Integrated Additive Manufacturing: Combining Mechanical and Electrical Functionality

这项研究计划的目标是创造新的制造技术，将3D打印和打印电子这两种不同的添加剂制造技术结合在一起。这将使具有机械和电气功能的系统的附加制造成为可能，具有低成本、可定制化和电子元件大面积覆盖等优势。作为演示案例，我们将重点介绍在3D打印基板上打印晶体管，这是以前从未做过的。晶体管在技术上对许多应用都很重要，它们是任何新的微制造技术的良好试验台。晶体管需要印刷三种不同的材料(金属、半导体和电介质)。它们既需要金属电极的高分辨率印刷，也需要用于半导体和栅电介质的均匀、无缺陷的薄膜。一个主要的挑战将是克服3D打印表面的巨大粗糙度。我们将通过3D打印过程的建模和优化、通过喷涂层打印平滑的夹层以及调整要打印在3D打印表面顶部的电子图案来实现这一点。我们还将研究如何在具有故意3D结构的表面(如曲率和倾斜表面)上进行最佳打印。全喷墨打印有机薄膜晶体管(OTFT)将首先在传统塑料薄膜基板上实现。最先进的三元混合材料将首次用于全印刷结构。这将大大提高性能，超越目前全打印OTFT的限制。到目前为止讨论的努力将主要是平行进行的。最后，它们将被集成到3D打印表面上打印晶体管。晶体管将在可变性和成品率方面进行表征和优化，这将是3D打印基板的关键挑战。该计划为培训高素质人员提供了许多机会。研究生和本科生研究人员将不仅在添加剂制造方面具有很高的技能，而且还将在化学、流体力学、微制造和微电子设备等相关领域获得高度熟练的技能。这一研究计划的结果不仅将对科学界产生影响，还将对加拿大日益增长的添加剂制造和印刷电子行业产生影响。这里开发的基本理解和一般制造流程将适用于未来大量的物联网(IoT)应用，例如为每个用户定制的智能假肢，传感器允许用户获得更真实的触摸和温度感觉，以及集成的执行器，并且制造成本低廉。

The goal of this research program is to create new manufacturing technology integrating the two distinct additive manufacturing technologies 3D printing and printed electronics. This will enable the additive manufacturing of systems with both mechanical and electrical functionality with advantages such as low cost, customizability and large area coverage with electronic components. As a demonstration case, we will focus on the printing of transistors onto 3D printed substrates, which has not been done before. Transistors are technologically important for many applications and they are a good testbed for any new microfabrication technology. Transistors require the printing of three different materials (metal, semiconductor and dielectric). They require both high-resolution printing of metal electrodes and uniform, defect-free thin films for the semiconductor and gate dielectric. A main challenge will be to overcome the large roughness of 3D printed surfaces. We will achieve this by a combination of modeling and optimization of the 3D printing process, printing a smoothing interlayer by spray coating and adjusting the electronics pattern to be printed on top of the 3D printed surface. We will also study how to optimally print onto surfaces with intentional 3D structure such as curvature and inclined surfaces. Fully inkjet-printed organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) will be implemented first on traditional plastic film substrates. State-of-the-art ternary blend materials will be used for the first time in a fully-printed structure. This will considerably increase performance beyond the current limits for fully-printed OTFTs. The efforts discussed so far will run mostly in parallel. Finally, they will be integrated to print transistors on 3D printed surfaces. Transistors will be characterized and optimized in terms of variability and yield, which will be key challenges on 3D printed substrates. The program offers a number of opportunities for the training of highly qualified personnel. Graduate and undergraduate researchers will not only become highly-skilled in additive manufacturing but also in related areas such as chemistry, fluid mechanics, microfabrication and microelectronic devices. The results of this research program will not only have an impact on the scientific community but also the growing additive manufacturing and printed electronics industries in Canada. The basic understanding and general manufacturing processes developed here will be applicable to a great number of Internet of Things (IoT) applications in the future such as smart prosthetics that are customized to each individual user, with sensors allowing users to get a more realistic sense of touch and temperature, as well as integrated actuators, and that are cheap to manufacture.