TUTORIALS
CHAIRS
Moustafa Nawito (International University of Applied Sciences and Polymath Analog, DE)
ABSTRACT
Since the invention of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in the late 1980s, interest in organic materials has increased sharply. The ability to create large-area and mechanically flexible electronics with cost-effective manufacturing processes was attractive to many fields, such as the automotive and lighting industries. With the development of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and organic photovoltaic cells (OPVCs), the range of potential applications expanded, to include smart buildings, biomedical implants, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to name a few. On the other hand, important developments in traditional (inorganic) electronics took place. Advancements in thin-film devices, integration of hybrid systems on foils (HySiF), post processing of wafers and introduction of new materials paved the way for building mechanically flexible electronic systems based on silicon. This tutorial introduces the large and interdisciplinary field of flexible electronics. The first part presents the fundamentals, including definitions, semiconductor types, devices and others. In the second part the focus lies on materials, and manufacturing processes for thin film transistors. The third part is dedicated to an overview on different organic thin-film transistors and a critical assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the combination of CMOS and thin electronics in HySiF format are addressed.
PROGRAM
9:30 - 10:15
Fundamentals of Flexible Electronics: Types of Semiconductors, Classifications, Applications
Moustafa Nawito (International University of Applied Sciences and Polymath Analog, DE)
This lecture will serve as an introduction to the field of flexible electronics. First of the fundamental characteristics of inorganic semiconductors and their use in traditional (bulk) electronics will be briefly reviewed. This is followed by an on overview of the different types of flexible electronics, highlighting the different technologies for realization. The focus will lie on the properties of the material and circuitry, bothe electrical and mechanical. Finally, the various application fields of flexible electronics will be presented, highlighting the suitability of each type and the maturity of the technology.
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10:15 - 11:00
Materials and Manufacturing of Thin Film Electronic Devices: TFTs, Memristors, Logic Gates
Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, DE)
Flexible and printed electronics allows for seamless, unobtrusive integration of sensing functionalities within non-conformal components and objects. Next to integrated new functionalities novel applications in the wearables, security and automotive sector arise. We will review in this tutorial the main inorganic materials used to fabricate metal oxide thin film transistors. Besides the materials, we will discuss ink development, e.g. precursor and nanoparticle inks, as well as suitable additive manufacturing processes including (super)-inkjet, laser structuring and microplotting. Special emphasis is put on the concept of electrolyte gated transistors, digital and analog resistive switching elements (memristors) as well as basic circuitry such as logic gates, oscillators and primitive security circuits. Finally, the electrical characteristics of printed electronic devices will be put into perspective and will be discussed for suitable applications such as near sensor computing, leightweight identification and biosensors.​​​​​​
11:00 - 11:30
Coffee break
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11:30 - 12:15
Strengths and Limits of Organic Transistors: Field-Effect Transistors, Electrochemical Transistors, Modeling
Björn Lüssem (University of Bremen, DE)
​Organic Transistors are flexible, lightweight, and can be made bio-compatible, which has led to their designation as an ‘imperceptible’ technology [Nature 499, 458–463 (2013)]. Various organic transistor designs were proposed in the past, from the organic field effect transistor, the organic bipolar transistor, to organic electrochemical transistors. Here, the different organic transistor technologies will be presented and their operation will be shortly discussed. Current limitations, in particular for organic field-effect transistors are discussed and an outlook on further improvements are given. An additional emphasis is put on organic electrochemical transistors, which showed an impressive research trajectory during the last decade and are nowadays becoming a serious competitor to other (bio-)electronic sensors. Finally, a short outlook on first integrated flexible organic systems is provided, showcasing the maturity of the technology.
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12:15 - 13:00
Combination of CMOS and Flexible Electronics in Hybrid Systems: HySiF Components, Chipfilm & Sensor Integration, Sensor Readout for Ultra Thin Chips)
Mourad Elsobky (Robert Bosch GmbH, DE)
This talk will cover the design, fabrication and characterization of hybrid systems in foil (HySif). Such systems typically combine a set of flexible electronic components, such as on-foil sensors, organic thin-film transistors and ultra-thin chips on a flexible surface. The talk will good through examples and manufacturing methods showing how to combine high-performance integrated circuits with large-area electronic components on a single polymeric foil.
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13:00 - 14:00
Lunch
BIOSKETCHES
Moustafa Nawito (Chair)
Moustafa Nawito is full professor and dean of the Faculty of IT & Technology at the IU International University of Applied Sciences. He is also the founder and CEO of the fabless chip design house Polymath Analog in Stuttgart, Germany. He attained his Dr.-Ing. in Microelectronics from Stuttgart University in Germany. In 2008 he was appointed as technical director of the research center for digital broadcasting at GUC in cooperation with Fraunhofer Institute IIS in Erlangen Germany. In 2009 he cofounded the “Center for Artificial Intelligence” in Cairo Egypt. In 2010 he joined the Institut für Mikroelektronik Stuttgart IMS CHIPS as a senior ASIC designer and was responsible for developing circuits for camera systems, industrial sensors and biomedical intelligent implants for Bosch, Daimler, and other industrial clients. Prof. Nawito is the author of several publications, including the textbook "CMOS Readout Chips for Implantable Multimodal Smart Biosensors (Springer)". His research interests include the design of low power data converters, high precision sensors and organic and implantable electronics. He is a senior member of IEEE, VDE, OE-A and other technical societies and associations. He is the chair of the IEEE SSCS chapter and secretary of the IEEE CAS chapter in Germany.
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Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann
Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann is a full professor at the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. She received her diploma in physics from RWTH Aachen and PhD from KIT, Karlsruhe. She has spent several years in R&D in the semiconductor industry (Infineon Technologies, Intel) developing advanced CMOS nodes. Her research interests are solution processible materials, 2D and 3D functional printing as well as thin film electronic devices and circuits. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, filed several patents on thin film transistors and serves in various national and international boards including topic speaker in the Helmholtz Research Program “Materials System Engineering”, member of the Helmholtz presidential think tank, principle investigator in the German excellence cluster 3DMM2O, member of the executive editorial boards of Journal of Flexible and Printed Electronics (IOPScience), the IEEE Journal of Flexible Electronics (J-FLEX) and member of the Electron Device Society Technical Committee “Flexible Electronics and Displays”.
Mourad Elsobky
Mourad Elsobky (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. degree in Information Engineering and Technology from the GUC, Cairo, Egypt, in 2014, and the M.Sc. degree in Communications Technology from Ulm University, Germany, in 2015. In 2021, he received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, while being a Researcher with IMS CHIPS, Germany where his research focused on Hybrid Systems-in-Foil. Since 2020, he has been with Mobility Electronics, Robert Bosch GmbH, Reutlingen, Germany. He is the analog lead for IMU ASIC development. Mourad authored or co-authored 3 scientific books, several papers, and patents in the field of flexible electronics and inertial sensor systems.
Björn Lüssem
Björn Lüssem is Professor at the Institute of Microsensors, -actuators, and -systems (IMSAS) at the University of Bremen, Germany. Before joining the University of Bremen in 2021, he was a project leader at Materials Science Laboratory of Sony in Stuttgart (2006-2008), group leader at the Institut für Angewandte Photophysik (IAPP), TU Dresden (2008-2013), and Assistant/Associate Professor at the Kent State University in Ohio/USA (2014-2021). Dr. Lüssem authored more than 150 publications in international journals (h-index 46). His research interests range from new design principles of organic devices, to charge transport in organic semiconductors and novel organic semiconductors with improved performance. His work has been awarded the VDE-Promotionspreis and the Günther-Leibfried-Preis.