This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop cost-effective high-performance flexible radio frequency (RF) electronics based on a crystalline nanomembrane roll-to-roll printing process. Such flexible electronic systems can concurrently demonstrate high speed (>5 GHz), high reliability and high conformability/flexibility, with much simplified, high-yield, and low-cost material integration and assembly processes. Continuous roll-to-roll printing processes, which are commonly used for polymer and amorphous silicon based flexible electronics manufacturing, will be developed for crystalline semiconductors, which are typically batch processed on rigid substrates for high-performance miniaturized electronics.
The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to offer cost-effective, high-speed flexible/conformal electronics and integrated circuits at RF frequency, which are highly desirable for a wide range of market applications, including phased array antennas, conformal communication/surveillance systems, wearable electronics, high-performance flexible sensors, and high resolution/low power consumption flexible imaging/display systems. This technology is expected to bridge the gap between high-performance rigid electronics and low-cost flexible electronics, offering a unique product for high-speed flexible RF electronics. The roll-to-roll printing process will also enable scale-up production and manufacturing of crystalline semiconductor nanomembranes for cost-effective flexible RF electronics and photonics.
Scale-up Flexible RF Electronics via Roll to Roll Nanomembrane Printing Principal Investigator: Hongjun Yang Semerane Inc. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project develops single crystalline semiconductor nanomembrane based flexible RF electronics, with nanomembrane roller stamp printing (NM-RoSPTM) process for scale-up manufacturing. A prototype of a programmable NM-RoSPTM system has been designed and built at Semerane. Very precise control of all axes of motion has been accomplished in both manual and fully automatic modes for automated NM transfer process. Large area crystalline silicon nanomembranes have been successfully transfer-printed based on this NM-RoSPTM system. Flexible RF devices have also been demonstrated based on NM-RoSPTM process. NM stamp printing transfer processes enable possible convergence between crystalline semiconductors, which are typically batch processed on rigid substrates for high performance miniaturized electronics, and continuous R2R printing processes, which are commonly used for polymer and a-Si based flexible electronics manufacturing. This can further enable scale-up production for cost effective flexible RF electronics based on crystalline semiconductor NMs. The goal of this project is to carry out research and development activities for the commercialization of cost-effective high performance flexible RF electronics, with roll to roll (R2R) nanomembrane printing process for scale-up manufacturing of crystalline semiconductor nanomembrane RF electronics. Such flexible electronic system can concurrently have high speed (>5GHz) and high reliability, and high conformability/flexibility, with much simplified, high yield, and cost effective material integration and assembly processes. We developed a NM roller stamp printing (NM-RoSPTM) method for transferring NMs using PDMS coated cylinders to overcome these limitations and investigated the solution that enables printing NMs onto large size substrate with high throughput in a continuous manner. RF diode switches are used as demonstrations of the method. The small-signal RF characteristics of the switches employ single series diode and a shun-series diode configuration, under forward bias (ON states) and negative bias (OFF state). Less than 1.2 dB insertion loss was measured from DC up to 20 GHz for shunt-series configuration. Isolation higher than 19 dB is exhibited on the small-area PIN diode from DC to 5 GHz. The application of this technology to high speed RF electronic components from the micro to the meter scale has potential far reaching implications worldwide. The successful development of a practical crystalline semiconductor nanomembrane based flexible RF electronics, enabled by using roll to roll (R2R) nanomembrane printing process for scale-up manufacturing, can open a wide range of applications in the areas of printed high frequency circuits. The demonstrated scale-up RF electronics R2R NM transfer technique is believed to be an ideal solution for the new multifunctional flexible RF electronics owing to its unique features described earlier. As a result, the success of the proposed R2R NM transfer on flexible substrates will eventually lead to a revolution in the performance and functionality of future’s highly flexible wireless communication and surveillance systems.
