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

该行动资助格鲁吉亚理工学院的Spyridon Pavlidis于2013年夏天在台湾新竹的国立交通大学进行工程研究项目。 该项目的标题是“增强柔性塑料基板上卷对卷印刷InGaZnO薄膜晶体管的稳定性”。“主持科学家为徐炳裕教授，这项研究的学术价值是利用卷对卷的制造技术，在软性、低成本的塑胶基板上，提升铟镓锌氧化物薄膜电晶体的稳定性，使其可应用于以薄膜电晶体为基础的生化传感器阵列。电稳定性在场效应晶体管（FET）化学传感器中是特别重要的，因为参考漏极电流的固有漂移可导致假阳性以及检测极限受损。除了优化制造步骤，通过使用先进的偏置技术，如双极脉冲偏置，偏置应力和恢复的机制正在详细探讨，从而引起更坚定地把握在发挥作用的设备物理。这反过来又有助于建议哪些偏置方案适合于部署化学传感器等设备。此外，单个器件性能、广域再现性和系统集成的问题都被大规模地考虑为这些先进打印方法的函数。EAPSI奖学金的更广泛的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;以及社会，文化和语言的方向。 这些活动符合NSF的目标，即在科学家，工程师和教育工作者的职业生涯早期进行国际合作教育，从而确保具有全球意识的美国科学工作者。 此外，为了满足美国对高技能劳动力的需求，研究员将研究台湾的中小学和高等教育机构如何帮助塑造公众对工程的看法，并使台湾成为半导体和铸造行业的国际领导者。最后，考虑到InGaZnO TFT柔性显示器即将推向市场，EAPSI奖学金的结果是使用相同技术同时开发生物化学传感器，这可能会导致一场激动人心的联姻，深刻改变人类与手表和移动的电话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.