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Printed electronics are considered for wireless electronic tags and sensors within the future Internet-of-things (loT) concept. As a consequence of the low charge carrier mobility of present printable organic and inorganic semiconductors, the operational frequency of printed rectifiers is not high enough to enable direct communication and powering between mobile phones and printed e-tags. Here, we report an all-printed diode operating up to 1.6 GHz. The device, based on two stacked layers of Si and NbSi2 particles, is manufactured on a flexible substrate at low temperature and in ambient atmosphere. The high charge carrier mobility of the Si microparticles allows device operation to occur in the charge injection-limited regime. The asymmetry of the oxide layers in the resulting device stack leads to rectification of tunneling current. Printed diodes were combined with antennas and electrochromic displays to form an all-printed e-tag. The harvested signal from a Global System for Mobile Communications mobile phone was used to update the display. Our findings demonstrate a new communication pathway for printed electronics within loT applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An electrochemical circuit to record time–temperature history has been realized by using the propagation of over-oxidation fronts in stripes of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiopehene) blended with poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The over-oxidation front propagation has been characterized and related to the phase change of polyethylene glycol (PEG) electrolytes. The electrolytes were chosen to have a phase transition in the temperature interval to be monitored, resulting in large conductivity variations and thereby an easily interpreted output. A demonstrator has been fabricated and shown to detect a temperature increase and a following temperature decrease. This very simple device is cheap to produce and could be used to monitor the temperature of packages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flexible approach to producing optical interconnects on 609.6 * 609.6 mm large-area panels is demonstrated. Stepwise projection patterning from 101.6 * 101.6 mm masks has generated optical waveguide patterns over the whole panel using large-area projection lithography equipment. The wave-guide routing design allows optical waveguides on different 101.6 * 101.6 mm tiles to be interconnected. Four different waveguide connecting geometries in the border region between tiles have been fabricated and tested. Multimode waveguides from inorganic-organic hybrid polymers (ORMOCER) (cross section: ≤ 50 μm * 10 μm) with refractive index step between core and cladding Δn = 0.01 were produced. The index step was adjusted by mixing two diffrent ORMOCER systems. The materials show good adhesion to numerous substrates, such as glass and silicon. Application concepts such as flexible manufacturing of optoelectrical hybrid backplanes with two-dimensional interconnect, a three-dimensional optical interconnect with optical vias, and a hybrid backplane with the optical interconnect in a strip-format on a separate plane right above the electrical plane are proposed. Promising new technologies are presented along with preliminary demonstrativ viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the potential of high-frequency produced microstrip lines, ring resonators, vias, stacked capacitors and filters as dielectric materials and processing technologies for microwave applications. Property profile of inorganic-organic hybrid materials for both dielectric and optical applications; Overview of the manufacturing of HF-test objects; Design, simulation and HF-characterization; Cost issues for manufactured devices.