[MURG] Scientist makes photonic circuits with inkjet printer

[joe]

Tell me this isn't the coolest damn thing.



----- Forwarded message from Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> -----
[headers snipped]
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 13:04:26 +0200 (CEST)
From: Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org>
To: wear-hard <wear-hard at haven.org>
Subject: Scientist makes photonic circuits with inkjet printer (fwd)


http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20020410S0013

By R. Colin Johnson
EE Times
April 10, 2002 (9:37 a.m. EST)
 
TUCSON, Ariz. ? A new family of organic polymers demonstrated at the 
University of Arizona can "paint" computer displays and photocell
arrays 
onto most any surface, and could enable self-contained "computerless" 
niche devices that are cheaper and more flexible than what's available
today.

The approach loads polymer-based electro-optic ink into inkjet
cartridges 
then uses a conventional inkjet printer to deposit photonic circuits
onto 
flexible surfaces.

http://hdlsolutions.mentor.com/

"We are still exploring all the different circuit elements we can make
with these organic molecules," said Ghassan Jabbour, a University of 
Arizona researcher who leads the group that demonstrated the method.

Embedded images

By adjusting the formulas mixed from the inkjet cartridges while they 
spray, Jabbour plans to emulate resistors and similar components found
in 
traditional circuits. An image, for instance, can be hardwired into
the 
variable conductivity of the wires that are painted onto an otherwise 
fixed grid of organic LEDs, thereby embedding the image in the array 
rather than requiring a separate memory from which to read it out.

"You have much more flexibility than when using traditional circuit 
components," said Jabbour, "because you can mix together different 
compounds for truly continuous changes. For instance, we can mix
different 
molecules from different inkjet cartridges during printing for truly 
continuous changes in conductivity." He was assisted on the project by
a 
student, Yuka Yoshioka.

So far, Jabbour's group has shown that it can paint complete systems
for 
displaying images via organic LED "portraits" and for collecting
energy 
from inkjet-printed solar-cell arrays.

Using simple software algorithms on a computer to which the inkjet
printer 
is attached, the group demonstrated a versatile painting technology
that 
could create nearly any size photonic circuit. Dispensing extremely
small 
droplets of different organic molecules, the high-speed nozzles of the
computer-controlled print heads fired circuits onto an electrically 
conductive polymer. The resulting inkjet-printed portraits and solar 
arrays were entirely self-contained; the operation needed just an
attached 
battery to power the display.

"We keep coming up with new processes using inkjet techniques,"
Jabbour 
said. "Besides varying the conductivity of wires, we can also mix 
chemistry with the inkjets to control where we want a lot of electrons
and 
where we don't want electrons. We just program the printer to
interpret 
color commands in terms of the chemical reaction we want. To the
printer, 
it is just printing the same way as if it were putting regular images
on 
paper."

Since the inkjet's molecules are transparent ? and print on
transparent 
plastic, silicon or glass substrates ? solar cells can be
unobtrusively 
painted on convenient areas like windows. Likewise, until a portrait
is 
powered up it is similarly transparent. Both the solar cells and the 
organic LEDs can emit/sense the infrared spectrum, making inexpensive
and 
difficult-to-detect security devices. Infrared solar cells, for
instance, 
could sense intruders and infrared portraits could convey sensitive 
information to "night-goggled" security personnel.

Jabbour also said his group's approach piqued the interest of other 
researchers working on MEMS-based technologies, like the handheld 
"chem-lab on-a-chip" that is being funded by the Defense Advanced
Research 
Projects Agency. The technique's ability to vary the electrical 
conductivity of wires could be used to make microfluidic channels with
built-in ion filters, Jabbour said. "There are so many applications
for 
this technology, that we can't do them all," he said.



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Bye

 Name:			Joseph M Graham
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