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.

该创新合作伙伴关系 - 技术翻译 (PFI-TT) 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种新型打印机，能够实现低成本、快速制造高分辨率显示面板。此类显示器对于虚拟现实和增强现实等许多新兴应用至关重要，可用于外科手术训练、军事训练和虚拟旅游。目前，显示器制造的高成本限制了广泛的实施。所提出的气泡打印机有望克服大规模实施高分辨率显示器的成本和分辨率障碍。拟议的项目将在研究、开发、销售和营销等各个层面创造就业机会，并帮助建立工业界和学术界之间的合作。该项目将通过市场研究、最终客户验证和显示器成本分析的实践经验，让工程专业的学生接触创业精神。鼓励来自弱势群体的学生参与创业、研究和开发。拟议的项目将解决制造高分辨率显示器的高成本问题，这与增强亮度和对比度同时减小显示器的像素尺寸有关。通过拟议的气泡印刷，专有的光刻技术将用于将发光材料高分辨率图案化成小像素。像素发射特性将通过基板和有源层之间的等离子体相互作用得到增强。该项目完成后，团队预计通过研究高速马兰戈尼流动并实现气泡的稳定，在1000毫米/秒的激光扫描速度下，图案面积增加100倍（增加10倍）。使用表面活性剂分子。为了增加不同基材上气泡印刷的多功能性，将利用连续波和飞秒激光器来产生气泡和图案化。独立的气泡打印机将展示其与当前显示器制造生产线的集成性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。