National Science Foundation CAREER award for research in microtransfer prnting area

14 November 2009

Mechanical Engineering professor Kevin Turner is working on the areas of fundamental research in Mechanical Engineering and working on microtransfer printing process. This microtransfer printing process once established could lead to many innovative and useful technologies of the furture. Some of the promising applications of the microtransfer printing are optoelectronic devices, high energy solar cells, microelectromechanical systems.

His latest work on microtransfer printing has bought the prestigious NSF CAREER award, which comes with a five-year grant of $ 4,30,000. The award is a facilitation of outstanding and creative research for new faculty members who have just begin their career.

The process is known as microtransfer printing as it prints solid material and in the process, silicone stamp is designed from micro or nanostructures from the substrate. These stamp later transfer to process and integrate with the complex devices and systems.

Ordinary devices produced on thick wafers and making these devices flexible so that these can be used in flexible display, processors etc., thin layers of silicon crystal need to be peeled from thick substrate onto the desired substrate. Although silicon is very stiff and brittle, however if the thickness of Silicon is less than 1 micron, it becomes flexible, however the current processes available are unable to move large thin layers.

Microtransfer printing is based on surface adhesion and uses Van der Waals forces to overcome the above problems and at ambient temperature, silicon allows the structure to pick up as these stamp bonds with micro or nanostructures and get adhered.

Related Posts: