Flexible Electronics: Disruptive on Ladder Up, Elevator Down and Moving-Walkway Sideways

Abstract

Flexible electronics offers a very complementary market demographic to traditional CMOS-centric electronics. It will not replace conventional electronics. But its low-cost, low carbon footprint, and ability to span large areas with a flexible form factor opens up new vistas. Flexible electronics can empower a ladder up for learning to bring semiconductors into the classroom, like grades 5–12. Classically, at Open Houses where the field of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) is showcased, ECE is represented by robots only. Robots are actually a mechanical engineering matter, and only the code that drives the robot has an ECE footprint. This sidesteps the rest of the ECE field, poorly recruiting future ECE majors to the field of semiconductors. Flexible electronics, or “Flextronics,” can be — and has been — effectively used in the classroom through hands-on learning involving resistors, diodes, and transistors, etc., through simple printing techniques, without the need for an expensive cleanroom. All semiconductor platforms will benefit. Flexible electronics is ripe with scientific discovery, as we take the elevator down to the bottom floor. Inorganic semiconductors manifest a limited range of permutations, especially when restricted to lattice matching. Organics and similar materials, like metal oxides, are not restricted to any space and can function from amorphous to crystalline, and polycrystalline in between. Materials scientists have largely been replaced by chemists. A new molecule or chemistry can precipitate into a dramatic breakthrough overnight — like TIPS pentacene or perovskites. Flexible electronics enables a moving walkway sideways for sustainability, leaving Mother Earth as we found it. Flexible electronics is not resource-intensive like CMOS. It uses low-Z materials that are more abundant, less toxic, and often biodegradable. For large embedded sensor networks, waste disposal could become acute if not diverted into sustainable platforms. The impact of flexible electronics is facilitating new ways to monitor our surroundings for greater efficiency and reduced waste, such as printable RFID tags for inventory control that stick on like a postage stamp, or medical wearables that have form factors like a rub-on tattoo.

Flextronics is just getting started. This talk will showcase all three of these aspects, focusing primarily on activities by this research group and its community outreach.

Biography – Prof. Paul R. Berger, Ph.D., IEEE Fellow