SGER: Liquid Logic-The 3rd Wave in Electronics

研究目标本研究的目的是确定液态电子学的可行性。所提出的“液体逻辑”晶体管的核心是电润湿（EW）过程。电子战通过在液体上施加电场来控制电解质和固体表面之间的接触角。结合导电（极性）液体中的电子战效应和疏水绝缘体，我们可以设计出与半导体MOSFET功能非常相似的绝缘栅场效应晶体管（IGFET）结构。该项目的主要活动将是：材料选择的调查；液晶晶体管的设计、制造与表征。知识价值&更广泛的影响液体逻辑是一种革命性的电子新方法，它提出使用液体作为有效介质。液体电子学的发展将使大面积（“人体规模”）电路适用于各种应用：大型平板或柔性面板显示器、大型阵列天线、扫描仪/打印机/复印机、大面积传感器、全尺寸医疗成像系统、光伏阵列、电纺织品（可穿戴电子产品）、电子报纸。该项目将与辛辛那提大学（UC）电气工程、化学、物理和材料工程专业的教师和研究生进行互动。将与加州大学医学院合作，探索液体逻辑晶体管的生物医学应用。

Research ObjectivesThe objective of this research is to determine the feasibility of liquid state electronics. At the heart of the proposed "liquid logic" transistors is the electrowetting (EW) process. EW provides control of the contact angle between an electrolyte and a solid surface through the application of an electric field across the liquid. Combining the EW effect in a conducting (polar) liquid with a hydrophobic insulator we can design an insulated gate field effect transistor (IGFET) structure that is functionally very similar to the semiconductor MOSFET. The main activities of the project will be: investigation of materials choices; design, fabrication and characterization of liquid state transistors.Intellectual Merit & Broader ImpactLiquid logic is a revolutionary new approach to electronics that proposes to use liquids as the active medium. The development of liquid electronics will enable large area ("human-scale") circuits for various applications: large flat or flexible panel displays, large array antennas, scanners/printers/copiers, large area sensors, full-size medical imaging systems, photovoltaic arrays, electrotextiles (wearable electronics), electronic newspapers. This project will provide interactions with faculty and graduate students at the University of Cincinnati (UC) in Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, and Materials Engineering. Biomedical applications of liquid logic transistors will be explored in collaboration with the UC Medical School.