INSTRUMENTATION • ELECTRONICS
ELECTRONICS I
SPARKING INNOVATION
Graphene innovation in Finland is leading the way in emerging applications
n Finland, PhD graduates are welcomed to wear a ceremonial top hat and sword for their graduation. T is unusual tradition is just one of the country’s
curious quirks. For instance, did you know there are more saunas than cars in Finland? What’s also lesser known is Finland’s
extensive contribution to graphene research through European project, the Graphene Flagship. Starting from the joint interest of Nokia and Finnish research institutes, soon after the experimental discovery of graphene and related materials (GRM) in 2004, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) began developing its research in this area and now plays a vital role in the Graphene Flagship. VTT provides a shining example of
incredible scientifi c research currently occurring in the Nordics. Headquartered in Espoo, Finland, VTT describes its research centre as a ‘sweet spot for innovation’ with a vision to change companies and wider society through new science-based innovations. VTT’s interest in graphene sparked
from discovering the potential of this new 2D material in sensing applications and has always had a strong focus on scalable production methods; after attempting to produce wafer-scale monolayer graphene by transfer printing from layered graphite, they established in-house chemical vapour disposition (CVD) in 2010 and began to work with printed GRMs. Since then, the centre’s interest in graphene has blossomed and paved new opportunities to explore other potential
VTT Technical Research Centre
application fi elds for 2D materials, especially those where VTT already has strong levels of expertise. One of the most important application areas for graphene at VTT is biosensors – devices that measure biological or chemical reactions by quantifying an electrical response.
WHY USE GRAPHENE? Graphene has several advantages to enable the emergence of point of care (POC) and point of application (POA) electrical quantitative biosensors, both for the professional use in the healthcare and food industries, and for home appliances such as medication feedback and health hacking. T e chemical stability and high sensitivity of graphene, together with the easy integration with CMOS – complementary metal-oxide semiconductor – readout to enable statistics and biological multiplexing, can dramatically improve both the cost structure and the accuracy of the data collected by the biosensors. VTT has recently demonstrated CMOS integrated graphene FET biosensor
matrices and aims to develop the concept to be applied with their biosensor cloud interface in order to demonstrate its compatibility with home diagnostics. In this area, VTT combines its expertise on material science, IC design, protein- and antibody engineering and biosensor system integration. T e other strong application areas
of VTT where CVD graphene and 2D semiconductors are applied are in THz and infrared detectors, hyperspectral imaging, integrated photonics and quantum technologies. VTT also provides graphene integration services for companies and universities in Europe and globally, from initial device and product development to small- and medium-scale production. T e substrate independence of 2D materials have also piqued the interest of VTT researchers working in the fi eld of fl exible electronics. T e combination of high conductivity graphene with excellent RF performance and 2D semiconductors allowing logic operations, pave the way for large area sensor multiplexing and future wireless communications on fl exible platforms, including body area network (BAN), and at the other end, neuromorphic computing.
LATEST APPLICATIONS
Considering these emerging applications, many of the devices need thin fi lm transistors that are distributed over large areas. T e commonly used silicon-based IC chips need to be integrated as separate elements, which is not always the best option, and fl exible 3D semiconductors require relatively high temperature processes. Here VTT aims to develop heterogeneous solutions based on large area 2D materials, carbon nanotubes and printed metal-oxide materials. VTT can collaborate with commercial
clients from the material development process to production scale-up and system integration, making graphene- enabled fl exible electronics a potentially fruitful area for manufacturers in the electronics space.
Graphene has several benefi ts for electronics applications
www.engineerlive.com 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
