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

柔性电子技术有潜力通过以低成本实现可弯曲和可拉伸系统来改变计算。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，纯柔性电子的性能和能力目前比硅技术有限得多。新兴的柔性混合电子（FHE）集成了刚性硅芯片和印刷电子，以弥合当今复杂系统与柔性电子之间的差距。因此，FHE可以推动外形设计的下一个飞跃，类似于从台式机和笔记本电脑到手持设备的转变。FHE系统与传统的计算系统有很大的不同。首先，物理灵活性和可扩展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。其次，弯曲和拉伸可以改变FHE系统的特性。最后，由于柔性和耐磨性的限制，大型电池和散热器是禁止的。因此，有必要在理论上接地和实际适用的工具，量化物理灵活性作为一个新的度量。该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的最新发展。FHE可以是用于可穿戴计算、物联网、身体传感器和医疗应用的无处不在的设备的使能者。该项目将通过提供设计可穿戴系统和任意形状物体的系统方法来帮助改变生活。例如，FHE可以实现配备有运动、生理和生化传感器以及无线收发器的电子贴片。这些贴片可用于随时随地检查运动障碍，与目前的做法形成鲜明对比，患者必须留在临床环境中。本计画的教育目标是以FHE来充实工程课程。研究成果的摘要将通过一门新课程提交给本科生和研究生。该项目还将为高中，本科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.