Purdue researchers building flexible and folding electronics
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 08/01/2008
sponsored by
Because of the efforts of some Purdue researchers, flat and bulky electronics could give way to flexible and foldable ones.
The researchers have found a way to successfully produce transistors from carbon nanotubes. The technology, referred to as "nanonets," could open up many possibilities for the future of electronics on flexible and bendable substrates.
Kaushik Roy, Roscoe H. George professor of electrical and computer engineering, said the transistors can be placed in materials like glass and plastic. Because the nanonets can be fabricated at low temperatures, there is no risk of the plastic melting. If the transistors are put on plastics, circuits can be used in flexible and foldable devices. It is "almost like a paper."
There are other advantages to the nanonets.
"What makes it also quite interesting is that it's low-cost technology," Roy said. The low-cost electronics could be put on top of devices like a skin and used to verify or test standard CMOS electronics, for example.
The nanonet technology is not as fast as some other forms of transistors, but it is lower-cost and uses less voltage. It serves a "niche market," Roy said.
Ashraf Alam, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, said one application of the technology could be on airplanes. With present technology, a person must physically go in and check for cracks on the fuselage or wings of the plane, making maintenance expensive. However, with the new technology, an electronic skin on the plane could sense cracks and notify personnel of them.
The nanonet technology involves circuits made of carbon nanotubes put in a net-like structure. To keep the network from getting short circuits, the nanonet is cut into strips.
Alam said this advancement in the research came about because of the conceptual way of thinking about electronics at Purdue, which goes from a "bottom-up" approach and is different from what has traditionally been done anywhere else. Instead of seeing the net as a jumble, the researchers account for it.
"At Purdue, we do these things in a special way," Alam said.
He said that, while it is still unclear what kind of technology will be adopted in the growing field of electronics, the nanonets are a "very exciting option.
"There is a great deal of hope that it will be important," Alam said.