Novel Optical Metrology Tool for Thin Film Haptic Sensor Technologies

新的显示技术越来越多地使用触觉材料，允许多功能性能，包括机械反馈、热或光学、粗糙度或其他表面控制。有一系列令人兴奋的新材料和材料结构/系统正在考虑用于下一代触摸屏，这些触摸屏结合了对压力、温度、触摸的触觉风格反馈，为用户提供了更积极和更有价值的反应。这些“活性”材料通常以压电聚合物、薄膜压电材料和量子隧道复合材料为基础。当这些材料受到压力时，它们会产生有用的电流，当电压施加到它们身上时，它们就会产生有价值的形状变化。这种新技术推广的一个重要障碍是缺乏高活性的材料，因为可靠性和均匀性很差，当这些材料以小尺寸加工和加工时，这变得非常重要。随着活性材料被集成到触摸屏、水听器或能量采集模块所需的更复杂的设计中，能够表征这些活性元素的全部3D体积变得势在必行。目前还没有工业上可扩展的测量工具可以从这些活性材料的3D体积中准确地评估重要的物理性质。在本提案中，我们旨在通过开发一种新的测量工具并将其商业化来解决这一障碍，该工具已在欧洲计量研究项目(2020-Coment)之后被证明在原则上有效。仍然存在相当大的风险，因为我们不确定我们的全光学探头是否可以与一种新的询问方法结合使用，该方法将允许在整个材料的3D体积中快速准确地评估材料的性能、可靠性、一致性和功能特性。这种工具在评估这些和许多其他需要2-1/2D到3D响应/反馈的应用中的功能材料方面将是革命性的。没有其他工具可以实现这样的解决方案，如果这项提议获得批准，并且技术研发被证明是成功的，电子科学有限公司将迅速将新产品商业化。新工具将加快新材料、成分和系统开发周期，从而降低成本，因为可以直接获得准确和可追踪的测量数据，将材料与功能(例如，传感、驱动、转换)直接链接到新设备内的集成设计。这就是该项目将如何支持英国的供应链，支持触觉和触摸屏技术、水听器和新兴的能源收集部门。

Novel display technologies increasingly use haptic materials that permit multifunctional performance that includes mechanical feedback, thermal or optical, roughness or other surface control. There is an exciting range of new materials and materials structures/systems that are being considered for next generation touch screens incorporating haptic style feedback to pressure, temperature, touch for a more positive and rewarding response for the user. These 'active' materials are often based on piezoelectric polymers, thin film piezoelectrics and quantum tunnelling composites. When these materials are stressed, they produce useful electrical currents and when a voltage is applied to them then they produce valuable changes in shape.One significant barrier to the roll-out of such new technologies is the lack of high activity material suffering from poor reliability and poor uniformity, which becomes really important when those materials are machined and processed at small length scales. As the active materials are integrated within ever more complex designs needed for e.g. touch screens, hydrophones or energy harvesting modules, it becomes imperative to be able to characterise the full 3D volume of those active elements. There are currently no industrially scalable measurement tools which can accurately assess important physical properties from a 3D volume of these active materials.In this proposal we aim to address this barrier by developing and then commercialising a new measurement tool which has been shown to work in principle following a European Metrology Research Project (2020-ADVENT). Considerable risk still exists because we are unsure if our all-optical probe can be used in conjunction with a new interrogation methodology which would permit rapid and accurate assessment of materials performance, reliability, uniformity and functional properties throughout the 3D volume of the material. Such a tool would be revolutionary in assessing functional materials for these and many other applications where a 2-1/2D to 3D response/feedback is desired. There are no other tools that can accomplish such a solution and Electrosciences Ltd will rapidly commercialise the new product, should this proposal be awarded, and the technical R&D prove successful.The new tool would accelerate new materials, compositions and systems development cycles, and hence reduce costs, because accurate and traceable measurement data would be available directly linking material to function (e.g. sensing, actuation, transduction) through to integrated design within the new devices. This is how this project would support the UK supply chain supporting haptics and touch screen technologies, hydrophone and the emerging energy harvesting sectors.