The future of electronics

Future electronics encompasses a vast number of fields, with new materials, devices and fabrication techniques enabling novel applications. Printed and flexible electronics are seen as a route to many new applications as they can produce devices on a large scale and allow for conformability to different surfaces. This will not only reduce the cost of production, but allow for devices to be integrated into everyday objects. Materials that have been developed for this include polymers, metal halide perovskites, metal inks, metal oxides and 2-dimensional materials. Some of the materials already exist in commercial products, such as control transistors and organic light emitting diodes for the display industry, but the reduction in manufacturing costs has not yet been realised, with new fabrication processes needing to be developed. 

This course is designed for people of all abilities and will begin with the history of electronic devices examining key discoveries that have changed the world we live in. Novel material design for electrical devices will also be discussed with a focus on state-of-the-art materials and their suitability for specific applications. Manufacturing techniques currently being developed and the industrial realisation of flexible electronics will be explored and evaluated. Finally, future applications will be investigated.