PFI-TT: Development of a Bubble Printer for Low-cost, Rapid Fabrication of High-Resolution Displays

PFI-TT：开发用于低成本、快速制造高分辨率显示器的气泡打印机

• 批准号: 2140985
• 负责人: Yuebing Zheng
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-15 至 2025-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140985&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; TT; Development; Bubble; Printer

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to develop a novel printer that will enable low-cost, rapid fabrication of high-resolution display panels. Such displays are critical for many emerging applications such as virtual reality and augmented reality, which can be used for surgical training, military training, and virtual tourism. Currently, the high cost of display fabrication limits wide implementation. The proposed bubble printer is expected to overcome the cost and resolution barriers for the large-scale implementation of the high-resolution displays. The proposed project will create jobs at various levels in research, development, sales, and marketing and help establish collaborations among industry and academia. The project will expose engineering students to entrepreneurship through hands-on experiences with market research, end-customer validation, and cost analysis of displays. Students from underrepresented groups are encouraged to participate in entrepreneurship, research, and development. The proposed project will tackle the high cost of fabricating high-resolution displays, which is associated with enhancing the brightness and contrast while reducing the pixel size of the displays. With the proposed bubble printing, a proprietary lithography technique will be used for high-resolution patterning of light-emitting materials into small pixels. Pixel emission characteristics will be enhanced by plasmonic interactions between the substrates and the active layers. Upon completion of the project, the team expects to achieve a 100-fold increase in patterning area at a laser-scanning speed of 1000 mm/s (a 10-fold increase) by studying high-speed Marangoni flows and achieving stabilization of bubbles through use of surfactant molecules. To increase the versatility of bubble printing on different substrates, both continuous wave and femtosecond lasers will be utilized for bubble generation and patterning. A stand-alone bubble printer will demonstrate its integrability into current display manufacturing production lines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这种创新合作伙伴关系的更广泛的影响/商业潜力 - 技术翻译（PFI-TT）项目是开发一种新颖的打印机，该打印机将实现低成本，快速制造高分辨率显示面板。此类展示对于许多新兴应用（例如虚拟现实和增强现实）至关重要，这些应用程序可用于外科培训，军事训练和虚拟旅游业。目前，显示制造成本的高成本限制了广泛的实施。拟议的泡沫打印机有望克服高分辨率显示器大规模实施的成本和解决障碍。拟议的项目将在研究，开发，销售和市场营销方面的各个层面创造工作，并帮助在行业和学术界建立合作。该项目将通过对市场研究，最终客户验证和展示成本分析的动手经验来使工程专业的学生实现企业家精神。鼓励来自代表性不足的团体的学生参加企业家精神，研究和发展。拟议的项目将解决制造高分辨率显示器的高成本，这与增强亮度和对比度有关，同时减小显示器的像素尺寸。借助拟议的气泡打印，专有光刻技术将用于将光发射材料的高分辨率模式化成小像素。像素发射特性将通过底物与活性层之间的等离子相互作用来增强。该项目完成后，团队预计，通过研究高速Marangoni流并通过使用表面活性剂分子来实现气泡的稳定，以1000 mm/s的激光扫描速度增长了100倍（增加10倍）。为了增加不同底物上气泡打印的多功能性，连续波和飞秒激光器都将用于气泡产生和图案。独立的泡沫打印机将证明其与当前显示制造生产线的一致性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。