David Savastano, Editor10.03.11
The field of printed electronics is clearly evolving, and it is interesting to hear the perspective of people who have long been involved in the field. From time to time, Printed Electronics Now will interview some of the leaders in the field, and present their viewpoints.
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This week, we spoke with Professor Vivek Subramanian, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Subramanian received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1994, and his masters and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1996 and 1998, respectively.
Dr. Subramanian co-founded Matrix Semiconductor, Inc. in 1998. He joined the EECS faculty in 2000, and is also a founding technical advisor of Kovio, Inc. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 research publications and patents.
Dr. Subramanian is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and has served on the technical committee for the Device Research Conference, the technical and executive committees for the International Electron Device Meeting and the scientific committee for the Large-Area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C). In 2002, he was nominated to Technology Review's list of top 100 young innovators (the TR100). In 2003, he was nominated to the National Academy of Engineering's "Frontiers of Engineering,” and was awarded a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (CAREER). He received the EE Department Outstanding Teaching Award in 2006.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry changed since you first joined the field, and what are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: I first started in the field of printed electronics in 2000 when I joined Berkeley, and I have seen several changes. On the application side, a great deal of the hype has disappeared. People are becoming more realistic about what printed electronics is ideal for, and you can see that by what companies are proposing right now.
The other really big factor is on the materials side, as it is now possible to get robust material sets in pilot scale quantities. When I first started in printed electronics, we needed to produce all of our materials in house. Now we get much of what we need from vendors. The materials are now much more reliable and robust, and we can see that the supply chain is now falling into place.
There has been a lot of research into understanding how morphology and stability impact performance, as well as the impact of interfaces, such as between semiconductors and dielectric layers. The printed electronics industry needs to provide the full material solution. This is similar to what happened 20 to 30 years ago in the silicon industry, where equipment companies moved from merely providing equipment to also providing baseline process recipes. The same thing needs to happen in printed electronics - if you use a certain material and process, then a certain result should happen. We need the tools to better integrate within the supply chain, and there is still a lot of integration that needs to happen.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: There are three major technical hurdles that need to be overcome. First, I don’t think that the materials sets are complete yet. We need to better integrate semiconductors, dielectrics and conductors. The printed transistors made in my lab are among the fastest anyone makes today, but the way we get there is through a combination of commercially available and homemade processes.
The second hurdle is the necessity of improving our tools and process technologies. The vast majority of work is being done through a cookie cutter approach, and essentially, we are giving away performance. The industry needs a significant investment into tools, as scale-up remains a challenge. People are developing potential applications and products, but the cost of the individual pieces that companies want isn’t matching the volume yet, and the pathway is not clear.
The third area is related to applications. We need to realize that there is no single “killer app.” There will be multiple applications, some of which we haven’t even thought of yet. We need to identify and research these applications and work on them, and identify the best areas for the technology. We haven’t been able to define that sweet spot yet. Ultimately, we need to find the applications that can sustain the drive for the technology.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: I think there is a tremendous opportunity for printed electronics right now, as the deployment of smart phones has provided a ubiquitous computational device as well as a gateway to the cloud. Right now, Google and others use cell phones to determine traffic patterns, thus using cell phones as a representative of the physical world. Also, by using “bump,” cell phones have the unique ability to transform their information to another cell phone via cloud-based database. These capabilities have the potential to enable a unique deployment opportunity for printed electronics.
The next interaction is connecting to the physical world. New applications are coming - near field communication (NFC) is going to happen. Cellphones will be a gateway to the physical world, as they will be able to read sensors on pharmaceuticals or food, as just one example. This is an area that is perfect for printed electronics, which will be able to integrate technologies into a low-cost platform. The beauty of NFC is that you can develop hybrid systems, such as using a silicon chip in combination with printed sensors, and it’s not just a cost play.
Thus, we see that the ubiquity of smart phone is likely to rapidly open up a host of new and very attractive applications for printed electronics.
Printed Electronics Now: How is the University of California – Berkeley helping to advance the field?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: We are committed to the SWARM lab at UC Berkeley, which will develop the hardware, software and system components to exploit the upcoming convergence of smart phones, the cloud and the physical world. We have hired new faculty, and have substantial expertise in electrical engineering and other key sciences. The Swarm lab is addressing printed electronics at all levels, including materials, tools, processes and the entire system. Thus, through this lab, we hope to change the way these systems are used and help develop the entire supply chain by providing innovations in all required strata of technology.
