Printed Electronics Technologies for Additive Manufacturing of Hybrid Electronic Sensor Systems

Abstract

Requirements for the miniaturization of electronics are constantly increasing as more and more functions are aimed to be integrated into a single device. At the same time, there are strong demands for low-cost manufacturing, environmental compatibility, rapid prototyping, and small-scale productions due to fierce competition, policies, rapid technical progress, and short innovation times. Altogether, those challenges cannot be sufficiently addressed by simply using either printed or silicon electronics. Instead, the synergies from combining those two technologies into so-called hybrid electronics create novel opportunities for advanced capabilities and new areas of applications. In the first part of this review, printing and patterning technologies are presented with potential compatibility with conventional electronics manufacturing techniques. They can be utilized for the fabrication of highly complex structures. Nonetheless, up-scalability, integration, and adaptation for industrial fabrication remain challenging due to technically limiting factors. Consequently, a special focus is placed on the up-scalability, availability of commercial printing, and manufacturing machines, as well as processing challenges for high-volume industrial applications. The second part of this review further provides an overview of exciting and innovative application possibilities of printed electronics, emphasizing sensor applications, as well as additively manufactured integrated circuits.

Graphene-based multifunctional humidity sensors with an ultrahigh current response

“…The synergies from combining 2D printing technologies and hybrid electronics with novel composite materials for advanced capabilities and new areas of application are very promising for progress in nanoelectronics. 20 In the present study, an ultrahigh current response (up to 4 orders of magnitude) was demonstrated for composites (graphene with PEDOT:PSS or G:h-BN:PEDOT:PSS) printed on a paper substrate. The ultrahigh sensitivity, S, was found to be ((2.0-3.3) Â 10 6 )% for both composite thin layers (GPP and GBNPP, 2-3 printed layers) for a relative humidity (RH) range of 20-80%.…”

“…The synergies from combining 2D printing technologies and hybrid electronics with novel composite materials for advanced capabilities and new areas of application are very promising for progress in nanoelectronics. 20…”

Recent Achievements for Flexible Encapsulation Films Based on Atomic/Molecular Layer Deposition

“…The introduction of plasma enabled PECVD technology to meet the process requirements for the thin-film encapsulation of OLEDs, and its related encapsulation process link is practical to this day. In 2008, Kateeva, founded by C. Madigan et al of MIT, proposed inkjet printing (IJP) technology [47]. The growth of thin-film materials is achieved by directly spraying an ink containing the corresponding nano-composition on a flexible or rigid substrate [48,49].…”

The Impact of Technological Parameters on the Quality of Inkjet-Printed Structures

“…Printed layers First, the contact of ink and stencil with the substrate should be considered, which results in contact or non-contact printing, which must be distinguished. Contact printing techniques include [2,3] gravure printing, offset printing, flexographic printing, roll-to-roll (R2R) printing, and screen printing. The most common non-contact printing techniques include inkjet printing and aerosol-jet printing.…”