Transparent Electronics: From Materials & Devices to Devices & Systems

Welcome to the Web-Pages of the ERASMUS – IP Programme

“Transparent Electronics: From Materials & Devices to Devices & Systems

Seven Universities and Higher Education Institutions from six European countries with strong activities in the field of electronics devices and circuits based on transparent and flexible materials consists a consortium to organize this IP-ERASMUS Summer School
Professors, scientists and researchers from these Institutions will offer to their students a unique opportunity to be together in Chania, the beautiful city in Western Crete and in a multinational and multicultural environment to attend a course in the very promoting area of transparent electronics.
I would like to welcome you in our website and I am remaining to meet you in Chania next July for this very important event.
The Target group of TRANSELECT ERASMUS-IP are a: undergraduate students from Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Material Science and Electrical Engineering and b: postgraduate students that have just started their research in the field of transparent electronics.
Students from the participating Institutions (up to 5 per Institution) will get a grant from ERASMUS Program but any student interesting on this field is welcomed
As the coordinator of the hosting Institution I would like to express my warmest thanks to my colleagues, Elvira, Thomas, George, Marcus, Stefan, Kostas and George who coordinate the program on behalf of their Institutions, and Popi and my students for their invaluable help for the organization of this Program.
I have also thank the European Lifelong Learning Programme, the National Greek Agency (IKY), T.E.I. of Crete and our Sponsors for their financial support

Prof. Yiannis Kaliakatsos
Deputy President of TEI Crete Council
Coordinator of TRANSELECT-IP
  
http://transelect.chania.teicrete.gr/

Using Nanotechnology to Improve Air Quality

To view these, you must enable the options "Subtitles" and "on / off annotations», on the toolbar at the bottom right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oaleZS63m10

TCM 2012: 4th symposium on transparent conductive materials

Zoom

Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in interest in research and applications for transparent conductive materials (TCMs). Whether work is focused on optimization or even replacement in some cases of material platforms such as ITO, or the realization of a variety of cutting-edge applications in the fields of, among others, solar cells, sensors, electrochromic, thermochromic and smart windows, architectural coatings as well as in display technologies, innovative TCMs are regarded as the main candidates for the forthcoming "post-Si" electronics era. Following three successful prior events, the 4th instalment of the conference, TCM2012 took place in Crete in October 21-26, 2012. Over the course of the event, 300 attendees gathered and attended seminars, workshops and high quality presentations and poster sessions highlighting worldwide activities on the topic.

Titania: a truly versatile material

One of the most interesting points highlighted in the event was the tremendous interest in the properties of titanium oxide (TiO2, also known as titania). With a large range of applications, from paint to sunscreen or even food colouring, it is also used in several electronics applications. Some examples include:

•  It is the main nano-material choice in dye sensitized solar cells; sintered titania nanoparticles have been extensively used in these third generation photovoltaic technologies, forming the network of particles through which charge carriers are transported to the solar cell's electrodes.
• The fabrication of a microfluidics cholesterol sensor based on nanocrystalline anatase-titanium dioxide film deposited onto indium tin oxide glass has been demonstrated.

During the TCM 2012 conference, several other uses of titania were highlighted, including research that demonstrated how the use of titania nanoparticles in wet-processed ITO optimized performance and increased conductivity until a specific level of titania loading after which, the effect diminished. All that because nanoparticles of titania can fill the gaps between ITO nanoparticles and thus, optimize conductivity paths.

The importance of titania in photocatalysis was also discussed at the conference , with invited talks discussing how modified titanium oxide coatings can be utilized for photocatalytic applications of seld-cleaning devices and how many of the photocatalysts currently being developed utilize TiO2 as a key compound. With uses that could be applied in the disinfection of water, oxidation of organic comtaminants, self-cleaning surfaces where free radicals oxidize organic matter or even the decomposition of crude oil, we are bound to see the utilization of titanium oxide dramatically increase over the next few years, especially since it's also a very low cost material that's readily available. As a matter of fact, specialist chemicals and materials will reach over $50 billion in 2023 and titanium compounds are in the list of the most commonly used chemicals in the electronics industry, as described in the IDTechEx report "Most-Needed Chemicals for New Disruptive Electronics and Electrics" (www.idtechex.com/chemicals).

 

Commercialization considerations

The conference also included an afternoon of sessions on commercialization efforts and the status of different TCMs being developed not just in academic research institutes but also in company research programmes. Applied Materials for instance talked at the event, discussing their work on IGZO thin film transistors and how interface engineering between semiconductor and dielectric layers is critical, more than 70% of research effort.

Clark Bright with 3M also discussed his company's advances in the field of transparent conductors and highlighted the work on 3M's patented stack for increased transparency : ITO stacked with polymer SiO2 layers giving as a result an increase in transparency, lower reflectance and better sheet resistance. Mr Bright also commented on an interesting difference between current directions in the electronics industry and academia According to him, industry seems more focused on metal nano-structures and continuous metal films rather than graphene, carbon nanotubes or polymer TCs which are still at research stage and are attracting a lot of attention in academic research facilities. The most obvious reason for this differentiation of focus is the fact that metal nanostructures and metal films are currently better understood and closer to successful commercialization whereas other material systems need more basic research before being successfully transferred into commercial applications.

