Printing of Nano and Microscale Electronics and Sensors on Flexible and Rigid Substrates

Date and Time: 
Fri, 10/12/2018 - 2:00pm
Speaker: 
Professor Ahmed Busnaina
Affiliation: 
William Lincoln Smith Professor; University Distinguished Professor; Northeastern U.
Location: 

Discovery Park B155

Abstract: 

This seminar introduces a new disruptive technology that will enable the fabrication of nanoelectronics at a cost of 10-100 times less than conventional fabrication while allowing device designers the use of any organic or inorganic semiconducting, conductive or insulating material on flexible or rigid substrates. This will also include leveraging nanomaterials such as two-dimensional (2D) materials, quantum dots, nanotubes, etc. Printed electronics can significantly lower electronics and sensor costs by 10-100 times. However, most currently printed systems are at 20 micron line width and larger and utilizing mostly organic semiconductors. The new technology is enabled by directed assembly-based nanoscale printing at ambient temperature and pressure that prints 1000 faster and 1000 smaller (down to 20nm) structures than ink-jet based printing.  The technology enables a nanoscale printing platform, enabling heterogeneous integration of interconnected circuit layers (like CMOS) of printed electronics and sensors at ambient temperature and pressure. The directed assembly-based printing processes were specifically created to be scalable, sustainable and designed to enable precise and repeatable control of assembly of various nanoelements at high-rate. These efforts have resulted in over 80 patent applications (20 granted to date). CHN has created processes to print arrays of nanoparticles, conducting polymers, polymer blends, 2D materials and SWNTs into various structures including 3D architectures at multiple length scales. Printed devices include transistors, inverters, diodes, chemical and biosensors, and interconnects using a variety of nanomaterials including 2D materials.  Some of the printed applications include Nano LEDs, Print QDs for display, wearable electronics, micro wearable biosensors for detecting lactate and glucose in Sweat, chemical sensors, etc. We unveiled the world’s first Nanoscale fully-automated offset printing system (NanoOPS) prototype with built-in alignment and registration in 2014. This system is designed to print devices and products down to 20 nm or smaller.

Biography: 

Ahmed Busnaina, Ph.D. is the William Lincoln Smith Professor, University Distinguished Professor, and founding Director of National Science Foundation’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) for High-rate Nanomanufacturing at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Prior to joining Northeastern University in 2000, he was a professor and a director of the Micro contamination Control Lab at Clarkson University from 1984-2000. Dr. Busnaina is recognized for his work on nano and micro scale defects mitigation and removal in semiconductor fabrication. He also specializes in nanoscale printing of 2D and 3D structures for electronics and sensors. He developed many techniques for the directed assembly of nanomaterials for the manufacturing of nanoscale structures for energy, electronics, biomedical and materials applications. His research support exceeds $57 million. He authored more than 600 papers in journals, proceedings and conferences. He is an editor of the Microelectronic Engineering and an associate editor of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Adhesion Society, a Fulbright Senior Scholar.