Development of graphene-metal film composite high-current carrying electrodes

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cooledge Lighting products consist of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are fabricated on flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs). The PCBs consist of copper (Cu) traces laminated to a polymeric substrate. Copper is used because it is straightforward to pattern using wet chemical etching and component attach is straightforward using well-established solder techniques. Disadvantages of Cu include relatively high cost, the requirement of non-environmentally friendly wet chemical etch processes and relatively high cost for prototyping and customized manufacturing. An alternate approach would be to print the conductors using an environmentally friendly process. To date, printed conductive inks have much less current-carrying capability than copper due to the 5x lower bulk conductivity of inks compared to bulk metal and the inability to print thick conductive electrodes. ****The proposed project investigates the fabrication and characterization of graphene-metal film composite materials. Graphene has many unique properties than exceed those of any other materials including having one million times current carrying capability than Cu, ultra-high room temperature electron mobility, and very high thermal conductivity of > 3000 WmK-1. The disadvantage of graphene is difficulty in preparing low-cost and high electronic quality material. Graphene-metal film composite materials will be fabricated in a class-1000 cleanroom, and characterized as a function of sheet resistance per thickness and maximum current carrying capability. The collaboration between Dr Adachi's team and Cooledge Lighting will lead to new knowledge and advanced manufacturing process techniques for preparing graphene-metal composite materials and result in training of two highly qualified personnel. The long-term goal is to demonstrate high current carrying capability using flexible graphene that can exceed that of the metal alone. The development of low-cost high current carrying electrodes has potential applications in the broader electronics industries. **