Innovations Festival:
Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, 3D, Wearable, & Textile Electronics

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To serve the increasing demand for low-cost and easy-to-use point-of-care (POC) diagnostic systems for healthcare and lifestyle, upscaling of the underlying biosensor system concepts using novel functionalization strategies for sample preparation or signal generation is crucial. The Molecular Diagnostics competence unit of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH addresses this need by investigating key research issues for low-volume (picoliter/nanoliter) inkjet printing or “high volume” spotting techniques (microliter), and therefore, works on the development of printing processes and (bio)inks for reproducible batch production, e.g., for functional (bio)sensors, immuno- or enzymatic assays, as well as nucleic acid diagnostic devices. In this presentation, we will review results related to these aspects from the ELSAH project (H2020, No 825549). ELSAH aims at the realization of a wearable, microneedle-based biosensor system for the continuous monitoring of glucose and lactate in the interstitial fluid for lifestyle diagnostics. Formulated bioinks comprise direct electron transfer (DET) enzymes containing PEDOT:PSS inks (PEDET ink) and hydrogel precursors inks. The developed spotting techniques allow local deposition of glucose- or lactate-sensitive PEDET inks and hydrogel protection layers on microneedle-based amperometric sensors.

Selective Surface Activation Induced by a Laser (SSAIL) technology is one of the new methods that can address the challenges in circuit formation on flexible substrates. By adapting laser and chemical plating parameters, SSAIL can be used on a wide range of flexible substrate materials to create high-precision and high-quality circuit patterns with strong adhesion, making it highly suitable for use in the production of flexible electronics.
Since SSAIL works on standard dielectric materials (PET, PC, PEN, PI, etc.) and there is no tooling changes between different substrates or designs, it allows fast development of new flexible circuits. The line writing speed of 5-10 m/s is then easily transferred from prototyping to production.

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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!

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Organic photovoltaic technologies are a 3rd generation solar technology which has been steadily improving in the past decade due to rapid evolutions in materials design, device stacks and processing strategies. Due to their high efficiency, non-toxic nature and low-cost-high-volume manufacturing potential, several market-ready applications are now emerging for this technology. For instance, photovoltaic modules for indoor energy harvesting, for integration into buildings such as greenhouses, office buildings or even vehicles. In this presentation Brilliant Matters will outline some of the current challenges in the field of high performance and scalable OPVs from a materials chemistry perspective and will discuss novel materials systems for efficient and scalable OPV devices.

Celanese Intexar™ line of Stretchable, Washable inks and films have been the premier materials for transforming materials into smart garments since 2018. Since the pandemic, the adoption of wearable technology has taken off not only in fitness applications but also healthcare. As such the testing requirements and needs have changed since the advent of wearable technology. Learn how the Celanese Micromax™ Electronic Inks and Pastes team has been working with customers and gathering market data to understand the evolution and developing products to meet the new needs of the market.

Dielectric materials play a critical role in modern electronics as they serve as insulators that prevent electrical charges from flowing between conductive parts. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the development of dielectric materials, driven by the demand for improved performance and efficiency in electronic devices. Novel methods have been developed for processing and integrating dielectric materials into electronic devices, including inkjet printing, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and self-assembly techniques. These advances have enabled the fabrication of electronic devices with improved performance, reduced size, and lower power consumption. ChemCubed has adopted inkjet printing since it’s a promising technique for the fabrication of electronic devices due to its precision, versatility, and low cost. Together with our commercialized silver ink, we are able to print circuit boards with complex structures for electronic devices such as capacitors, sensors, and antennas, which have potential applications in diverse fields such as healthcare, energy, and communication. However, one disadvantage of inkjet printed polymer dielectric materials is its high coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). By incorporating carbon nanotubes into the dielectric materials with a patent pending printing technique, we have dramatically decreased the CTEs of the dielectric materials we are using, as well as increased their mechanical properties and thermal stabilities.

