Electronic Stickers to Streamline the Internet of Things on a Large Scale

Electronic stickers can turn ordinary toy blocks into high-tech sensors in the Internet of Things Source: Purdue University / Chi Hwan Lee

Billions of dollars. objects ranging from smartphones to watches buildings, mechanical parts and medical devices have become wireless sensors of their environments, expanding a network called "Internet of Things".

Technology to connect all things to the Internet – even furniture and office supplies – these objects of communication and mutual meaning will have to be scaled up.

Researchers at Purdue University and the University of Virginia have developed a new manufacturing method for detaching tiny electronic circuits. The technique not only eliminates several manufacturing steps and associated costs, but also allows any object to detect its environment or be controlled by the application of a high-tech sticker.

Finally, these stickers could also facilitate wireless communication. Researchers demonstrate capabilities on various subjects in an article recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . A YouTube video is available.

"We could customize a sensor, stick it on a drone, and send the drone into dangerous areas to detect gas leaks, for example," says Chi Hwan Lee, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue.

Most of today's electronic circuits are built individually on their own "wafer" of silicon, a flat and rigid substrate. The silicon wafer can then withstand the high temperatures and chemical etching that are used to remove wafer circuits.

But high temperatures and etching damage the silicon wafer, forcing the manufacturing process to accommodate each time a completely new brochure. 19659005] Lee's new manufacturing technique, called "transfer printing", reduces manufacturing costs by using a single wafer to build an almost infinite number of thin layers containing electronic circuits. Instead of high temperatures and chemicals, the film can peel off at room temperature with the help of water.

"It's like the red paint on the painting of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge because the environment is very wet," Lee said. "Thus, in our case, submerging the wafer and completing the circuit in water significantly reduces the stress of mechanical peeling and is environmentally friendly."

A layer of ductile metal, such as nickel, inserted between the electronic film and the silicon wafer the possible peeling in the water. These thin-film electronic components can then be cut and glued on any surface, giving them electronic characteristics.

Putting a sticker on a flower pot, for example, can detect temperature changes that could affect the

Lee's lab has also shown that electronic integrated circuit components work as well before & ## 39, after being processed into a thin film peeled from a silicon wafer. Researchers used a film to turn on and turn off an LED display

"We have optimized this process so that we can peel the electronic films off the boards without flaws," said Lee.

holds a non-provisional US patent. The work was supported by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL-S-114-054-002), the National Science Foundation (NSF-CMMI-1728149) and the University of New York. Virginia. ? Click here to subscribe to free Lab Manager newsletters