This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project from Nanosonic Inc. will develop electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) processes for the fabrication of advanced microelectronic devices, large-area light-emitting display devices and arrays, and high conductivity interconnecting thin films, for widespread commercial use in electronics, communications, instrumentation and computer systems. Revolutionary ESA methods to create nanostructured multi-layer inorganic/organic thin-films using low-cost water-based chemistry offer major advantages over conventional microelectronics manufacturing processes, because devices may be designed, and bandgaps controlled, at the molecular level. Furthermore, the process is simple and environmentally-friendly. The feasibility of ESA processing to create functional microelectronic photonic thin film devices, specifically polymer-based LEDs, will be investigated in Phase I. Nanosonic Inc. will capitalize upon research advances generated in the VPI Fiber and Electro-Optics Research Center.
