Newsletter 3June 2013

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The proJecT

Aim of the project

The PASTA project combines research on electronic packaging and interconnection technology with textile research to realize innovative smart textiles with unlimited possibilities.

Methods have been developed to integrate electronics in a robust way into textiles. The ambition of the project is to realize a number of functional demonstrators showing the feasibility of the PASTA technology and proving the added value created to the textile.

The technologies are currently being assessed in a functional evaluation and reliability testing program. This, to check for example the robustness against flexing, folding,.. the functionalized textile. Also, humidity and water resistance is being checked. The proposed solutions for integration of electronics in textile will cover a whole range of components, from ultra-small LEDs to complex multichip modules. Moreover, a system design task is tackling the power distribution and system partitioning aspects to provide a complete solution for integration of a distributed sensor/actuator system in fabric. Within the project, 5 application areas are tackled: decorative textiles, strain sensing in composites, smart bedlinens, textile process monitoring and heating textiles.

INTroducTIoN

contents of this issue

Welcome to the third issue of the PASTA Newsletter! PASTA is a EC funded project within FP7.

It’s the PASTA project’s ambition to bring both worlds, electronics and textile, closer together to result in a more comfortable, easy manufacturable and reliable combination. Many applications in the consumer, medical or professional markets would warmly welcome such improvements.

The project is more than halfway and much progress has been realized in order to fulfill the ambitions of the project and make fantastic textile products possible with additional, electronic functionality.

In this third issue, we give the reader a brief overview of the many achievements realized so far. The developed, beyond state-of-the-art electronic packages are coming to their final stage and we present you now their characteristics and many possibilities. PASTA is about bringing smart textiles to the market and therefore, new equipment to introduce electronics into fabrics is needed. We give you some impressions on the machines being built to achieve this.

Enjoy the reading,

Johan De Baets, Project Co-ordinator, imec

PASTA Project • Newsletter 3 • www.pasta-project.eu

dIABoLo pAcKAGe

Leds, rFIds and sensors in the form of a yarn

Imagine a yarn handled like any other yarn that makes a difference compared to state-of-the-art yarns by smartly embedded light spots, temperature sensors or rFId tags for product verification.

The Diabolo package makes these E-Threads® possible. It’s a microelectronic packaging technology that allows for a direct connection of a chip to a set of two conductors which can provide the functions of antenna, power and/or data bus. It’s a one-stage connection which decreases the assembly time and improves reliability. Compared to other approaches, a gain in size (x10) is obtained.

This is a miniature, resilient and competitive solution. The size of the base assembly and the efficiency of the manufacturing process are such that electronic components can now be seamlessly (!) integrated into textile, at a cost providing opportunities for a widespread use.

The Diabolo package is ideally suited for 2 types of applications: unobtrusive light elements in textiles and textile tagging using RFID tags (process monitoring or anti-counterfeit).

The valorization of the E-Thread® with Diabolo package will be performed through the creation of a spin-off company called primo1d.

Led diabolo assembled on preweaved wires

rFId tag inside yarn, where the antenna is a dipole antenna made of a set of copper wires covered with silver with a diameter of 100 µm with a total length of about 15 cm

UNOBTRUSIVEYou can integrate a very small chip on top of a yarn, integrated in the textile. Ideal for RFID tags or illumination!

MOISTURE PROTECTIONIntegration method is compatible with enamelled conductive wires which gives you a protection for humid environments.

ALSO FOR WEAVING This one dimension concept allows you to integrate electronic components into textiles by weaving.

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PASTA Project • Newsletter 3 • www.pasta-project.eu

STreTchABLe INTerpoSer

A clever method to implement a lot of functionality in your smart textile

Everybody knows the problem. You have a great idea about an intelligent application which you want to produce with textiles but you don’t know how to do it without changing the textile properties of the fabric. This solution will bring your idea into practice!

You start with a conductive wiring system on or in the fabric. The conductive yarns can be woven into the fabric or embroidered on the fabric. This integration technique can handle both methods. The most important part of this technology exists of stretchable interposers. This is a stretchable electronic circuit which is encapsulated in an elastic material.

