Sussex EPSRC Capital Award in Support of Early Career Researchers

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Flexible electronic devices are essential for the future development of electronics including sensors for the internet of things fabricated on cheap large area polymer substrates, or unobtrusive monitoring systems for personal smart assistants and telemedicine equipment. At the same time, they cannot be fabricated using standard fabrication techniques, this is because of the chemical and physical properties of deformable substrates. The proposed printer will enable us to deposit and simultaneously structure conductive and insulating materials to realize sensors and active devices on arbitrary substrates. support many ongoing Early Career Researcher activities. This includes the deposition of strain sensitive conductors on textile fabrics or free standing for some recently awarded projects from EPSRC and from industry.The main piece of capital requested in this award is an Aerosol Jet HD printer which enables us to create high density Electronics packaging and devices with 20-micron resolution. 3D printing mechanical parts is now an established industry process that has changed the way the automotive, aerospace and medical industries work. However, printing functional elements such as sensors and switches are still untapped with many research and exploitation opportunities. The investment in this state-of-the art electronic 3D printer would be of enormous benefit to a range of Early Career Researchers across the university supporting many of their activities. This includes the deposition of strain sensitive conductors on textile fabrics or free standing for some recently awarded projects from EPSRC and from industry.The new equipment will be aligned to and managed by the University's new Sussex Programme for Quantum Research. The programme provides a network promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and exchange across multiple Schools within the University. Our goal is to bring together excellence in computational fabrication, metamaterials, printed electronics, nano-, photonic- and quantum-technologies and functional material science to fundamentally transform the research and industry landscape. The availability of world class laboratories containing unique and cutting edge instrumentation such as the printer described above is a key driver to attract and retain the next generation of world class research leaders.The impact of the acquisition can be directly linked to every single researcher and to specific elements of their research plans. All the named researchers involved are highly recognised scientists, with excellent research outputs for their career level. As there is no duplication with current resources, the acquisition of the equipment directly translates in an augmented capacity.