Smart packaging is becoming increasingly important in the context of steadily rising packaging waste.
Plastic films and paper materials are used in a wide range of daily life products. The largest amount of this use is attributable to the packaging industry e.g., food and pharmaceutical packaging. Global production of packaging-related materials is continuously growing and as a result the industry and consumers are producing more packaging waste than ever before without considering the recyclability.
The response from politicians, industry and society is to introduce new policies and stricter regulations, as well as new societal expectations to the industry.
To handle the resulting ecological requirements, the industry faces new technological and logistical challenges. Beside the use of recyclable and biodegradable materials for products, the digitalization of production processes and the implementation of intelligent and smart products are essential for maintaining competitiveness.

In this context, this presentation emphasizes the rising importance of printed electronics in terms of sustainable smart packaging and addresses how the aforementioned challenges can be overcome by implementing ecological solutions on an industrial scale.
Work from various EU-funded projects dealing with the further development of sustainable and smart packaging as well as the introduction of industrial roll to roll process steps for the realization of the developed approaches will be presented.

CondAlign develops and produces adhesive anisotropic conductive films, based on their unique technology. These adhesive ACFs combine unique properties making them very well suited for room temperature bonding in the printed, flexible and hybrid electronics area. They do not require any post processing, and are ideal for efficiently bonding to temperature sensitive substrates, for instance in a pick and place process. This enables designs and applications beyond today’s traditional limits, taking care of the function and performance in a sustainable and cost efficient w

An overview of the expanding role of a contract manufacturer in the production of flexible wearable technologies.

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The DTI Printed Electronics group has been focused on development of sustainable materials and processes for printed electronics. In this talk you will hear from two of our EU projects, concerning the use of bio-based materials for on body EMG measurements and the use of copper materials and digital printing methods for sustainable production of membrane switches and electrochemical sensors. Finally, the talk will discuss the paths forward and which innovations are being developed to achieve full circularity for printed electronics.

The technology for integrating dies is an important enabler for the realization of advanced applications. This includes applications with power modules. Critical steps for the integration of such modules are in the micro assembly, for example in the wire bonding and the die attach. This presentation will highlight results from work on these steps in a project for prototyping power modules for electric vehicles (EVs).

Important for applications such as EVs and renewable energy supplies is the availability of reliable and efficient power modules. These are needed for converting from AC to DC, from DC to AC, for driving an electric motor and for various other purposes. SiC-based solutions are often preferred for high end applications, because they offer a higher efficiency, higher switching frequencies, reduced switching losses, higher operation temperatures and a better robustness as compared to traditional silicon components. A challenge in the integration of power modules is in the wirebonding. The problem is that wirebonding is a major source of failures because of thermal or mechanical stress, and therefore causes a reduced life time. Improved micro assembly processes can bring solutions for this problem.

In this presentation, we will talk about new inks for Heaters in the field of InMold applications. Autonomous driving comes more and more important for the automotive industry. For that reason, we need Radar System which can work under every weather conditions. We will introduce the challenge of thermoformable silver conductive ink in the field of thermoforming process and how to avoid “Hot Spots”.

Many flexible heater products are produced using printing techniques. As applications requiring transparent antennas increase in number, it makes sense to use similar additive manufacturing techniques for flexible heaters. In all cases, each mass-produced heater is a replicate of the last, making their manufacture well suited for “analog” print manufacturing, such as flexography. The use of high-resolution printing enables the additive manufacturing of custom transparent heater designs – built from copper micro-wires for transparency and function.

This talk will provide an overview of the requirements for different transparent heater applications and how these requirements can be achieved with copper micro-wire patterns. Examples and data will be shared from lab-scale and production scale evaluations.

