2009 R&D 100 Winner
Most of the R&D in printed electronics has been toward developing functional materials such as inks. Great progress has been made in this area, but the reality of any cheap printing is that the substrate is either paper or plastic. At the temperatures required for curing or sintering functional inks, these tend to degrade or decompose. PulseForge 3100 with Pulse Thermal Processing is a solution to this problem, developed jointly by NovaCentrix, Austin, Texas, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. The process technology is based on curing technologies capable of processing high-temperature functional inks and thin-film materials on low-temperature substrates. PulseForge works through the use of high-intensity flashlamps to briefly heat inks and films to very high controlled temperatures. The high temperatures are adequate to drive off high boiling temperature solvents and unwanted components, and to facilitate sintering or annealing of the thin film. The key, however, is that the time of heating is shorter than the thermal equilibration time in the substrate such that the substrates remain unheated and unaffected. After only a few milliseconds, the curing is complete and the film is only slightly warm, far below temperature limits. PulseForge should help facilitate a new generation of flexible electronics by expanding acceptable substrates and lowering overall cost.
Technology
Process technology
Developers
NovaCentrix
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
