Jan Vanfleteren

imec · Centre for Microsystems Technology (CMST)

Digital microfluidics (DMF) holds great potential for the alleviation of laboratory procedures in assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) provides dynamic culture conditions in vitro that may better mimic the natural embryo microenvironment. Thus far, EWOD microdevices have been proposed for in vitro gamete an...

The integration of structural electronics in injection-molded parts is a challenging step. The films—comprising of laminated stacks with electronics—are exposed to shear stresses and elevated temperatures by the molten thermoplastic. Hence, molding settings have a significant impact on the successful, damage-free manufacturing of such parts. In thi...

Over-molding has been proposed in recent years as an integrated functional flexible circuit board in a plastic part. This method uses the conventional process for film insert technology. Over-molding has attracted significant attention across many industries due to its potential to deliver different electrical functions in a variety of different pa...

This research presents an innovative method to accurately and repeatedly position electronic components in thermoformed electronics. The paper focuses on 3D shaped electronics, which are made up of stretchable metal structures integrated into thermoformable material. We used the degree of freedom theory to develop a design method that allows us to...

Curve-shaped electronics have been on the rise in recent years. One crucial challenge in this area is reproducibility, which means in the different fabricated samples, the position of the electronic components should be the same. This paper aims to present a reliable approach for accurate component positioning in thermoformed electronics. We have p...

This paper aims to present a reliable approach for accurate component positioning in thermoformed electronics. We have proposed a non-stretchable conductive structure for accurate positioning of the electronic components, which can assure the conductive traces' mechanical stability during lamination and thermoforming of the substrate. We have verif...

Advancements in wearable technology and smart textiles have also opened new possibilities in the sports and medical fields. One of the examples of a relevant application case can be found in cycling. This paper expands on previous research on stretchable electronics on knit fabrics. It describes the development of stretchable circuits for the lower...

Electrical stimulation of gametes and embryos as well as on-chip manipulation of microdroplets of culture medium serve as promising tools for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Thus far, dielectrophoresis (DEP), electrorotation (ER) and electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) proved compatible with most laboratory procedures offered by ARTs. Po...

A great deal of attention has been paid in recent years to the integration of two and three-dimensional integrated electronic parts into plastics, both for their potential applications in modern human lives and for their outstanding properties, which include the ability to reduce product weight and space while increasing product reliability. The de...

This paper presents a novel approach for removing out-of-plane deformation in stretched metal interconnects by adding a fractal structure to the original meander shape and using an optimized fabrication stack. In thermoformed electronics, in cases where copper is used as conductor, the twisting of meander-shaped structures caused by excessive mecha...

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) and wearable computing have been emerging increasingly during the last decade. Since the market interest and predictions have grown, the research into increasing reliability and durability of wearables and e-textiles is developing rapidly. The washability of different integration methods and resistance to mechanical...

Objective. The blue light-activated inhibitory opsin, stGtACR2, is gaining prominence as a neuromodulatory tool due its ability to shunt-inhibit neurons and is being frequently used in in vivo experimentation. However, experiments involving stGtACR2 use longer durations of blue light pulses, which inadvertently heat up the local brain tissue and co...

With the increasingly high demand for flexible microsystems, their embedding technologies have become more and more important. In this paper, we present the developments of over-molding technology to realize polyimide–copper (PI/Cu) electronic circuits embedded in plastics. The circuit consists of Cu interconnections on a PI substrate with assemble...

Considering the high prevalence of cartilage-associated pathologies, low self-repair capacity and limitations of current repair techniques, tissue engineering (TE) strategies have emerged as a promising alternative in this field. Three-dimensional culture techniques have gained attention in recent years, showing their ability to provide the most bi...

Flexible dielectric sensors received significant interest for real-time in situ cure monitoring of polymeric composites over the past decade. Currently, state-of-the-art dielectric sensors mainly focus on detecting the distinct stages of the polymeric composite curing process. While low-cost and quantitative monitoring of the thermal, mechanical, a...

Epilepsy is a chronic, neurological disorder affecting millions of people every year. The current available pharmacological and surgical treatments are lacking in overall efficacy and cause side-effects like cognitive impairment, depression, tremor, abnormal liver and kidney function. In recent years, the application of optogenetic implants have sh...

The smart textiles and wearable technology markets are expanding tirelessly, looking for efficient solutions to create long-lasting products. The research towards novel integration methods and increasing reliability of wearables and electronic textiles (e-textiles) is expanding. One obstacle to be tackled is the washability and the endurance to mec...

Today’s world is full of intelligent electronics and with the development of flexible printed electronics technologies, different integration approaches are of high demand. The combination of electronics with polymer is a new technology platform as it integrates multiple functionalities into plastic products. This work shows preliminary results in...

Objectives: In this paper, the effect of the position of the inlet and outlet microchannels on the flow profile and the geometry of the recognition chamber for sample pre-treatment in an electrochemical biosensor to be used in osteoporosis management were investigated. Methods: All numerical computation presented in this work were performed usin...

The primary bottleneck of the stretchable mold interconnect (SMI) technology is its reliance on carrier boards. These are necessary to handle the meandered circuit during production and to ensure dimensional stability of the flexible circuit board before encapsulation. However, for all the problems it solves, it also introduces a new major problem...

Sensory polymer composites are highly desirable for applications such as in situ and real-time production processes and structural health monitoring, and for technologies that include human–machine interfaces for the next generation of Internet of Things. However, the development of these materials is still in its infancy: these materials have been...

Stretchable circuit technology, as the name implies, allows an electronic circuit to adapt to its surroundings by elongating when an external force is applied. Based on this, early authors proposed a straightforward metric: stretchability—the percentage length increase the circuit can survive while remaining functional. However, when comparing tech...

Combining stretchable circuits and thermoforming technology, a method to produce 3D multifunctional polymer composites is described by Yang Yang, Jan Vanfleteren, and co‐workers in article number 1800071. A demonstrator consisting of a seven‐segment display with integrated LEDs and capacitive touch sensors is fabricated using the proposed method. T...

Drug development is currently hampered by the inability of animal experiments to accurately predict human response. While emerging organ on chip technology offers to reduce risk using microfluidic models of human tissues, the technology still relies on end-point assays to assess tissue damage resulting in limited mechanistic information and an inab...

A coupled half-mode cavity-backed slot antenna for high-precision impulse-radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) localization applications in the [3.7740;4.7424] GHz frequency band of the IEEE 802.15.4a-2011 standard is designed and implemented in air-filled substrate-integrated-waveguide (AFSIW) technology.The antenna is matched to 50Ω in the [3.6400;4.830...

As a consequence of the rapidly growing ageing society, osteoporosis and its complications are becoming more prevalent, making the bone disease a health priority worldwide. The disease is usually underdiagnosed and undertreated, imposing a heavy burden on the patient, health system and society. So far, no simple to use and yet sufficiently accurate...

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites with integrated intelligence, such as sensors, actuators, and communication capabilities, are desirable as infrastructures for the next generation of “internet of things.” However, the shape mismatch between 3D composites and planar electronic circuit causes difficulties in integrating electronic circuit-based in...

Sensor systems capable of in situ, continuous impedance measurements are expected to play an important role for a broad spectrum of applications. However, widespread use of these devices is hindered by their current form of separated sensors from bulky, expensive readout instruments. Moreover, the lack of other relevant sensing functionalities on t...

An Impulse-Radio Ultra-Wideband (IR-UWB) cavitybacked slot antenna covering the [5:9803; 6:9989] GHz frequency band of the IEEE 802.15.4a-2011 standard is designed and implemented in airfilled substrate-integrated-waveguide (AFSIW) technology for localization applications with an accuracy of at least 3 cm. By relying on both frequency- and time-dom...

Metal-elastomer interfacial systems, often encountered in stretchable electronics, demonstrate remarkably high interface fracture toughness values. Evidently, a large gap exists between the rather small adhesion energy levels at the microscopic scale ('intrinsic adhesion') and the large measured macroscopic work-of-separation. This energy gap is cl...

Conventional electronic circuits are made up of electronic components assembled on either rigid substrates like FR4 and ceramic or on flexible substrates based on polymers such as polyimide, PET and PEN foils. The latter type of substrates offers considerable improvements in freedom of motion over its rigid complement although the deformations are...

In order to produce an electronic system, the different electronic components must be fixed on a carrier and electrically interconnected. Since tens of years this has been done making use of printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The production flow of PCB, using flat rigid substrates, provides an easy way for electronic circuit production. This c...

This study was designed to obtain covalently coupled conjugates as means for achieving higher stability and better coverage of the AuNPs by antibodies on the particle surface suitable for sensor performance enhancement. Starting by using a modified protocol, colloid gold solution, with mean AuNP core size of ~6 nm was synthesized. The protocol used...

This article explains a step-wise protocol to develop an electrochemical sensor to quantify serum levels of C-telopeptide (CTX) crosslinks also known as crosslaps in a matter of minutes and with high level of accuracy. The technique needs only one-step (incubation) and can thus be used for point of care screening. Due to the excellent electrical pr...

A stretchable platform with spherical-shaped electronics based on thermo- plastic polyurethane (TPU) is introduced for soft smart contact lenses. The low glass transition temperature of TPU, its relatively low hardness, and its proven biocompatibility (i.e., protection of exterior body wounds) fulfill the essential requirements for eye wearable...

In this work, we report a microfluidic platform that can be easily translated into a biomarker diagnostic. This platform integrates microfluidic technology with electrochemical sensing and embodies a reaction/detection chamber to measure serum levels of different biomarkers. Microfabricated Au electrodes encased in a microfluidic chamber are functi...

A method to fabricate thermoplastically deformable electronic circuits is presented, with the intent of achieving low-cost 2.5D free-form rigid smart objects. This by utilizing existing flexible circuit technology based stretchable circuits, in combination with thermoplastic materials. After fabricating the circuit in a flat state, a thermoforming...

This article reports a step-wise protocol to immobilize corresponding antibody on gold electrodes for electrochemical measurement of Osteocalcin (Oc), a bone turnover marker, levels in human serum. To our knowledge this is the first such sensor developed for Oc measurement. The magnitude of electrochemical response current was linearly dependent on...

An autonomous wearable radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag with sensing, processing, and decision-taking capability is presented for operation in the 2.45-GHz RFID band. The tag relies on a dedicated textile shorted circular patch antenna with tailored radiation pattern for operation in a smart floor/ceiling environment. By means of an holist...

Nowadays, microfluidic technologies have widely been employed in developing point-of-care diagnostics to address global health issues because of their potential advantages of low sample and reagent consumption, high throughput and sensitivity, large surface-to-volume ratio, and other benefits related to miniaturization. However, the fabrication of...

This contribution describes an efficient process flow for production of one-time deformable electronic devices based on standard circuit board technology and demonstrates multiple devices fabricated using this technique. The described technology has the potential to streamline and simplify the production of complex user interfaces which typically r...

In this paper we present a technology for the production of randomly shaped 3D electronic circuits, which is complementary to the 3D-MID technology. The technology is based on conventional printed circuit board (PCB) technology, thermoplastic polymer encapsulation and thermoforming of the flat polymer carrier with the embedded circuit. Meander shap...

The deposition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the surface of gold electrode is believed to enhance the electrochemical characteristics of the surface. According to the existing literature, this could be performed in various ways. The purpose of the current stu compare these results and report the most effective technique. In this regard, the laye...

This research presents a case study of production monitoring on an aerospace composite component: the hinge arm of the droop nose mechanism on the Airbus A380 wing leading edge. A sensor network composed of Fibre Bragg Gratings, capacitive sensors for cure monitoring and thermocouples was embedded in its fibre reinforced lay-up and measurements wer...

A novel wearable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag with sensing, processing, and decision-taking capability is presented for operation in the 2.45-GHz RFID superhigh frequency (SHF) band. The tag is powered by an integrated light harvester, with a flexible battery serving as an energy buffer. The proposed active tag features excellent weara...

A high-performance, three-element substrate-integrated-waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed slot antenna array that covers the (5.15-5.85) GHz band is designed for integration inside or underneath the worktop of a desk, to set up a stable, high data-rate ultra-short-range 3 × 3 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication link with a mobil...

In this contribution, a conformable 64×45 RGB light-emitting diode (LED) matrix is presented. A design concept of stretchable electronics is used: non-stretchable polymer islands host rigid LEDs and are interconnected by horseshoe shaped metallic conductors, which are able to deform together with an elastomeric substrate. Thin-film metallization is...

Interdigital sensors (IDS) have received great attention for production monitoring of polymers over the past decade. However, conventional IDS are limited by high noise to environment due to the dual side access of the sensor, low nominal capacitance, and sensitivity. In this study, a shielded IDS fabricated by flexible circuit board (FCB) technolo...

Significance Microfluidic organ-on-a-chip technology is poised to replace animal toxicity testing, but thus far has demonstrated few advantages over traditional methods. Here we demonstrate a sensor-integrated platform permitting real-time tracking of the dynamics of metabolic adaptation to mitochondrial dysfunction. Our approach permits detection...

In this paper, we present the developments of a new technology to realize 2.5-/3-D electronic circuits. The starting point is an electronic circuit embedded in a hard thermoplastic material, which is transformed into a 2.5-/3-D shape using a thermoforming process. The electronic circuit consists of stretchable copper interconnections in combination...

Dielectric analysis has attracted great attention in recent years for the monitoring of composite production processes because of its capability to be applied in situ and in real-time. However, to progress from lab to industry level, the sensor system should be as sensitive and reliable as possible, whereas its fabrication should be simple and cost...

Bone is an active organ with the capacity of continuous remodeling throughout adult life. In view of the fact that the current gold standard to assess bone remodeling, bone mineral density, suffers from certain limitations, newer techniques are being developed. Currently enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is commonly used to assess bone turnover mar...

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have emerged as a promising nanomaterial for next generation stretchable electronics. However, until now, the fabrication of AgNWbased components has been hampered by complex and time-consuming steps. Here, we introduce a facile, fast, and one-step methodology for the fabrication of highly conductive and stretchable AgNW/po...

For future construction of implantable tissue structures, the development of 3-dimensional fluidic microsystems is necessary. In the current work we have developed a unique technology for 3-dimensional microfluidic environments with potential for tissue engineering applications. The microfluidic devices were fabricated out of biodegradable and bioc...

This contribution describes the technology used to produce thermoplastically deformable electronics, based on flexible circuit board technology, to achieve low-cost 2.5D free-form rigid smart objects. These one-time deformable circuits employ a modified version of the previously developed meander-based “polymer-last” technology for dynamically stre...