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In recent years, there has been a growing demand for advanced electronic components that exhibit improved functionalities and enhanced design flexibility. Traditional manufacturing techniques often struggle to meet these requirements, particularly in the case of ceramics. These materials are characterized by outstanding properties, but which are inherently difficult to shape and process. However, Multimaterial inkjet and aerosol jet printing techniques have emerged as promising solutions to overcome these challenges.
By employing these noncontact direct ink writing methods, it becomes possible to precisely deposit multiple materials, including ceramics, onto substrates, enabling the creation of hybrid electronic components with complex geometries and customized functionalities. The ability to integrate dielectric ceramics with other materials, such as conductive metals, within a cofiring process, opens up new possibilities for the development of high-performance ceramic based printed electronics devices.
Additionally, the integration of machine learning-based optimization approaches further enhances the fabrication process of 3D printed components. By leveraging the power of machine learning algorithms, it becomes feasible to analyze vast amounts of data, optimize and predict printing parameters and improve print quality, efficiency, and overall performance of the process. The combination of multimaterial printing with machine learning-based optimization approaches offers a promising avenue for the advancement of electronic component manufacturing and holds great promise for the development of innovative and high-performance electronic devices in the future.

Presenting DOTITE materials designed to improve performance and open up new design possibilities for semiconductors and other electronic components.

Printing technologies have several advantages compared to conventional electronics, e.g. printed circuit board technology, including a more resource-efficient use of materials. Especially, digital printing processes such as inkjet and aerosol jet are environmentally friendly and can be used flexibly. The processes mentioned are able to use a wide range of materials and functionalise a variety of substrate materials. Nevertheless, the question arises for which applications these processes are best suited?
In this presentation, possible applications for printed electronics will be presented. The challenges of using digital printing technologies will be discussed and their strengths highlighted. However, limits of digital printing will be shown and factors for continuous development discussed. Despite good preconditions, there is also a need for research with regard to sustainability aspects. This will be demonstrated using a specific project that deals with the recycling of printed and in-mold electronics in order to recover the raw materials used for the material cycles.

Diode lasers are by far the most efficient method to introduce thermal energy into NIR absorbing materials. Fortunately, most conductive inks absorb the 940nm of the Hamamatsu cw SPOLD laser, allowing a homogeneous and rapid sintering result comparable to other thermal post-processing technologies. The use of laser line optics favours scalable, yet highly sustainable high volume production, for example in an R2R machine or ITO Touch display manufacturing. Hamamatsu's own developments in terms of lasers and optics make it possible to adapt to customer-specific requirements, materials and processes.

Henkel Adhesive Technologies has developed a large material portfolio of conductive inks and coatings suitable for printed electronics technology. Today, a global, cross-functional Printed Electronics Team manages the development of printed electronics applications with a cross-industry focus on market trends driven by digital transformation, building on more than four decades of market and material formulation expertise with strong partners that enable scalable solutions. Our functional ink and coatings portfolio is ideal for producing the next generation of flexible sensor solutions by accelerating the go-to-market of smart, seamlessly connected & data-generating product innovations. Within our portfolio, we offer material solutions suitable for various smart surface technologies, including PTC heaters. Self-regulating PTC heaters are enabled by Henkel’s Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) inks in combination with silver and dielectric inks and coatings. Compared to standard applications where the incorporation of cables and wires requires a substantial manufacturing effort, Henkel inks and functional coatings enable the production of self-regulated heaters with uniform surface heating that add value beneath the surface. The presentation will focus on Henkel’s PTC ink range and methodology to expedite technology development within smart printed surface technologies. With Henkel’s technical support and decades of expertise, you will be able to accelerate your innovation developments and unlock the full potential of this solution.

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.

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In this presentation, ImageXpert will discuss new technologies in inkjet for evaluating and optimizing processes in R&D and production. These tools allow you to build a better understanding of your inkjet process, improve the performance, and accelerate the rate of development. We will explore the latest analysis tools, from new dropwatching technologies to smarter prototyping printers.

InnovationLab presents a novel printed circuit boards (PCBs ) production method based on additive manufacturing, which helps to meet higher environmental standards for electronics production while also reducing costs. The circuits are screen printed and are compatible with a conventional reflow soldering processes.

