HyPerStripes

The kick-off meeting in April marks the start of the European joint project HyPerStripes – “New packaging technology for reliable bendable electronics” in the European Penta program. 18 partners from four European countries will cooperate on the development of solutions for flexible interconnects and planar hybrid foil systems in the project initiated by the IMS. Headed by the intracardiac catheter specialist Osypka from Rheinfelden, medical technology manufacturers, such as Philips and the Irish endoscope specialist Integer, as well as the lighting manufacturer Signify, are researching foil systems with integrated silicon chips together with technology providers and research institutions. In the German consortium of the nationally funded project, the IMS and its partner NanoWired are focussing on chip integration in foils, while Würth Elektronik and Fraunhofer EMFT are developing the reel-to-reel technology for the cable systems, which users Osypka and Capical are testing in their application demonstrators.

HyPerStripes’ end-user partners have the ambition to achieve a world-leading position for Europe in the smart catheter market by developing new technologies and aggressive cost-saving innovations. Instruments with improved signal integrity can incorporate new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to achieve greater accuracy in diagnosis and treatment. The project’s German consortium, which includes research facilities, technology and equipment providers, and end-device manufacturers, aims to achieve the following goals:

• Roll-to-roll processing on flexible and stretchable web substrates, enabling virtually “endless” electronics with integrated components.

• Design and simulation methods for flexible systems that take into account aspects of sustainability and reliability from the beginning of the development phase for all use cases.
• Highly reliable chip interconnects for bare die integration at low temperatures based on nano structures. Digital algorithms for lithographic patterning and auto-correction of dimensional distortions in flexible and stretchable foil substrates.
• Implementation of a sustainable technology platform, offering lithographically defined copper patterns and, in cooperation with Dutch partners, printed wiring systems. Both the selection and the combination of these manufacturing concepts will be done according to the specific requirements of the use case and the qualified sustainability targets.