The application of polymer electronics towards ambient intelligence

Objective

Things that think and the communication of people with such things in his environment critically depend on contactless communication technologies. RF communication devices and protocols have been developed in the past and exist today, yet in their present form they cannot and will never be used on a large scale to allow communication with everyday objects.

The fundamental reason for this is the cost of the silicon technology employed to realize it. Even in its most optimistic projection, this cost remains at least one order of magnitude higher than the cost of a technology that has been proven to be truly ubiquitously applicable, such as a barcode. Therefore, a new generation of devices is required to enable ambient intelligence at the right cost point in order to be truly applicable everywhere and anywhere.

The objective of PolyApply is to lay the foundations of a scalable and ubiquitously applicable communication technology. The boundary condition is the cost of the microsystem, combining basic RF communication with sensor functions. The key to achieving a fundamentally different cost point than what will be reachable in the future with the evolution of the existing technologies (e.g. CMOS), is to resolutely move to adisruptive new manufacturing technology: going from batch processing to in-line manufacturing technology.

The semiconductor system envisaged to this end is based on polymers. The scalable aspect refers to the fact that PolyApply does not plan to propose a solution for a certain generation of RF communication devices useful at one point in time, but rather intends to develop generic technologies with a meaningful impact in the mid- and long term. In other words, the developed technologies will lead to an extendable family of products, ranging from "simple" RF tags at ultra-low cost to RF communication devices with complex functionality such as integrated re-writable memory, sensory inputs, display, etc…

Field of science

• /natural sciences/chemical sciences/polymer science

Programme(s)

• FP6-IST - Information Society Technologies: thematic priority under the specific programme "Integrating and strengthening the European research area" (2002-2006).

Topic(s)

• IST-2002-2.3.1.2 - Micro and nano-systems

Funding Scheme

IP - Integrated Project

Coordinator

STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.

Address

Via Olivetti 2
20041 Agrate Brianza
Italy

Participants (17)

CESKE VYSOKE UCENI TECHNICKE V PRAZE

Czechia

Address

Zikova 4
Praha 6

COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE

France

Address

Batiment Le Ponant D, 25 Rue Leblanc
75015 Paris Cedex 15

EM MICROELECTRONIC-MARIN S.A.

Switzerland

Address

Rue Des Sors 3
2074 Marin-epagnier

FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.

Germany

Address

Hansastrasse 27C
80686 Muenchen

HUECK FOLIEN GMBH

Austria

Address

Gewerbepark 30
4342 Baumgartenberg

INTERUNIVERSITAIR MICRO-ELECTRONICA CENTRUM VZW

Belgium

Address

Kapeldreef 75
3001 Leuven

JOANNEUM RESEARCH FORSCHUNGSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Austria

Address

Steyrergasse 17
8010 Graz

MERCK CHEMICALS LTD

United Kingdom

Address

Wilberforce Court, Alfred Gender Street
HU1 1UY Hull

MOTOROLA GMBH

Germany

Address

Heinrich-hertz-strasse 1
65232 Taunusstein

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NEDERLAND B.V.

Netherlands

Address

Boschdijk 525
5621 JG Eindhoven

PLASTIC LOGIC LIMITED

United Kingdom

Address

34-35 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road
CB4 OFX Cambridge

POLYIC GMBH & CO.KG

Germany

Address

Tucherstrasse 2
90763 Fuerth

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET BRAUNSCHWEIG

Germany

Address

Pockelstrasse 14
38106 Braunschweig

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET CHEMNITZ

Germany

Address

Strasse Der Nationen 62
09107 Chemnitz

UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

United Kingdom

Address

Brownlow Hill 765
L69 7ZX Liverpool

VDI/VDE INNOVATION + TECHNIK GMBH

Germany

Address

Steinplatz 1
10623 Berlin

ZEILER AG

Switzerland

Address

C/o Limmatdruck Ag, Pfadackerstrasse 10
8957 Spreitenbach