NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Taiwan

这一行动资助佐治亚理工学院的Spyridon Pavlidis于2013年夏天在台湾新竹的国立交通大学进行了一个工程学研究项目。该项目的标题是“柔性塑料衬底上卷对卷印刷InGaZnO薄膜晶体管的稳定性增强”。主持这项工作的科学家是徐炳跃教授。这项工作的智力价值是利用卷到卷制造技术在柔性、低成本的塑料衬底上提高铟镓锌氧化物(InGaZnO)薄膜晶体管(TFT)的稳定性，以便将它们部署在基于TFT的生化传感器阵列中。电稳定性在场效应管(FET)化学传感器中尤为重要，因为基准漏极电流的固有漂移可能会导致误报和检测下限的降低。除了优化制造步骤外，通过使用先进的偏置技术，如双极脉冲偏置，正在详细探索偏置应力和恢复的机制，从而更牢固地掌握起作用的器件物理。这反过来又有助于建议哪些偏置方案适合部署化学传感器等设备。此外，作为这些先进打印方法的功能，单一设备性能、广域重现性和系统集成的问题都被大规模地考虑。EAPSI奖学金的更广泛影响包括为研究员提供美国以外的第一手研究经验；介绍各自所在地的科学、科学政策和科学基础设施；以及了解社会、文化和语言。这些活动符合NSF的目标，即在其科学家、工程师和教育工作者的职业生涯早期为国际合作进行教育，从而确保拥有一支具有全球意识的美国科学队伍。此外，为了满足美国对高技能劳动力的需求，该研究员打算研究台湾的小学、中学和高等教育机构如何为塑造公众对工程的看法做出贡献，并使台湾成为半导体和铸造业的国际领导者。最后，考虑到基于InGaZOTFT的柔性显示器即将推向市场，作为EAPSI合作的结果，同时开发使用相同技术的生化传感器可能会导致一次令人兴奋的联姻，这将深刻改变人类与手表和手机等便携式设备的互动方式，从而为未来新企业的形成和经济刺激让路。

This action funds Spyridon Pavlidis of the Georgia Institute of Technology to conduct a research project in Engineering during the summer of 2013 at the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The project title is "Stability Enhancement of Roll-to-Roll Printed InGaZnO Thin Film Transistors on Flexible Plastic Substrates." The host scientist is Prof. Bing-Yue Tsui.The intellectual merit of this work is to enhance the stability of indium gallium zinc oxide (InGaZnO) thin film transistors (TFTs) on flexible, low-cost plastic substrates using roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques so that they can be deployed in TFT-based biochemical sensor arrays. Electrical stability is of particular importance in a field-effect transistor (FET) chemical sensor since intrinsic drift of the reference drain current can lead to false positives as well as compromised limits of detection. In addition to optimizing the fabrication steps, through the use of advanced bias techniques, such as bipolar pulsed biasing, the mechanisms of bias stress and recovery are being explored in detail, giving rise to a firmer grasp of the device physics at play. This, in turn, helps suggest which bias schemes are suitable for deployment of such devices as chemical sensors. Moreover, the issues of single device performance, wide-area reproducibility and system integration are all being considered on a large scale as a function of these advanced printing methods. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, to address the need for a highly-skilled workforce in the U.S., the Fellow intends to study how primary, secondary and higher educational institutions in Taiwan have contributed to shaping the public's perception of engineering and have permitted the country to become an international leader in the semiconductor and foundry industries. Lastly, with the imminent introduction of InGaZnO TFT-based flexible displays to the market in mind, the simultaneous development of biochemical sensors using the same technology as a result of this EAPSI fellowship could lead to an exciting marriage that profoundly changes the ways that humans interact with portable devices, such as watches and mobile phones; thus giving way to the formation of new enterprises and economic stimulation in the future.