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Dr. Subramanian co-founded Matrix Semiconductor, Inc. in 1998. He joined the EECS faculty in 2000, and is also a founding technical advisor of Kovio, Inc. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 research publications and patents.
Dr. Subramanian is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and has served on the technical committee for the Device Research Conference, the technical and executive committees for the International Electron Device Meeting and the scientific committee for the Large-Area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C). In 2002, he was nominated to Technology Review's list of top 100 young innovators (the TR100). In 2003, he was nominated to the National Academy of Engineering's "Frontiers of Engineering,” and was awarded a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (CAREER). He received the EE Department Outstanding Teaching Award in 2006.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry changed since you first joined the field, and what are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: I first started in the field of printed electronics in 2000 when I joined Berkeley, and I have seen several changes. On the application side, a great deal of the hype has disappeared. People are becoming more realistic about what printed electronics is ideal for, and you can see that by what companies are proposing right now.
The other really big factor is on the materials side, as it is now possible to get robust material sets in pilot scale quantities. When I first started in printed electronics, we needed to produce all of our materials in house. Now we get much of what we need from vendors. The materials are now much more reliable and robust, and we can see that the supply chain is now falling into place.
There has been a lot of research into understanding how morphology and stability impact performance, as well as the impact of interfaces, such as between semiconductors and dielectric layers. The printed electronics industry needs to provide the full material solution. This is similar to what happened 20 to 30 years ago in the silicon industry, where equipment companies moved from merely providing equipment to also providing baseline process recipes. The same thing needs to happen in printed electronics - if you use a certain material and process, then a certain result should happen. We need the tools to better integrate within the supply chain, and there is still a lot of integration that needs to happen.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: There are three major technical hurdles that need to be overcome. First, I don’t think that the materials sets are complete yet. We need to better integrate semiconductors, dielectrics and conductors. The printed transistors made in my lab are among the fastest anyone makes today, but the way we get there is through a combination of commercially available and homemade processes.
The second hurdle is the necessity of improving our tools and process technologies. The vast majority of work is being done through a cookie cutter approach, and essentially, we are giving away performance. The industry needs a significant investment into tools, as scale-up remains a challenge. People are developing potential applications and products, but the cost of the individual pieces that companies want isn’t matching the volume yet, and the pathway is not clear.
The third area is related to applications. We need to realize that there is no single “killer app.” There will be multiple applications, some of which we haven’t even thought of yet. We need to identify and research these applications and work on them, and identify the best areas for the technology. We haven’t been able to define that sweet spot yet. Ultimately, we need to find the applications that can sustain the drive for the technology.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: I think there is a tremendous opportunity for printed electronics right now, as the deployment of smart phones has provided a ubiquitous computational device as well as a gateway to the cloud. Right now, Google and others use cell phones to determine traffic patterns, thus using cell phones as a representative of the physical world. Also, by using “bump,” cell phones have the unique ability to transform their information to another cell phone via cloud-based database. These capabilities have the potential to enable a unique deployment opportunity for printed electronics.
The next interaction is connecting to the physical world. New applications are coming - near field communication (NFC) is going to happen. Cellphones will be a gateway to the physical world, as they will be able to read sensors on pharmaceuticals or food, as just one example. This is an area that is perfect for printed electronics, which will be able to integrate technologies into a low-cost platform. The beauty of NFC is that you can develop hybrid systems, such as using a silicon chip in combination with printed sensors, and it’s not just a cost play.
Thus, we see that the ubiquity of smart phone is likely to rapidly open up a host of new and very attractive applications for printed electronics.
Printed Electronics Now: How is the University of California – Berkeley helping to advance the field?
Dr. Vivek Subramanian: We are committed to the SWARM lab at UC Berkeley, which will develop the hardware, software and system components to exploit the upcoming convergence of smart phones, the cloud and the physical world. We have hired new faculty, and have substantial expertise in electrical engineering and other key sciences. The Swarm lab is addressing printed electronics at all levels, including materials, tools, processes and the entire system. Thus, through this lab, we hope to change the way these systems are used and help develop the entire supply chain by providing innovations in all required strata of technology.