 

For more information on the topics of transparent conductive materials, attend IDTechEx's Printed Electronics USA 2012 in Santa Clara, CA, the biggest event in the world on the topic of printed electronics and allied technologies. For more information on the event, please visit www.idtechex.com/peUSA

Metal oxides: building blocks for future nanoelectronics

Metal oxides: building blocks for future nanoelectronics

We human beings breathe oxygen to live. But oxygen is also part of a class of materials - transition metal oxides - which have excited academics and industry alike. Little is understood of their properties. EU-funded researchers, led by Trinity College Dublin, are keen to change that. The team has developed modelling tools for investigating the behaviour of potential micro- and nanoelectronic devices using transition metal oxides.

©  Edelweiss - Fotolia.com

Described as outstanding building materials for future nanoelectronics, transition metal oxides possess a number of fascinating properties, including one overriding quality called ‘colossal magneto-resistance’ where the resistance changes in a magnetic field. In some of them – a class of multiferroic oxides – the path of electrical currents passing through an object can be altered by introducing an external magnetic field.

Developments in this field pave the way for countless practical applications, from new signalling operations in multifunctional devices to new memory sources in ultra-powerful computers, and devices that never lose your data.

“Despite the huge amount of work already accomplished in this field, a deep and complete understanding of these materials and their interfaces is still lacking,” says Professor Stefano Sanvito of Trinity College Dublin’s School of Physics and the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices. He led a joint research programme – the Athena project – between European and Indian scientists which focused on advanced theories for functional oxides and new routes to handle the devices of the future.

This gap in understanding is due both to the complexity inherent in the physics of strong-correlated electrons, he explains, and “an unquestionable lack of coordinated effort devoted to share, integrate and develop the most advanced and powerful computational techniques available”.

Athena set out to close the gap by fostering collaboration between experts in Austria, Italy, Ireland and India who pursued the most advanced methodologies for the theoretical study of strongly correlated phenomena in transition metal oxides.

But magneto-resistance is by no means a new field. In 1856, Irish inventor Lord Kelvin came up with the principle of ordinary magneto-resistance (OMR). The physics community built on Kelvin’s OMR foundations and eventually derived the classification for so-called ‘colossal magneto-resistance’ (CMR), which describes the ability of metals, such as perovskite oxide, to alter the resistance on a massive scale.

It was not until the end of the 20th century that this technology began to live up to its potential with new applications opening up in solid-state devices. In other words, the circuits and parts in devices like a smartphone are built from solid materials, and the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within these materials.

European leaderships results in new models

The exciting and relatively new (emerging in the 1990s) field of ‘spintronics’, for example, exploits both the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated ‘magnetic moment’ plus its fundamental electronic charge in solid-state devices. The Athena project has now built models explaining the underlying behaviour of metal-insulator phase changes and magneto-electronic interplay.

The branches of physics involved are intensely complex, which is why the Athena partners joined forces in the first place. Together, they have been able to tackle, by first principles, key functions and correlations of metal oxides as viable building blocks for better, faster and more reliable future micro- and nanoelectronic devices.

Thanks to the exchanges between students and experts from Europe and India, Athena has performed ground-breaking work on new oxide materials and their interfaces which, according to Prof. Sanvito, will have a tremendous impact on academic and industrial research.

“Our team has developed parameter-free modelling tools for investigating the behaviour of systems and devices using transition metal oxides. These solve directly the equations of quantum mechanics, allowing us to understand the properties of existing materials and predict those of new ones.” 

http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?id=/research/headlines/news/article_13_06_11_en.html&item=Infocentre&artid=30333

Transparent Conductive Materials Group

The Transparent Conductive Materials and Devices Group is composed by members of the Physics Department of the University of Crete and researchers from the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser of the Foundation of Research and Technology.

The research interests:

Development and synthesis of New Metal Oxides Nanomaterials (for Sensing, Optical, Photovoltaic, Optoelectronics, Electronic, PhotoCatalytic and Biomedical applications).

       Development of New type Gas Sensors for environmental monitoring.

•        Synthesis of New Photo-Catalysts which can effectively degraded outdoor and indoor pollutants utilizing UV and Visible light.

•        Development of n- and p-type Metal Oxides of TCOs and ASOs

•        Transparent Thin Films Transistors (TFTs) for transparent Electronics

•         Flexible Electronics on PET, PEN substrate

•         Development of Electrochromic materials and devices

•         Hydrophilic / Hydrophobic self cleaning surfaces for House – hold applications

Gas Sensing

• Reducing Gas Molecules (e.g. CO, H₂, CH₄, ethanol, propane)

• Oxidising Gas Molecules (e.g. NO₂, O₃, SO₂, Cl₂,

Photo-Catalyst and Photo-Catalysis

• Degradation of Dye’s

• Degradation of inorganic compounds (NO_x, SO_x, ….) and Volatile Organic Compounds, VOCs (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene…

Assoc. Prof. George Kiriakidis

Head of Transparent Conductive Materials

kiriakid@iesl.forth.gr

Dr. Vassilios Binas

Transparent Conductive Materials

binasbill@iesl.forth.gr

http://tcm.iesl.forth.gr