The elastic material serves as mechanical protection and as barrier against moisture. The stretchable interposer is attached on textile by using a flexible adhesive. After attaching the stretchable interposer on the textile fabric an electrical connection between the stretchable interposer and the conductive yarns has to be made. The connection is insulated to make the whole concept resistant against moisture. Now you turn on the power supply and the intelligent fabrics come to life!

Not every application needs the same properties. To fulfill certain properties some additional products and process steps are needed. This influences the cost significantly. The most important options that can be chosen are listed below:

●● Total insulation (e.g. the application comes constantly in contact with moisture)

●● Washable (e.g. clothing applications)●● Maximum transparency (e.g. lighting applications)●● Connection with insulated yarns (e.g. applications

in humid environments)

LEDs of different colors placed on a transparent stretchable interposer. The stretchable interposer is attached on a technical textile with integrated insulated conductive yarns. In this way, the package becomes water resistant.

RELIABLEBy using the numerous stretchable technology patents, maximum reliability of the electronic circuit is guaranteed.

ADJUSTABLE ELECTRONICSYou can use whatever electronic components you want to integrate with this technology. From advanced circuits like processors to simple resistors, everything is possible.

LARGE FABRIC COMPATIBILITY This integration method uses low pressures, low temperatures and no aggressive chemicals.

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PASTA Project • Newsletter 3 • www.pasta-project.eu

crIMp FLAT pAcK

cost-effective solution to integrate electronics into fabrics

The benefits of the well-known crimp technology are transferred to a new field: smart textiles! The so-called Crimp Flat Pack is a lead-frame based electronic package that features crimp terminals instead of standard leads. The module can be directly attached to different types of substrates, in particular to fabric circuits. Its size and complexity can reach from a simple two-terminal package to larger multi-terminal devices.

Manufacturing steps of the CFP: (a) structuring of the copper frame; (b) bending of contact pins and of crimp barrels; (c) mounting of electronics and fixation; (d) encapsulation

The typical design of the Crimp Flat Pack can be seen above. This package acts as an interposer to place electronic components onto a textile circuit board.

This kind of Crimp Package is defined by a higher number of contact crimps. The number of pins can be changed according to the application. The base material is copper that is plated with tin. It can be soldered and mechanically deformed equally well. Crimp barrels are pre-formed to be crimped directly on the fabric. The encapsulation in the center includes a typical circuit board with soldered components. The metal frame and the circuit board are soldered to each other using vias in the board and contact pins of the frame.

Crimp interconnections are one of the most chosen technologies when it comes to terminal-wire connects. The advantages are their high reliability, low costs, and easy and fast processing. Being able to use this technology for smart textile systems would offer the possibility to use a low-cost technology and allow competitive prices. Work has been done in both fields (smart textiles and crimp technology), however, the combination of those two is relatively new.

FEATURES ●● Mechanically robust ●● Easy to use interconnection process ●● Free module design ●● Partly or full encapsulation ●● Compatible with open weaves textile carriers ●● Compatible with metallic and metallic/textile

hybrid yarns

HIGH RELIABILITYCrimped modules offer you excellent results for heat and humidity.

LOW COSTBy use of standard equipment and due to the simple crimp processes this technology offers a low-cost entry into the world of smart textile interconnections.

FAST PROCESS Mechanical deformation in less than a second is all you need.

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PASTA Project • Newsletter 3 • www.pasta-project.eu

MANuFAcTurING

or how to make smart textiles in mass production?

In the PASTA project, 2 companies (CSEM, Asyril) are working on machines to make the integration of the developed packages in textiles possible. One of these companies, CSEM, is working on a cartesian robot system with 4 axes. The term Cartesian implies that each axis of the Cartesian Coordinate System (xyz) is represented by at least one axis. Additionally a rotation axis is mounted on the z-axis.

In the center of this axis a vacuum gripper and a look-down camera are installed. Due to the fact that fabrics are not rugged, geometry-stable substrates, the robot is equipped with a vision system based on a machine learning algorithm for automatic localisation of the best fitting contact points on the textile to guarantee electrical interconnection.

