Novel Optical Metrology Tool for Thin Film Haptic Sensor Technologies

新型显示技术越来越多地使用触觉材料，这些材料具有多种功能，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，将触觉风格反馈到压力，温度，触摸，为用户提供更积极和有益的反应。这些“活性”材料通常基于压电聚合物、薄膜压电材料和量子隧道复合材料。当这些材料受到压力时，它们会产生有用的电流，当施加电压时，它们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材料，可靠性差，均匀性差，当这些材料在小尺寸上进行机械加工和加工时，这一点变得非常重要。由于活性材料被集成到更复杂的设计中，例如触摸屏，水听器或能量收集模块，因此能够表征这些活性元素的完整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，可以准确地评估这些活性材料的3D体积的重要物理性质。在本提案中，我们的目标是通过开发和商业化一种新的测量工具来解决这一障碍，该工具已被证明在原则上遵循欧洲计量研究项目（2020-ADVENT）。由于我们不确定我们的全光探针是否可以与一种新的审讯方法结合使用，这将允许在材料的整个3D体积中快速准确地评估材料的性能、可靠性、均匀性和功能特性，因此仍然存在相当大的风险。这种工具在评估这些功能材料以及许多其他需要2-1/2D到3D响应/反馈的应用中是革命性的。没有其他工具可以完成这样的解决方案，如果该提案获得批准，Electrosciences Ltd将迅速将新产品商业化，并且技术研发证明是成功的。新工具将加速新材料、成分和系统的开发周期，从而降低成本，因为通过新设备内的集成设计，可以直接获得准确和可追溯的测量数据，将材料与功能（例如传感、驱动、转导）联系起来。这就是该项目将如何支持英国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.