed beta in 2022. In a Q&A with Fitt Insider, FLOWBIO co-founder Stefan van der Fluit suggests that “sweat is data,” unlocking possibilities in endurance sports and beyond: “We chose sweat as our bodily fluid of choice as sweat glands are nature’s ‘built-in’ needle — and sweat, in layman’s terms, can be seen as a heavily diluted proxy of blood.” Punchline: Starting with pro athletes and the military, Epicore is proving its efficacy for the everyday wearer. As sweat tech improves, the use cases will only multiply. From diabetes care to hydration to metabolic health, the future of wearables is trending toward invisible sensors. More information: https://insider.fitt.co/epicore-biosystems-creators-of-the-gx-sweat-patch-raises-10m/

America’s growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has shed light on the significant challenge of sustainably sourcing the battery technology necessary for the broad shift to renewable electricity and away from fossil fuels. In hopes of making batteries that not only perform better than those currently used in EVs but also are made from readily available materials, a group of Drexel University chemical engineers have found a way to introduce sulfur into lithium-ion batteries – with astounding results. With global sales of EVs more than doubling in 2021, prices of battery materials like lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt surged and supply chains for these raw materials, most of which are sourced from other countries, became bottlenecked due to the pandemic. This also focused attention on the primary providers of the raw materials: countries like Congo and China; and raised questions about the human and environmental impact of extracting them from the earth. Well before the EV surge and battery material shortage, developing a commercially viable sulfur battery has been the battery industry’s sustainable, high-performing white whale. This is because of sulfur’s natural abundance and chemical structure that would allow it to store more energy. A recent breakthrough by researchers in Drexel’s College of Engineering, published in the journal Communications Chemistry, provides a way to sidestep the obstacles that have subdued Li-S batteries in the past, finally pulling the sought-after technology within commercial reach. Their discovery is a new way of producing and stabilizing a rare form of sulfur that functions in carbonate electrolyte — the energy-transport liquid used in commercial Li-ion batteries. This development would not only make sulfur batteries commercially viable, but they would have three times the capacity of Li-ion batteries and last more than 4,000 recharges – the equivalent of 10 years of use, which is also a substantial improvement. “Sulfur has been highly desirable for use in batteries for a number of years because it is earth-abundant and can be collected in a way that is safe and environmentally friendly, and as we have now demonstrated, it also has the potential to improve the performance of batteries in electric vehicles and mobile devices in a commercially viable way,” said Drexel’s Vibha Kalra, Ph.D., George B. Francis Chair professor in the College’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, who led the research. The challenge of introducing sulfur into a lithium battery with a commercially friendly carbonate electrolyte has been an irreversible chemical reaction between intermediate sulfur products, called polysulfides, and the carbonate electrolyte. Because of this adverse reaction, previous attempts to use a sulfur cathode in a battery with a carbonate electrolyte solution resulted in nearly immediate shutdown and a complete failure of the battery after just one cycle. Li-S batteries have already demonstrated exceptional performance in experimental settings using an ether electrolyte — rather than carbonate — because ether does not react with polysulfides. But these batteries would not be commercially viable because the ether electrolyte is highly volatile and has components with a boiling point as low as 42 degrees Celsius, meaning any warming of the battery above room temperature could cause a failure or meltdown. “In the past decade, the majority of Li-S field adopted ether electrolytes to avoid the adverse reactions with carbonate,” Kalra said. “Then over the years, the researchers deep-dived into enhancing performances in ether-based sulfur batteries by mitigating what is known as polysulfide shuttle/diffusion — but the field completely overlooked the fact that the ether electrolyte itself is a problem. In our work, the primary objective was to replace ether with carbonate, but in doing so we also eliminated polysulfides, which also meant no shuttling, so the battery could perform exceptionally well through thousands of cycles.” Previous research by Kalra’s team also approached the problem in this way – producing a carbon nanofiber cathode that slowed the shuttle effect in ether-based Li-S batteries by curtailing the movement of intermediate polysulfides. But to improve the commercial path of the cathodes, the group realized it needed to make them function with a commercially viable electrolyte. “Having a cathode that works with the carbonate