Daniel J. Joe

Self-Powered Real-Time Arterial Pulse Monitoring Using Ultrathin Epidermal Piezoelectric Sensors

Continuous monitoring of an arterial pulse using a pressure sensor attached on the epidermis is an important technology for detecting the early onset of cardiovascular disease and assessing personal health status. Conventional pulse sensors have the capability of detecting human biosignals, but have significant drawbacks of power consumption issues that limit sustainable operation of wearable medical devices. Here, a self-powered piezoelectric pulse sensor is demonstrated to enable in vivo measurement of radial/carotid pulse signals in near-surface arteries. The inorganic piezoelectric sensor on an ultrathin plastic achieves conformal contact with the complex texture of the rugged skin, which allows to respond to the tiny pulse changes arising on the surface of epidermis. Experimental studies provide characteristics of the sensor with a sensitivity (≈0.018 kPa-1 ), response time (≈60 ms), and good mechanical stability. Wireless transmission of detected arterial pressure signals to a smart phone demonstrates the possibility of self-powered and real-time pulse monitoring system.

Reliable Memristive Switching Memory Devices Enabled by Densely Packed Silver Nanocone Arrays as Electric-Field Concentrators

Memristor devices based on electrochemical metallization operate through electrochemical formation/dissolution of nanoscale metallic filaments, and they are considered a promising future nonvolatile memory because of their outstanding characteristics over conventional charge-based memories. However, nanoscale conductive paths or filaments precipitated from the redox process of metallic elements are randomly formed inside oxides, resulting in unexpected and stochastic memristive switching parameters including the operating voltage and the resistance state. Here, we present the guided formation of conductive filaments in Ag nanocone/SiO2 nanomesh/Pt memristors fabricated by high-resolution nanotransfer printing. Consequently, the uniformity of the memristive switching behavior is significantly improved by the existence of electric-field concentrator arrays consisting of Ag nanocones embedded in SiO2 nanomesh structures. This selective and controlled filament growth was experimentally supported by analyzing simultaneously the surface morphology and current-mapping results using conductive atomic force microscopy. Moreover, stable multilevel switching operations with four discrete conduction states were achieved by the nanopatterned memristor device, demonstrating its potential in high-density nanoscale memory devices.

Laser–Material Interactions for Flexible Applications

The use of lasers for industrial, scientific, and medical applications has received an enormous amount of attention due to the advantageous ability of precise parameter control for heat transfer. Laser-beam-induced photothermal heating and reactions can modify nanomaterials such as nanoparticles, nanowires, and two-dimensional materials including graphene, in a controlled manner. There have been numerous efforts to incorporate lasers into advanced electronic processing, especially for inorganic-based flexible electronics. In order to resolve temperature issues with plastic substrates, laser-material processing has been adopted for various applications in flexible electronics including energy devices, processors, displays, and other peripheral electronic components. Here, recent advances in laser-material interactions for inorganic-based flexible applications with regard to both materials and processes are presented.

Simultaneous Roll Transfer and Interconnection of Flexible Silicon NAND Flash Memory.

Ultrathin silicon-based flexible 16 × 16 NAND flash memory (f-NAND) is demonstrated utilizing roll-to-plate packaging. The roll-based thermo-compression bonding of the anisotropic conductive film (ACF) transfers and simultaneously interconnects the f-NAND on a flexible printed circuit board. Reliable circuitry operation of the 16 × 16 f-NAND is confirmed with excellent flexibility and stable ACF interconnections.

Flash-Induced Stretchable Cu Conductor via Multiscale-Interfacial Couplings

Abstract Herein, a novel stretchable Cu conductor with excellent conductivity and stretchability is reported via the flash‐induced multiscale tuning of Cu and an elastomer interface. Microscale randomly wrinkled Cu (amplitude of ≈5 µm and wavelength of ≈45 µm) is formed on a polymer substrate through a single pulse of a millisecond flash light, enabling the elongation of Cu to exceed 20% regardless of the stretching direction. The nanoscale interlocked interface between the Cu nanoparticles (NPs) and the elastomer increases the adhesion force of Cu, which contributes to a significant improvement of the Cu stability and stretchability under harsh yielding stress. Simultaneously, the flash‐induced photoreduction of CuO NPs and subsequent Cu NP welding lead to outstanding conductivity (≈37 kS cm−1) of the buckled elastic electrode. The 3D structure of randomly wrinkled Cu is modeled by finite element analysis simulations to show that the flash‐activated stretchable Cu conductors can endure strain over 20% in all directions. Finally, the wrinkled Cu is utilized for wireless near‐field communication on the skin of human wrist.

ACF-packaged ultrathin Si-based flexible NAND flash memory

In this paper, we demonstrate an ACF-packaged ultrathin Si-based flexible NAND flash memory by adopting a simple method, without using a conventional transfer process. By gently etching the bottom sacrificial silicon of the SOI wafer, flip-chip bonded devices were sufficiently thinned down (roughly to 1 μm) to fabricate highly flexible, fully packaged Si-based NAND flash memory, without any cracks or wrinkles. The work presented here suggests a useful methodology to realize various high-performance, fully packaged Si-based flexible LSI devices.