materialsscienceandengineering: Electronic circuits printed...

materialsscienceandengineering:

Electronic circuits printed at one micron resolution

A research team consisting of MANA Independent Scientist Takeo Minari, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), NIMS, and Colloidal Ink developed a printing technique for forming electronic circuits and thin-film transistors (TFTs) with line width and line spacing both being 1 μm. Using this technique, the research team formed fully-printed organic TFTs with a channel length of 1 μm on flexible substrates, and confirmed that the TFTs operate at a practical level.

Printed electronics – printing techniques to fabricate electronic devices using functional materials dissolved in ink – is drawing much attention in recent years as a promising new method to create large-area semiconductor devices at low cost. Because these techniques enable the formation of electronic devices even on flexible substrates, they are expected to be applicable to new fields such as wearable devices. In comparison, conventional printing technologies allow the formation of circuits and devices with line widths only as narrow as several dozen micrometers. Accordingly, they are not applicable to the creation of minute devices suitable for practical use. Thus, there were high expectations for developing new printing techniques capable of consistently fabricating circuits with line widths of several micrometers or less.

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This is incredible.

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materialsscienceandengineering: Surface roughness puts off...

materialsscienceandengineering:

Surface roughness puts off bacteria

A simple process that roughens the surface and alters the grain size of metallic biomedical implants could deter the bacteria that cause infections and complications after surgery, according to researchers from Politecnico di Milano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, University of Cambridge, and King Abdulaziz University [S. Bagherifard et al., Biomaterials (2015), DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2015.09.019].

Stainless steel is widely used for medical devices and weight-bearing bone implants where its surface roughness and grain structure are known to have a profound effect on cell function. In fact, mechanical cues like these can have a greater effect than chemical ones on bacterial adhesion and the formation of undesirable bacterial colonies known as biofilms.

“The growing resistance of bacteria to conventional antibiotics, the need to develop advanced orthopedic implants with improved biocompatibility, along with the necessity of using a mechanically strong material able to withstand physiological strains and stresses, gave us the impetus for the development of advanced materials for bone implants,” explains Sara Bagherifard of Politecnico di Milano.

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This.

This is huge.

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