SBIR Phase I: Organic Field Effect Transistor Force Sensor for Touch Surfaces

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一种力敏触摸表面技术，该技术将克服当前可用技术的技术缺陷。该设计以新颖的配置利用了有机印刷电子产品的薄型尺寸、光学透射率和成本优势，从而可以通过可扩展的制造技术生产环境稳定的有源阵列触摸表面和显示器。该解决方案旨在实现真正的力敏触摸，成本低且高度灵敏。它将适用于任何物体，包括指甲、手套和手写笔，同时不易受到阻碍当前电容技术的环境因素的影响，例如污垢和湿气。如果开发成功，它将比领先技术消耗更少的功率，并且本质上不需要玻璃等特殊材料作为触摸表面。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力源于其与广泛应用的相关性，包括消费电子产品的力敏感按钮、汽车控制装置以及固定和移动设备的力敏感显示器。二十年前，触摸技术主要出现在 ATM 和销售点系统中。最近，该技术迁移到其他电子行业垂直领域，包括最大且增长最快的行业之一——智能手机和平板电脑。消费者需求正在推动各个垂直领域的应用程序爆炸式增长。对低成本、低功耗、功能更丰富的触摸解决方案的需求日益增长。此外，人们不断追求新的用户体验优势，例如力敏感度，但市场上尚未有可行的解决方案。这种技术将有望从所有这些市场的现有技术中夺取巨大的市场份额。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to develop a force sensitive touch surface technology that will overcome the technical shortcomings of currently available technologies. The design leverages the thin form factor, optical transmissivity, and cost advantages of organic printed electronics in a novel configuration to allow for environmentally stable, active-array touch surfaces and displays to be produced with scalable manufacturing techniques. The solution is intended to enable truly force sensitive touch that is low cost and highly sensitive. It will be operable with any object, including fingernails, gloves, and styluses, while not being susceptible to environmental factors that hinder current capacitive technologies, such as dirt and moisture. If successfully developed it will consume less power than leading technologies, and will not inherently require special materials such as glass to be used as the touch surface. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project results from its relevance to a wide array of applications, including force sensitive buttons for consumer electronics, automotive controls, and force sensitive displays for fixed and mobile devices. Two decades ago, touch technology was primarily found within ATMs and point-of-sale systems. More recently, the technology migrated to other electronic industry verticals, including one of the largest and certainly the fastest growing - smartphones and tablets. Consumer demand is driving an explosion of applications in every vertical. There is increasing demand for low cost, low power, more feature rich touch solutions. In addition, new user experience benefits such as force sensitivity are constantly being pursued, yet there is no viable solution yet on the market. Such a technology would be poised to capture significant market share from existing technologies in all of these markets.