Ana López Cabezas

System integration of smart packages using printed electronics

The last decade has shown enormous interest in additive and printed electronics manufacturing technologies, especially in intelligent packaging. Scientists and engineers all over the world are developing printed organic circuits. Despite their effort, the performance and yield of all-printed devices cannot replace silicon-based devices in smart package applications. Therefore, we have developed a hybrid interconnection platform to seamlessly integrate printed electronics with silicon-based electronics, close the gap between the two technologies, and to anticipate adaption of printed electronic technologies. We studied the suitability of a printed interconnection platform by fabricating a printed sensor-box that contains printed nano-Ag-interconnections on low-temperature plastic, a printable humidity sensor based on functionalized MWCNTs, a printed battery, conventional SMDs, and a silicon-based MCU.

Oven Sintering Process Optimization for Inkjet-Printed Ag Nanoparticle Ink

This paper focuses on optimizing the oven sintering time and temperature for inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle ink on a polyimide substrate. Two basic aspects in fabricating conductor structures in printable electronics are conductivity and adhesion between the ink and the substrate material. Conductivity evolution during oven sintering is monitored with real-time resistance measurements at five different temperatures. Based on conductivity results, adhesion is evaluated at several time points at three temperatures. The higher the sintering temperature, the faster the structures reach their maximum conductivity values. The lowest conductor resistivity values are below 4 μΩ· cm. However, at each sintering temperature, it takes longer to reach the best adhesion values. In this paper, we aim to better understand oven sintering of silver nanoparticles and determine the best oven sintering conditions (temperature, time) for our particular ink-substrate combination. The results can be used to further define optimum sintering conditions for printed nanoparticle inks on polymer substrates.

Ink-jet printed thin-film transistors with carbon nanotube channels shaped in long strips

The present work reports on the development of a class of sophisticated thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on ink-jet printing of pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for the channel fo ...

Influence of Carbon Nanotubes on Thermal Stability of Water-Dispersible Nanofibrillar Polyaniline/Nanotube Composite

Significant influence on the thermal stability of polyaniline (PANI) in the presence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is reported. By means of in-situ rapid mixing approach, water-dispersible nanofibrillar PANI and composites, consisting of MWCNTs uniformly coated with PANI in the state of emeraldine salt, with a well-defined core-shell heterogeneous structure, were prepared. The de-protonation process in PANI occurs at a lower temperature under the presence of MWCNTs on the polyaniline composite upon thermal treatment. However, it is found that the presence of MWCNTs significantly enhances the thermal stability of PANI’s backbone upon exposure to laser irradiation, which can be ascribed to the core-shell heterogeneous structure of the composite of MWCNTs and PANI, and the high thermal conductivity of MWCNTs.

Photo-Activated Interaction Between P3HT and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Studied by Means of Field-Effect Response

It is shown in this letter that the field-effect electrical response of transistors with their channel made of networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) embedded in a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) matrix can be significantly altered by light illumination. The experimental results indicate a photo-activated electron transfer from P3HT selectively to the semiconducting SWNTs. This finding points to a potential optoelectronic application of such a field-effect device as a photo-triggered electronic switch.