PyzoFlex® represents a smart sensor technology that can easily be integrated as an additional component in a wide variety of surfaces/structures. This allows existing or new products to be equipped with additional sensory functions. It is based on completely (screen-)printed physical sensors that react to pressure and temperature changes as well as to structure-borne sound (vibration).
The core element of this technology is the electroactive polymer (EAP): P(VDF-TrFE), which we source in the highest quality from Arkema/Pietzotech. It finally allows the sensor system to be ultrathin (10µm + substrate), durable, flexible, energy friendly and easy to integrate –major goals for novel and innovative sensor systems.
The design (size & geometry and contacts) of the sensor is optimized for the specific application and the hardware required for signal processing and -transmission is adapted to the specific application as well (depending on e.g.: the deformation on the sensor as well as the integration of the sensor into the final product, etc.).
PyzoFlex® is therefore not an off-the-shelf solution but a customized system optimized for each specific application.

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NETO Innovation specializes in setting up projects to finance your R&D: Horizon Europe projects, EIC (Pathfinder, Transition and Accelerator), Eureka and National French projects. Our team is composed of 3 PhDs with expertise in green energies (solar, hydrogen, batteries, bio-energy, carbon capture and storage), printed and flexible hybrid electronics and their related applications (IoT, EMI shielding, in-mold electronics, sensors, displays, OLEDs, OPVs), healthcare (immunology, oncology, and medical devices) and innovative materials (biomaterials, nano-based materials, metal oxides) from manufacturing to application.

nsm, based in Zofingen, Switzerland is a company which specializes in the developing and manufacturing of high-precision printing and coating systems in the field of Printed Electronics. Rolf joint nsm in 2022. He has over 30 years worked in the development of mechanical components. He gained a long experience in mechanical design, dimensioning, process analysis and structural simulations. He is responsible for the technological strategy and the implementation of customer requirements together with a team of technology experts.

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NextFlex, together with its extended ecosystem network, has been exploring the potential for novel electronics packaging and integration on a system level. This includes electronics integration in wearables, textiles, medical, and high-density integration of RF circuitry, all the way to integration of antennas on the skins of aerial vehicles. Such high-level integration is enabled by the combination of thinned bare die, additive manufacturing, printing, robotics, laser imaging, novel materials and plastics technologies. NextFlex established a unique Technology Hub with a diverse set of tools and know-how to support the needs of government and industry partners. This presentation will discuss system-level integration and packaging implementations with examples of wearables, safety devices and industrial monitoring, as well as very large scale integration on airframes. The talk will address design methodology and the manufacturing process flow used on the devices including additive printing, assembly, test, and final encapsulation. Hybrid electronics is an exciting trajectory for future electronics, enabling new shapes and form factors.

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.

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Inkjet printed silver and copper can be considered “established” at least among printed electronics insiders – with their industry adoption starting to pick up speed. As a result, new variants of particle inks and innovations and curing have been emerging, which gives industrial producers a few curing options beyond brute heating. In contrast, the range of metals available for printing – esp. high precision inkjet printing, is still very limited. The talk will introduce two first-timers: printable platinum and printable palladium inks by OrelTech from Berlin. Just as all of their inks (including silver, silver transparent, gold, and more to come), they have a range of other advantages: 1) nanoparticle free, 2) low-temperature curing, and 3) high layer purity. Therefore, applications in the biosensor, medical and, more generally, printed flexible electronics market are in focus.

Just over a decade ago, PST Sensors in South Africa introduced its first printed temperature sensor – a simple NTC thermistor printed on paper using its first-generation semiconducting silicon ink. In 2023, PST Sensors Europe in the UK is now implementing PST’s fourth generation sensor ink in EV batteries, agrifoodtech and healthtech. The latest generation of inks exhibit improved adhesion to a wide range of substrates - including polyimide, aramid and, polycarbonate – as well excellent stability which, when combined with internet connectivity and real-time predictive analysis, enables all of the applications which will be discussed.

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.

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.

Integrated circuits (ICs) have revolutionized computing and communication in the last couple of decades. There are many efforts to use similar principles to develop low-cost Internet of things (IoT) devices to help solve societal grand challenges in water, food and healthcare. Here, we present development of a low-cost printed sensor platform as well as its hybrid integration with ICs for electronics, communication and networking for field deployment.

