New polymer/liquid systems for electronic devices
A new trend is emerging in the electronics industry to use organic polymers deposited on solid substrates to increase functionality and decrease price. Recently, the scientific field demonstrated that the polymer parylene can be deposited on a liquid in such a way that the liquid is hermetically sealed underneath and simultaneously shapes the overgrowing solid layer. The resulting system is chemically stable and has formed the foundation of a wide variety of new micro- and nanosystems. The ‘Multifunctional polymer materials and systems with tailored mechanical, electrical and optical properties’ (Multipol) project was initiated to build on the above discovery by ‘contaminating’ the growing parylene layer in a controlled manner to add functionalities for electronic applications. In particular, the research partners sought to identify suitable liquids capable of modifying the properties of the encapsulating parylene thin film with a focus on nanotechnology. Multipol has pioneered the concept for thermally, chemically and mechanically stable parylene thin film deposition on liquids, opening the door for electronic devices with microsystems of functional liquids between stacks of thin solid films. Eventual commercialisation of the concept has the potential to dramatically increase the multifunctionality of electronic devices, providing a significant edge to the European economy in a huge global market.
