You are here

Flexible Electronics for Rugged, Low Power Army Systems

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Army
Contract: W911QX-08-C-0003
Agency Tracking Number: A062-061-1450
Amount: $950,000.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: A06-061
Solicitation Number: 2006.2
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2006
Award Year: 2008
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2007-12-13
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2011-08-30
Small Business Information
488 Ridgefield Rd
Shelburne, VT 05482
United States
DUNS: 145965310
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Ajay Jain
 Chief Technical Officer
 (650) 380-4763
 ajay@versatls.com
Business Contact
 George Powch
Title: President + CEO
Phone: (802) 985-4009
Email: gpowch@alum.mit.edu
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

Performance of silicon thin film transistors (TFTs) made with low temperature processes (<200°C) on flexible polymer substrates cannot meet requirements for flexible electronics in rugged, low cost Army systems of the future. For example, higher performance and/or larger flexible displays require full motion video such as streaming data from a UAV or high information content and color imagery, presenting significant challenges for the AM TFT backplane and associated electronics.. While amorphous and polycrystalline silicon TFTs can be processed with acceptable performance and yield > 300°C on glass or metal foil substrates, this is still too high for traditional plastic substrates. In Phase I, Versatilis successfully showed the feasibility of using Zinc Oxide (ZnO) as an alternative to Silicon for the active semiconductor channel in such TFT arrays. ZnO is readily available and cheap, and can be processed at low temperatures with high yields while delivering carrier mobility adequate for increased current density vs. drain voltage, with little or no threshold voltage shift vs. stress. In Phase II, Versatilis will extend this work to develop a robust, reproducible method for manufacturing ZnO based AM TFT backplanes, including integrated driver circuits, and deliver a number of such backplanes to ARL for integration with OLED frontplanes, producing a 6 in., 100 dpi flexible display demonstrator, a higher performance, lower cost alternative to silicon. The technology would be transferable to the Army’s Flex Display Center at ASU for integration into Army’s display initiative and/or licensable to commercial entities.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

US Flag An Official Website of the United States Government