Most existing commercial chemical and gas sensors are expensive, work in well-controlled environment and require frequent calibrations. It is very challenging to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity and stable continuous operation in a harsh environment. Roll-to-roll manufacturing and printing can be used to make low-cost functional films and sensors. However, printed devices have inherently more variability than traditional vacuum processes for ICs. We show examples where in-line characterization and imaging during manufacturing enable reducing the device variability by up to 80%. We also present a novel design paradigm where sensor diversity and physics-guided machine learning and statistical techniques are used to make accurate measurements in noisy and harsh outside environment. We demonstrate continuous nitrate measurement with 3ppm sensitivity in an agricultural field with LoRa network over two weeks. Similar ideas for robust sensors for pharmaceutical manufacturing, marine environment, as well as point-of-care devices will be briefly mentioned. Roll-to-roll manufacturing of composite polymer films can also be used to make large-area physical sensors and actuators. We will describe flexible semi-transparent piezoelectric vibration monitor and loudspeakers.

In some "drop and forget" applications, one can eliminate the readout electronics completely. We present novel battery-less chipless RFID sensors with drone read-out electronics for characterizing moisture and microbial activity in the soil. This can be fully biodegradable working for couple of weeks to months. Similar sensors can be used for food safety and freshness for supply-chain monitoring.

n this presentation, we will discuss the use of printed electronics in the development of customised electrode patches and smart textiles. Quad Industries has leveraged this technology to create innovative wearable sports, healthcare and comfort products that offer several advantages over traditional approaches. Through the use of practical use cases, we will showcase the benefits of printed electronics, including enhanced comfort, flexibility, and functionality. Our presentation will demonstrate how this technology is revolutionizing the field of wearable devices, and we will provide insights into the potential for further innovation in this exciting area.

In this talk, we will explore how digital screen printing could potentially revolutionize the manufacturing of printed electronics. Marcel Strobel will introduce NovoJet, an additive manufacturing technology that enables this new method of production. Diving into the benefits that come with it, including the ability to print complex circuitry and its cost-effectiveness for small to medium-sized production runs. By attending this talk, you will gain valuable insights into the current state of the field and the exciting possibilities of digital screen printing in this rapidly evolving industry.

MicroLED technology is on its way to replacing traditional display technologies by bringing added value
propositions to the consumer market, including high brightness, excellent lifetime, high resolution,
and superior efficiency, with applications spanning from wearable devices, augmented/virtual reality,
and ultrahigh-definition TVs.
To date, challenges in scaling pick-and-place processes and producing highly efficient red and green
native microLEDs hamper microLED mass production. A quantum dot (QD) color conversion strategy
to produce an RGB display from an array of blue microLEDs is an elegant way to simplify the
manufacturing process and to overcome several technological challenges in the mass-transfer
process, the display brightness, and the driving electronics. QustomDot’s mission is to bring
unmatched colors to micro-LED devices through QD color conversion layers to overcome the
challenges above and facilitate market entry of miroLED-based devices.
Over the past few years, QustomDot has made a giant leap towards QD resins containing Cd-free
RoHS-compliant InP QDs. Our focus has been to formulate QD resins with ultra-high solid loading,
excellent shelf life, and processability, adapted for various processing methods, including
photolithography, nano-imprint lithography, and high-precision printing methods. In addition to
excellent processability, our QD resins result in QD films with high solid loading, excellent absorption
at the sub-10 µm thickness, and high conversion efficiency while matching, if not exceeding, the
reliability of commercially available InP-based QDs. Our talk will showcase our recent progress
towards optimization of our red and green QD resins to obtain color conversion films with optical
properties one step closer to fulfilling the challenging requirements of commercial microLED displays.

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S&S’s DOP, Direct On Paper is a sustainable paper RFID antenna solution which is both plastic-free and avoids chemical etching process. A HF loop antenna can be printed directly onto standard graphic printing paper with DOP solution.