FEATURES ●● Workspace: 1200 x 600 x 300 mm●● Spring loaded vacuum gripper. ●● Vacuum gripper interface is conform to the die-bonder industry standard. ●● Intelligent look-down-camera system for automated alignment. ●● Intelligent look-up-camera system for automated die localization in the gripper, resolution 10 µm.

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS ●● The target textile is tensioned by a embroidery frame

which provides a working surface of 413 x 467 mm. ●● A hot plate with a heated surface of 300 x 300mm

provides a temperature of 50°C up to 300°C. (1800 Watt)

●● The integrated gripper heating system can heat the pickup tool from 50° up to 400°C (50 Watt).

●● Easy-to-handle palette system for e.g LED supply.

VERSATILEVacuum gripper allows for different packages to be placed.

AUTOMATIC YARN LOCALISATION A vision system with a machine learning algorithm allows automatic placement of components on contact points of conductive yarns.

PASTA Cartesian Robot

Gripper with a picked LED

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NewS

AVANTEX TECHTEXTIL AWARDImec and CEA-LETI applied for the AVANTEX TECHTEXTIL AWARD 2013. ceA-Leti received the second Innovation prize in the ‘New Materials’ category for their innovative e-thread® technology, which incorporates electronic component materials in yarns. The presentation will be held during the TechTextil 2013 Fair in the ‘Harmonie’ Hall of Congress Centre Messe Frankfurt at 18.30 hrs on 10 June 2013. During the fair, visitors will be able to see the award-winning inventions in two special exhibitions.

PASTA SPIN-OFF COMPANYceA-Leti started with a spin-off company, currently in its incubation phase, on the diabolo technology. The spin-off was a laureate of the French oSeo emerging companies (OSEO is public-sector institution dedicated to economic development - and a key source of financing and other support for SMEs).

4th FLEXIBLE AND STRETCHABLE ELECTRONICS WORKSHOP 2013 This conference is part of the activities of the Integrated Projects pLAce-it, ITeX and pASTA and other nationally funded projects in the field of flexible and stretchable electronics. Moreover international experts in the field, both from industry and from academia, will deliver key-note talks on the subject. Preceding the conference a day of tutorials on flexible and stretchable circuit technologies is organised at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, where authorities in the field will share their knowledge and views.

Since the first successful conference, held in September 2007, the technology has made considerable progress, both with respect to applications and to industrialisation schemes.

Discussion during the event will focus on

● Future (social wearables - social media enhanced devices, home care, artist impression) ● Trends (energy, fashion, sustainability) ● Applications (sports, medical, architecture) ● Technology (interconnectivity, surface loading (nano), closing gap with manufacturing,

stretchable electronics) ● components (electronic stitching, 3D printing, conductive fabrics)

on behalf of the organising committee we would like to invite you!

Place to be: Eindhoven, the Netherlands from November 12 - 13, 2013.

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upcoMING eveNTS

Meet the pASTA partners @

●● SMArT TeXTILe SALoN 2013 June 6, Ghent (BE) http://www.smarttextilesalon.com

●● TechTeXTIL 2013 International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens 11-13 June, Frankfurt (GE) http://techtextil.messefrankfurt.com

●● eMpc 2013 european Microelectronics packaging conference September 9-12, Grenoble (FR) http://embc2013.embs.org

●● preMIere vISIoN 2013 premier salon mondial des tissus d’habillement September 17-19, Paris (FR) http://www.premierevision.com

●● europeAN coNGreSS oN INNovATIoNS IN TeXTILeS For heALTh cAre October 10-11, 2013, Ghent (BE)

●● FLeX-STreTch worKShop 2013 International conference on Flexible and Stretchable electronics November 11-13, Eindhoven (NL) http://www.flexstretch2013.eu

●● ISpo 2014 International multi-segment trade show for sports business 26-29 January, Munich (GE)

Check out the PASTA website for more up-to-date information:

www.pasta-project.eu

ContaCtproject co-ordinator

Johan de Baets johan.DeBaets@imec.be

Imec – Gent Technologiepark 914 9052 Zwijnaarde Belgium w

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