CAREER: Transforming Personalized Computing with Flexible Systems-On-Polymer

灵活的电子技术通过以低成本实现可弯曲和可延伸的系统，具有改变计算的潜力。物理灵活性与成本和重量优势相结合，开辟了广泛的应用领域，包括可穿戴电子产品、医疗传感和可滚动显示器。然而，目前纯柔性电子技术的性能和能力比硅技术要有限得多。新兴的柔性混合电子(FHE)集成了刚性硅芯片和印刷电子产品，以弥合当今复杂系统和柔性电子产品之间的差距。因此，FHE可以推动外形设计的下一次重大飞跃，类似于从台式机和笔记本电脑向手持设备的转变。FHE系统与传统计算系统有很大的不同。首先，物理灵活性和可伸缩性将设计空间扩展到一个未知的维度，这引入了与传统功率、性能和面积指标的复杂权衡。第二，弯曲和拉伸可以改变系统的特性。最后，由于灵活性和耐磨性的限制，大型电池和散热器令人望而却步。因此，需要有理论上扎根和实际适用的工具来量化物理灵活性作为一种新的衡量标准。拟议的项目将通过开发建模、灵活性感知优化和运行时管理技术来推进FHE的最先进技术。FHE可以为可穿戴计算、物联网、身体传感器和医疗应用等无处不在的设备提供支持。该项目将通过提供一种系统的方法来设计可穿戴系统和任意形状的物体，从而帮助改变生活。例如，FHE可以使配备有运动、生理和生化传感器以及无线收发器的电子贴片成为可能。这些贴片可以随时随地检查运动障碍，这与目前的做法形成了鲜明对比，目前的做法是患者必须留在临床环境中。该项目的教育目标是用FHE来丰富工科课程。研究成果摘要将通过一门新课程呈现给本科生和研究生。该项目还将为高中、本科生和研究生提供实践培训，以加强STEM劳动力管道。

Flexible electronics technology has the potential to transform computing by enabling bendable and stretchable systems at a low cost. Physical flexibility combined with cost and weight advantages opens a wide range of application areas, including wearable electronics, medical sensing and rollable displays. However, the performance and capabilities of purely flexible electronics are currently much more limited than the silicon technology. Emerging flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) integrates rigid silicon chips and printed electronics to bridge the gap between today's complex systems and flexible electronics. Hence, FHE can drive the next big leap forward in the form factor design, similar to the shift from desktop and laptop computers to hand-held devices. FHE systems differ significantly from traditional computing systems. First, physical flexibility and stretchability expands the design space into an uncharted dimension, which introduces intricate trade-offs with the traditional power, performance and area metrics. Second, bending and stretching can alter the characteristics of FHE systems. Finally, large batteries and heat sinks are prohibitive due to flexibility and wearability constraints. Therefore, there is a need for theoretically grounded and practically applicable tools that quantify physical flexibility as a new metric. The proposed project will advance the state-of-the-art in FHE by developing modeling, flexibility-aware optimization and run-time management techniques. FHE can be an enabler for ubiquitous devices for wearable computing, internet-of-things, body sensors, and medical applications. This project will help in transforming lives by providing a systematic approach to design wearable systems and arbitrarily shaped objects. For example, FHE can enable electronic patches equipped with motion, physiological and biochemical sensors, and wireless transceivers. These patches can be used to examine movement disorders anytime and anywhere, in stark contrast to the current practice, where a patient has to stay in a clinical environment. The educational goal of this project is to enrich the engineering curriculum with FHE. A digest of research outcomes will be presented to undergraduate and graduate students through a new course. This project will also provide hands-on training to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students to strengthen the STEM workforce pipeline.