SBIR Phase II: Flexible Organic Circuits with Photolithography for eReader Applications

这个小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目旨在通过利用显示器行业使用的现有基础设施，快速实现有机和灵活电子设备的大规模制造。目前，还不存在能够大规模制造柔性电子产品的成熟制造技术，而且所有拟议的方法都需要放弃数十亿美元的设备和数十年来基于光刻技术的制造专业知识。这项提议旨在解决这个问题，使用光致抗蚀剂技术，该技术旨在与包括有机电子在内的各种材料一起工作。以前的研究已经确定了这些抗蚀剂的可行性，但要将这项技术应用到更复杂和更集成的系统中，特别是在使用柔性基板时，仍需要做很多工作。第一阶段项目揭示了需要改进的领域，以达到大规模生产和高产量，以满足要求苛刻的显示器应用。这个项目将解决这些问题，并将创造一个高性能的过程，能够制造出高产量的灵活的电子阅读器。研究人员将与工业和学术合作伙伴合作，更好地了解在将该过程扩大到真正应用的过程中需要克服的所有问题。该项目对显示器行业的更广泛影响/商业潜力将非常大，该行业寻求为全球巨大的教育市场制造创新的柔性电子阅读器显示器。更广泛的商业潜力在于向一个将迅速提高产量的行业销售高利润率和大批量的化学品。液晶显示器(LCD)的光致抗蚀剂市场目前价值12亿美元，预计拟议的技术将主导有机电子抗蚀剂市场，这一市场预计将达到类似的价值。当电子阅读器被带到世界各地的教室时，社会效益将会显现。它们的重量轻、功耗低、坚固耐用，将使这些显示器完全取代沉重而昂贵的教科书，改变国内以及中国和俄罗斯等发展中国家数以百万计儿童的生活。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to quickly enable the large-scale manufacturing of organic and flexible electronic devices by leveraging the existing infrastructure used in the display industry. Currently, proven manufacturing techniques do not exist that can make flexible electronics at scale, and all proposed methods would require the abandonment of billions of dollars of equipment and decades of manufacturing expertise based around photolithography. This proposal aims to solve this problem, using photoresist technology that is designed to work with a wide range of materials including organic electronics. Previous research has established the feasibility of these resists, but there is still much work needed to apply the technology to more complex and integrated systems, especially when working with flexible substrates. The Phase I project has revealed the areas of improvement needed to reach mass production and high yields for demanding display applications. This project will address these issues and will create a high-performance process capable of making flexible eReaders with high yield. Researchers will work with industrial and academic partners to gain a better understanding of all of the issues required to be overcome as the process is scaled up to a real application.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be very large for the display industry, which seeks to manufacture innovative flexible eReader displays for the large worldwide education market. The broader commercial potential lies in the sales of high-margin and high-volume chemicals to an industry that will quickly ramp production. The photoresist market for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is currently $1.2 billion, and it is anticipated that the proposed technology will dominate the organic electronic resist market, which is anticipated to reach similar values. The societal benefits will be seen when the eReaders are brought to classrooms around the world. Their low weight, low power consumption, and physical robustness will allow these displays to fully replace heavy and expensive textbooks, changing the lives of millions of children domestically, and in developing countries such as China and Russia.