Quad Industries researches the field of ‘organic and printed electronics’ – a platform technology which is based on the combination of light, flexible materials and viable production processes. Printed Electronics are a series of printing techniques which are applied to manufacture electronic devices on various substrates like flexible film or paper. This technology uses on the one hand printing techniques with conductive inks and on the other hand it uses automatic SMD assembly to create electronic devices.

Quad Industries has extensive know-how in:

  1. conductive inks for screen printing, like silver inks, carbon inks and translucent polymers on flexible film;
  2. automatic SMD assembly of electronic components on flexible substrates.

Possible applications:

  • printed sensors (pressure and temperature sensors)
  • ‘smart objects’ (cards, packages, labels)
  • printed memories
  • printed batteries
  • smart textile (active clothing)
  • lighting (OLED and electroluminescent products)
  • flexible monitors

 

Disposable temperature logging label

NXP and Enfucell have jointly developed a disposable temperature logging foil demonstrator. This solution supports logging functionality similar to that of a reusable logger, however the format and product unit cost now enable logging at the item level. Each individual foil contains NXP’s NHS3100 integrated chip, Enfucell’s printed battery and an NFC antenna.

Quad Industries manufactured the label in it’s electronic assembly facilities. The carrier of the label is thin PET plastic foil. The connecting surfaces and the NFC antenna are screenprinted on this flexible substrate. The chip is bonded to the foil and the battery is built on the foil.

The label is a hybrid system, based on the integration of different functions on a flexible foil and incorporates a combination of different technology platforms. These include:

  • Printed electronics technology: that enables low-cost, large scale production of the interconnection, NFC antenna and a printed battery
  • Silicon based technology that employs a miniaturized integrated sensor enabling ultralow power consumption as well as highly precise temperature registration

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to know more about the possibilities of hybrid systems for your specific application.