EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large Area Electronics

大面积电子学是电子学的一个分支，其功能分布在大面积上，比典型电路板的尺寸大得多。最近，使用基于解决方案的方法制造电子设备和电路已经成为可能，在这种方法中，将功能“墨水”的“调色板”印刷在柔性网上，以创建构建设备所需的多层图案。这种方法与传统的硅基电子产品的制造和组装非常不同，它提供了低成本制造工厂的好处，可以减少浪费和功耗，大批量生产具有新形状因素和功能的电子系统。“印刷设备”的例子包括新型光伏、照明、显示器、传感系统和智能物体。我们使用术语“大面积电子产品”（LAE）而不是“可打印电子产品”，因为许多电子系统既需要传统电子产品，也需要印刷电子产品，这得益于传统电子产品的高性能和可打印电子产品在大面积上经济有效地创造功能的能力。在过去的20年里，在生产具有合适性能和操作稳定性的新型可印刷功能材料方面取得了巨大进展，但尽管有这样的前景，新兴行业的起飞速度很慢，部分原因是：(i)制造规模比预期的更具挑战性；（ii）目前无法生产出几个早期市场所需的完整多功能电子系统，例如品牌提升和智能包装。我们提议的大面积电子创新制造中心将应对这些挑战，以支持在该领域出现一个充满活力的英国制造业。我们的愿景有四个关键要素：-解决多功能LAE系统低成本制造的技术挑战-制定先进制造工艺的长期研究计划，旨在持续降低制造成本和提高系统性能。-支持英国制造业在中心开发的技术和工艺的规模扩大-促进更广泛的英国电子制造业采用LAE技术。您的创新制造中心汇集了剑桥大学（剑桥综合知识中心，CIKC），伦敦帝国理工学院（塑料电子中心，CPE），斯旺西大学（威尔士印刷和涂层中心，WCPC）和曼彻斯特大学（有机材料创新中心，OMIC）创建一个真正具有代表性的国家中心，在设计、开发、制造和表征各种设备、材料和工艺方面拥有世界级的专业知识。

Large-Area Electronics is a branch of electronics in which functionality is distributed over large-areas, much bigger than the dimensions of a typical circuit board. Recently, it has become possible to manufacture electronic devices and circuits using a solution-based approach in which a "palette" of functional "inks" is printed on flexible webs to create the multi-layered patterns required to build up devices. This approach is very different from the fabrication and assembly of conventional silicon-based electronics and offers the benefits of lower-cost manufacturing plants that can operate with reduced waste and power consumption, producing electronic systems in high volume with new form factors and features. Examples of "printed devices" include new kinds of photovoltaics, lighting, displays, sensing systems and intelligent objects. We use the term "large-area electronics" (LAE) rather than "printable electronics" because many electronic systems require both conventional and printed electronics, benefitting from the high performance of the conventional and the ability of the printable to create functionality over large-areas cost-effectively. Great progress has been made over the last 20 years in producing new printable functional materials with suitable performance and stability in operation but despite this promise, the emerging industry has been slow to take-off, due in part to (i) manufacturing scale-up being significantly more challenging than expected and (ii) the current inability to produce complete multifunctional electronic systems as required in several early markets, such as brand enhancement and intelligent packaging. Our proposed Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Large-Area Electronics will tackle these challenges to support the emergence of a vibrant UK manufacturing industry in the sector. Our vision has four key elements:- to address the technical challenges of low-cost manufacturing of multi-functional LAE systems- to develop a long-term research programme in advanced manufacturing processes aimed at ongoing reduction in manufacturing cost and improvement in system performance.- to support the scale-up of technologies and processes developed in and with the Centre by UK manufacturing industry- to promote the adoption of LAE technologies by the wider UK electronics manufacturing industryOur Centre for Innovative Manufacturing brings together 4 UK academic Centres of Excellence in LAE at the University of Cambridge (Cambridge Integrated Knowledge Centre, CIKC), Imperial College London (Centre for Plastic Electronics, CPE), Swansea University (Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, WCPC) and the University of Manchester (Organic Materials Innovation Centre, OMIC) to create a truly representative national centre with world-class expertise in design, development, fabrication and characterisation of a wide range of devices, materials and processes.