electrolyte that they’re already using is the path of least resistance for commercial manufacturers,” Kalra said. “So rather than pushing for the industry adoption of a new electrolyte, our goal was to make a cathode that could work in the pre-existing Li-ion electrolyte system.” So, in hopes of eliminating polysulfide formation to avoid adverse reactions, the team attempted to confine sulfur in the carbon nanofiber cathode substrate using a vapor deposition technique. While this process did not succeed in embedding the sulfur within the nanofiber mesh, it did something extraordinary, which revealed itself when the team began to test the cathode. “As we began the test, it started running beautifully – something we did not expect. In fact, we tested it over and over again – more than 100 times — to ensure we were really seeing what we thought we were seeing,” Kalra said. “The sulfur cathode, which we suspected would cause the reaction to grind to a halt, actually performed amazingly well and it did so again and again without causing shuttling.” Upon further investigation, the team found that during the process of depositing sulfur on the carbon nanofiber surface — changing it from a gas to a solid — it crystallized in an unexpected way, forming a slight variation of the element, called monoclinic gamma-phase sulfur. This chemical phase of sulfur, which is not reactive with the carbonate electrolyte, had previously only been created at high temperatures in labs and has only been observed in nature in the extreme environment of oil wells. “At first, it was hard to believe that this is what we were detecting because in all previous research monoclinic sulfur has been unstable under 95 degrees Celsius,” said Rahul Pai, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and coauthor of the research. “In the last century there have only been a handful of studies that produced monoclinic gamma sulfur and it has only been stable for 20-30 minutes at most. But we had created it in a cathode that was undergoing thousands of charge-discharge cycles without diminished performance — and a year later, our examination of it shows that the chemical phase has remained the same.” After more than a year of testing, the sulfur cathode remains stable and, as the team reported, its performance has not degraded in 4,000 charge-discharge cycles, which is equivalent to 10 years of regular use. And, as predicted, the battery’s capacity is more than three-fold that of a Li-ion battery. “While we are still working to understand the exact mechanism behind the creation of this stable monoclinic sulfur at room temperature, this remains an exciting discovery and one that could open a number of doors for developing more sustainable and affordable battery technology,” Kalra said. Replacing the cathode in Li-ion batteries with a sulfur one would alleviate the need for sourcing cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Supplies of these raw materials are limited and not easily extracted without causing health and environmental hazards. Sulfur, on the other hand, is found everywhere in the world and exists in vast quantities in the United States because it is a waste product of petroleum production. Kalra suggests that having a stable sulfur cathode, that functions in carbonate electrolyte, will also allow researchers to move forward in examining replacements for the lithium anode – which could include more earth-abundant options, like sodium. “Getting away from a dependence on lithium and other materials that are expensive and difficult to extract from the earth is a vital step for the development of batteries and expanding our ability to use renewable energy sources,” Kalra said. “Developing a viable Li-S battery opens a number of pathways to replacing these materials.” More information: https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2022/February/lithium-sulfur-cathode-carbonate-electrolyte/

Dr Isaac Rosen, Senior Scientific Researcher at Copprint Contact us info@copprint.com Visit our virtual booth My name is Isaac Rosen, and I lead an R&D team at Copprint where we work on the development of future products as well as solving customer challenges. I am responsible for our activities to create a process for soldering on conductive traces. Electrical component assembly on printed electronics is primarily achieved today with ECAs, a strike difference from the practice in traditional electronics manufacturing where soldering is standard. This difference arises mainly from the difficulties in soldering on printed silver traces. Copprint pastes are copper-based, enabling excellent electrical properties that outperform silver pastes – higher conductivity and lower cost. It is possible to solder on traces formed with Copprint paste using standard off-the-shelf solder pastes. Strong solder bonds are formed with small resistors soldered on FR4, with up to 4 kgf needed to disconnect (via die shear force measurements). Figure 1: Copprint copper paste, PCB with soldered components. Visit our virtual booth. Copprint develops and manufactures conductive copper paste for various applications, including PCB board printing, membrane switches, RFID tags, and PV