More than 10 years ago, PragmatIC created a new type of integrated circuit (IC) called FlexICs, that are thin, flexible and ultra-low cost, aimed at connecting for trillions of smart objects. Today, PragmatIC comes to another milestone, smartphones are able to work with NFC FlexIC that can be embedded into high volume everyday items.

NFC FlexICs can be assembled with etched Aluminium loop antenna by providing the connection bridge across the two ends of the loop antenna. In our process concept, we use FlexIC's unique thin and flexible product characteristics (vs rigid silicon IC) with DOP's ultra-thin HF antenna loop. The benefits of this process concept are the material, process and resource saving during antenna production. By using a single loop antenna and eliminating the connection bridge, we avoid an additional printing process or double-sided Aluminium antenna substrate.

A tiny natural resource saving in one inlay with NFC FlexIC for trillions of smart objects ... and beyond.

In this work, we propose a novel packaging concept for highly integrated RF systems using SunRay Scientific’s magnetically aligned ZTACH® ACE. We demonstrate the ability to "grow" z-axis interconnects allowing for multilayer packages that are not sensitive to the height between pads. Using this effect, we
introduce two approaches to integrating multiple silicon wafers on top of each other, creating the possibility for an exceptionally dense integrated system-in-a-package. First, a reverse-pyramid package with all chips stacked facing down on a silicon substrate is demonstrated. Second, a "Matryoshka" package assembled with the alternation of chip's face direction is also demonstrated. The simplified assembly process of ZTACH® ACE and the new packaging concepts can offer a compact and cost-effective solution to system-in-package based RF systems. This technology can be processed at temperatures ranging from 80˚C up to 160˚, making it friendly to a range of substrates and applications from PCB, FPC, Flexible Hybrid Electronics and even wearable textile applications where device attach presents considerable issues.

SunRay Scientific will present its success in the development of a novel anisotropic conductive adhesive, ZTACH® ACE, for the next level of heterogenous integration. Materials and process development will be shared for dense and fine pitch Land Grid Arrays (LGA) on a semi-rigid interposer. Additionally, advancements were made for die-to-die bonding and Ball Grid Arrays (BGA) on Polyimide. Test results will show the thin ZTACH® ACE bond, typically 25 – 75 microns thick, provides superior adhesion, low contact resistance, and mechanical robustness on a range of rigid, semi-rigid and flexible substrates during electromechanical testing. Updates on progress towards achieving ≤ 50-micron pitch will be shared.

ZTACH® ACE demonstrates superiority in achieving environmentally stable and mechanically robust electrical connections. This technology allows for pressure-less assembly, low-temperature cure, excellent adhesion to various substrates, and fine pitch reliability without sacrificing contact resistance or mechanical bond strength. ZTACH® ACE can act as its own underfill and edge encapsulant, achieving an overall lower package profile. In providing superior adhesion, low contact resistance, and mechanical robustness during electromechanical testing, ZTACH® ACE proves itself to be a reliable interconnect for stretchable/flex/rigid materials with high electrical conductivity.

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Embroidery is a textile manufacturing technique that has its roots in historic hand-stitched garment design. However, with the invention of computers, this textile manufacturing technique has seen a resurgence due to its high levels of material optimization. Embroidery allows the textile engineer to place single fibers, yarns, fiber bundles, or even wires with high precision in a variable, predesigned geometry. Because of this high precision, embroidery is highly applicable for integrating functionality into textiles through textile sensors, actuators, or electrodes. Three types of embroidery technologies are commonly used and defined in the literature. These include chain and moss stitch embroidery, standard embroidery as well as tailored fiber, wire, or tube placement. Each of these methods can be utilized in varying ways for the mass production of smart textiles. The embroidery technology offers enormous possibilities for the automatic integration of conductive fibers and electronic components into textiles to create e-textiles. E-textiles are in development for decades but only a few products could make it to the market. The main reason for this lack of products on the market is the high production costs. Manual production steps increase the production costs and lead to high product costs. Furthermore, reproducibility cannot be guaranteed or manually created products. The high level of automation of the embroidery process finally allows the mass production of e-textiles.

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.