Toward Manufacturing Low-Cost, Large-Area Electronics

Developments originally targeted toward economical manufacturing of telecommunications products have planted the seeds for new opportunities such as low-cost, large-area electronics based on printing technologies. Organic-based materials systems for printed wiring board (PWB) construction have opened up unique opportunities for materials research in the fabrication of modular electronic systems. The realization of successful consumer products has been driven by materials developments that expand PWB functionality through embedded passive components, novel MEMS structures (e.g., meso-MEMS, in which the PWB-based structures are at the milliscale instead of the microscale), and microfluidics within the PWB. Furthermore, materials research is opening up a new world of printed electronics technology, where active devices are being realized through the convergence of printing technologies and microelectronics.