cells. We have copper pastes suitable for multiple substrates such as FR4, Paper, Glass, PI, PET, and more. Copprints product portfolio can be found here, including links inside for TDS, MSDS, application notes, and how-to videos. Copprint pastes can be used to replace silver pastes (expensive and toxic) as well as to replace polluting etching processes. A key requirement for electronic manufacturing is component attachment to a printed circuit board. So far, when using silver pastes for printed electronics, good solderability with conventional solder pastes was difficult to obtain. The primary reason for the problem is that an IMC layer (Intermetallic Compound) cannot form between Tin, the main component in solder pastes, and silver metal. Therefore, manufacturers needing to attach components refrain from soldering and mainly use silver-based ECAs. Such ECAs are far more expensive than solder pastes (Silver vs. Tin prices) and far less standard in the PCB industries. With Copprint pastes printed on FR4, we identified several compatible solder pastes, enabling the formation of a strong solder bond, with a proper IMC connection between the solder and the copper. The method advised (by solder paste manufacturers) for screening solder pastes was to visually look at wetting of the solder paste on the printed Cu surface after reflowing. The theory was that no wetting or de-wetting is a sign that the solder paste is not compatible. We learned from careful experimentation that wetting is not always the proper indication for compatibility and the potential to form a good soldered bond. In fact, this approach gave many false negatives. A much better approach is to test the actual performance (formation of a strong soldered bond) of different solder pastes by soldering small (1206) chips to screen printed copper traces and measuring the die shear force needed to detach the chip. Figure 2: Video showing applying solder paste, placing components, and soldering on printed copper traces in a reflow oven. Visit our virtual booth. First, Copprint paste is screen printed on the substrate, followed by drying and sintering to obtain a conductive copper pattern (video). Then solder paste is applied with stencil printing, components are placed and soldered by reflow (the process in which the solder paste is heated, melts, and re-solidifies to form the bond) - See figure 2. Finally the soldered bond strength is tested as can be seen in Figure 3. Figure 3: Photo of Die shear force test on 1206 SMD resistor chips soldered with SAC305 KOKI 955LV. Using this approach, we found Compatible solder pastes that work well: form a strong bond that is hard to detach, requiring applying over 3kgf pressure to cause failure and detachment of the soldered chip. Non-compatible solder pastes do not work well: no solder bond is formed, and the chips can be detached with a gentle push. Furthermore, we found that for compatible solder pastes, the failure mode was detachment between the Cu and the substrate, while with non-compatible pastes, the failure mode was between the solder paste and the printed Cu surface. In addition, only with compatible pastes, an IMC layer was formed between the solder and the printed copper layer, which is the fundamental proof of the formation of a solder bond (figure 4). Figure 4: Cross-section of solder bond, 1206 SMD LED soldered with SAC305 on Cu printed on FR4 substrate, micrograph on the right shows the presence of IMC. Visit our virtual booth. The reason only some tested solder pastes were compatible is probably due to the flux system in each paste. Some fluxes work on the surface of copper patterns made with our copper paste, and some do not. As the fluxs formulation in the tested solder pastes are unknown (trade secrets), empirical testing is needed to approve a solder paste as compatible. After establishing a good procedure for identifying compatible solder pastes, we tested a wide range of SAC305 and SnPb solder pastes on FR4, as well as SnBi and SnBiAg solder pastes on PET, resulting in a list of approved solder pastes, which can be supplied on request (info@copprint.com). Die shear forces above 2kgf were obtained with specific pastes from Henkel, Koki, AIM, Shenmao, Balvar Zinn and more. A very interesting and valuable finding is that soldering can be done on the printed copper traces without any post-processing. Even after few weeks of standard storage, a good die sheer force was achieved. PET is an important substrate in printed electronics due to its low price, availability and durability. However, its low melting point does not enable the use of SAC or SnPb solder pastes. Compatible SnBi based solder pastes were identified, enabling a die shear force above 2 kgf on 125 um PET Details and recommended reflow profiles can be supplied on request via info@copprint.com. To conclude, a simple soldering process for reliably connecting components on printed electronics was demonstrated. We expect faster adoption of printed electronics as component placement is more standard than the existing ECA method. This will happen with a transition from silver to copper for printing PCBs made on standard substrates like FR4 and newer substrates like PET.

