Printed Electronics Technology and Its Application to Low-Cost Sensors

近年来，印刷技术在开发低成本、大面积的电子系统方面受到了极大的关注。传感器一直是印刷电子技术实验的重要领域之一。尽管印刷传感器的概念并不新鲜，但利用印刷电子技术开发高性能传感器仍然存在重大挑战。关键的挑战是印刷传感器的制造和性能非常强烈地依赖于各种制造参数，如材料组成和工艺。其他一些挑战涉及工艺吞吐量、成本和性能之间的权衡、线宽大、重复性差和衬底失真。如果这些挑战得不到解决，性能问题将限制印刷传感器的商业化进程。

In recent years, printing technology has received significant interest for developing low-cost, large area electronic systems. Sensors have been one of the prominent areas of experimentation for printed electronic technology. Although the concept of printed sensors is not new, there are still significant challenges in developing high performance sensors with printed electronics technology. The key challenge is that the fabrication and performance of printed sensors depend very strongly on various fabrication parameters, such as material composition and process. Some of the other challenges are those that relate to the process throughput, trade-offs between cost and performance, large linewidth, poor reproducibility, and substrate distortion. If the challenges are not addressed, the performance issue will limit the commercial progress of printed sensors.