A lot has changed in the nine months since my last update. We have solidified our focus on flexible electronics and put the RFID/consumer product packaging stuff on the shelf for now. I’ve concluded this market it is not the right place for us to be right now but hope to revisit it in the future.
Our work in flexible electronics is being driven by an interest in many sectors for electrical functionality in flexible or curved forms. Examples include flexible displays, wearable electronics, and embedded sensors. The common need across these applications is to incorporate thin, flexible electronic chips onto (or into) flexible substrates. As a result, we are benefiting from both government and commercial partner funding. Below are some specifics.
National Science Foundation SBIR Grants
Last year we received a $150K Phase I grant to optimize the wafer thinning and dicing aspects of our technology. This year, we have applied for a $750K Phase II grant to expand upon this work. We hope to win this award in the next 2-3 months.
NextFlex (Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute)
This government-supported consortium of companies and universities has turned out to be extremely valuable for us. We have found that we are the only company focused on ultra-thin chip assembly and as a result, have received numerous requests for support and project partnerships. The most significant of these involves UMass Amherst and E Ink in which we will demonstrate an integrated, flexible display for a wearable health monitor. We are also leading a proposal effort for a project that will implement our technology at the NextFlex Hub for use by members. Our intent is to proliferate our solution broadly via NextFlex for eventual commercial adoption by NextFlex members.
Commercial Partnerships
Aside from the E Ink involvement noted above, we have technology demonstration projects with two commercial partners. Both are global materials companies having a vision of integrating electronics with various materials in flexible or curved forms. One of these projects focuses on demonstrating that our technology can achieve certain performance metrics of importance to the commercial partner. The other focuses on demonstrating that ultra-thin chips can survive being embedded in molded plastic assemblies. In both cases, the objective is to demonstrate technical feasibility and to progress to deeper collaborations leading to commercial adoption.
Our Growing Team
Lastly, I’d like to touch on a few internal items. We have recently hired a PhD grad from North Dakota State bringing our team to four. We’ve also moved into a larger space in Fargo to accommodate our growing team and our need for a larger lab.
That’s it for now. All-in-all, things are going pretty well right. By the way, we are being sponsored by NSF to exhibit at the upcoming Silicon Innovation Forum at SEMICON West (San Francisco, July 12). If any of you find yourself at this show stop by our booth and say hello!