A new research project is setting out to find a solution to the growing problem of electronic waste by creating the world’s first controlled degradable integrated circuits. Researchers from the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering have won a £1.5m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for the project. Their work could help address the growing problem of toxic waste created during the manufacture and disposal of common electronic items like computers, mobile phones, and fitness trackers. In 2019 alone, consumers threw away more than 53 million tonnes of electronic waste, much of which contain hazardous waste in components like batteries and circuit boards. It is estimated that less than 20% of this is properly recycled and the scale of the problem is growing each year. The Glasgow team will work with a range of industrial and governmental partners to develop high-performance electronic materials which can be safely disposed of at the end of their useful lives. This includes designing electronics that are more easily recycled into new forms or by using components that naturally degrade altogether to form benign by-products. The project, known as Green Energy-Optimised Printed Transient Integrated Circuits, or GEOPIC, builds on existing expertise at the University’s Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) group. Researchers from the BEST group have already developed numerous new forms of electronics, including bendable and stretchable printed circuits which offer performance similar to that of conventional silicon-based electronics, and wearable systems that can be powered by devices based on human sweat. They have also developed methods to reliably print high-performance circuitry onto flexible surfaces. Over the next three years, the research project will build on that expertise to create silicon nanomembrane-based high-performance flexible and printed integrated circuits on new forms of biodegradable materials. Once the circuits are no longer needed, the silicon can be recycled and the materials will degrade naturally. Professor Ravinder Dahiya, of the James Watt School of Engineering, is the principal investigator of GEOPIC. Professor Dahiya said: “There is an urgent need for action to tackle the problem of electronic waste, without losing the cross-cutting transformative power of electronics. Currently, electronic production processes can produce a significant amount of chemical waste. The devices which are produced by those processes can contain components that are, at best, only partially recyclable. “By setting out to develop new types of electronics which make their eventual disposal an integral part of their production right from the start, we hope that we can find a way to help stem the flood of electronic waste and find commercial applications for the electronics we develop once this initial research phase comes to a close.” Dr. Jeff Kettle, the co-investigator of the project aid, “I’m proud to be working on this project with my colleagues in the BEST group and our partners across the UK. I’m confident that we can find new methods of dealing with this urgent problem. We are delighted by the support of a wide range of project partners allowing us to work with material specialists, electronics manufacturers, environmental scientists, and policymakers, who will provide input as the project progresses.” The GEOPIC partners are ARM Ltd, IQE (Europe) Ltd, the National Physical Laboratory, PragmatIC Printing Ltd, Printed Electronics Ltd, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, and Zero Waste Scotland. More information: https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_833936_en.html

Researchers have developed a 46-inch woven display with smart sensors, energy harvesting and storage integrated directly into the fabric. An international team of scientists has produced a fully woven smart textile display that integrates active electronic, sensing, energy, and photonic functions. The functions are embedded directly into the fibers and yarns, which are manufactured using textile-based industrial processes. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, say their approach could lead to applications that sound like sci-fi: curtains that are also TVs, energy-harvesting carpets, and interactive, self-powered clothing and fabrics. This is the first time that a scalable large-area complex system has been integrated into textiles using an entirely fiber-based manufacturing approach. Their results are reported in the journal Nature Communications. Despite recent progress in the development of smart textiles, their functionality, dimensions, and shapes are limited by current manufacturing processes. Integrating specialized fibers into textiles through conventional weaving or knitting processes means they could be incorporated into everyday objects, which opens up a huge range of potential applications. However, to date, the manufacturing of these fibers has been size limited, or the technology has not been compatible with textiles and the weaving process. To make the technology compatible with weaving, the researchers coated each fiber component with materials that can withstand enough stretching so they can be used on textile