Flexible glass holds promise for organic printed electronics

Technology News | April 5, 2017

By Rich Pell

Sensing / Conditioning Flexible Electronics Displays & Interfaces Wearables Energy Harvesting Materials & processes Batteries / Power Supplies Optoelectronics Medical Electronics

The Konfekt research consortium is demonstrating the first results of its work at the VISION | Flexible Glass event at Fraunhofer FEP in Dresden, Germany this week. The consortium includes the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, SCHOTT, VON ARDENNE and adhesive tape maker tesa.

The ultra-thin glass has a thickness up to 150um and is produced at Schott’s plant in Grünenplan, Germany, using a down draw process for direct hot forming where the molten glass is pulled through a nozzle in the desired thickness levels.

The key is that the glass can be used on a roll-to-roll process for low-cost, high volume manufacturing and the process is currently being further developed and optimized through mid-2018. Adhesive tape maker Tesa gives the glass its finish by laminating it with specialty adhesives and functional layers.

Using a flexible glass substrate offers a wide range of benefits in optical quality, temperature stability, chemical consistency, gas density and mechanical resistance say the researchers. This could also be used as the substrate for low cost solar cells.

“With its reputation as a leading research and development center for the processing of flexible glass, Fraunhofer FEP is in a position to gather many of the global key players within the industry, including glass manufacturers, mechanical engineers and end users,” said Dr Manuela Junghähnel, group head for flatLab at Fraunhofer FEP. “With our workshop, we have committed ourselves to further developing and expanding the network with the aim of coming up with more innovative ideas for pioneering applications in this area.”

“Printed electronics is an interesting growth market where ultra-thin special glass can represent the optimal substrate for it,” said Thomas Wiegel, application engineer for ultra-thin glass at SCHOTT, “which is why we are looking forward to giving a preview of our research results thus far. We plan to have a close-to-production prototype of glass on roll with us, which tangibly demonstrates where we are at the moment and in which direction we are planning to go forward with it.”