manufacturing equipment. The team also braided some of the fiber-based components to improve their reliability and durability. Finally, they connected multiple fiber components together using conductive adhesives and laser welding techniques. Using these techniques together, they were able to incorporate multiple functionalities into a large piece of woven fabric with standard, scalable textile manufacturing processes. The resulting fabric can operate as a display, monitor various inputs, or store energy for later use. The fabric can detect radiofrequency signals, touch, light, and temperature. It can also be rolled up, and because it’s made using commercial textile manufacturing techniques, large rolls of functional fabric could be made this way. The researchers say their prototype display paves the way to next-generation e-textile applications in sectors such as smart and energy-efficient buildings that can generate and store their own energy, Internet of Things (IoT), distributed sensor networks, and interactive displays that are flexible and wearable when integrated with fabrics. “Our approach is built on the convergence of micro and nanotechnology, advanced displays, sensors, energy, and technical textile manufacturing,” said Professor Jong-min Kim, from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who co-led the research with Dr. Luigi Occhipinti and Professor Manish Chhowalla. “This is a step towards the full exploitation of sustainable, convenient e-fibers and e-textiles in daily applications. And it’s only the beginning.” “By integrating fiber-based electronics, photonics, sensing, and energy functionalities, we can achieve a whole new class of smart devices and systems,” said Occhipinti, also from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “By unleashing the full potential of textile manufacturing, we could soon see smart and energy-autonomous Internet of Things devices that are seamlessly integrated into everyday objects and many other sector applications.” The researchers are working with European collaborators to make the technology sustainable and useable for everyday objects. They are also working to integrate sustainable materials as fiber components, providing a new class of energy textile systems. Their flexible and functional smart fabric could eventually be made into batteries, supercapacitors, solar panels, and other devices. The research was funded in part by the European Commission and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). More information: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/scientists-develop-fully-woven-smart-display

Speaker: Jedrzej Kufel | Company: ARM | Date: 11-12 May 2021 | Full Presentation Conventional silicon technology has embedded at least one integrated circuit into every smart device on Earth. However, it faces key challenges to make everyday objects smarter. Cost is the most important factor but flexibility and conformability are highly desirable. Our approach is to develop integrated circuits using flexible electronic fabrication techniques, thus paving the way towards natively-flexible LSI and VLSI ICs. Jedrzej Kufel Staff Research Engineer @ Arm Bio Dr Jedrzej Kufel is a Staff Research Engineer. He joined Arm in 2014, working in the IoT product team before moving to Research in 2016. His current interests are in the area of low-power integrated circuit design using flexible/printed electronics, validation and test methodologies and circular economy. Jedrzej holds a MEng in Mechatronics and Robotic Systems from University of Liverpool and a PhD from University of Southampton. 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/events-agenda

- Can They Be Competitive On The Battery Market Within Automotive Applications? Speaker: Ines Miller | Company: P3 | Date: 9-10 Feb 2022 | Full Presentation Increasing battery demand and requirements towards high performance cells are pushing lithium-ion technology to its limits. Recent developments in solid-state technology have led to a high level of media attention, and both start-ups and large cell manufacturers are intensively working on the industrialization of their next-generation technology as major challenge. The competitiveness of currently leading players regarding technology, scalability and costs aspects will be evaluated and discussed in the presentation. 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/ Our next battery-related event will take place on 15-16 FEB 2023, covering 1) Solid-State Batteries: Innovations, Promising Start-Ups, & Future Roadmap 2) Battery Materials: Next-Generation & Beyond Lithium Ion The speakers include: General Motors, Graphenix Development, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fraunhofer IKTS, RWTH Aachen University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Meta Materials Inc, Skeleton Technologies, Solid State Battery Inc, Argonne National Laboratories, OneD Battery Sciences, VTT, Leyden Jar Technologies B.V., b-Science, Rho Motion, Wevo-Chemie, LiNA Energy, CNM Technologies, Ionblox, Empa, Zinc8 Energy Solutions, Avicenne Energy, Echiontech, South8 Technologies, Basquevolt, NanoXplore, Chasm, Li Metal, Sila Nanotechnologies, Quantumscape (tentative), Fraunhofer ISI, etc https://www.techblick.com/