Flexible electronics: The next ubiquitous platform

Thin-film electronics in its myriad forms has underpinned much of the technological innovation in the fields of displays, sensors, and energy conversion over the past four decades. This technology also forms the basis of flexible electronics. Here we review the current status of flexible electronics and attempt to predict the future promise of these pervading technologies in healthcare, environmental monitoring, displays and human-machine interactivity, energy conversion, management and storage, and communication and wireless networks. © 2012 IEEE.

GYGAX: Multi-Sensor Software Platform API

CLI .NET 4.0 research prototype platform coded in C# and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Linking business ecosystem lifecycle with platform strategy: A triple view of technology, application and organisation

This paper explores platform strategies along the business ecosystem lifecycle (BELC), based on a multiple-case study. Developing observations on platform strategies from a firm level to a business ecosystem level, the study investigates the issue of platform strategy through three views, respectively technology, application and organisation. As a result, a general evolutional pattern of platform strategy along the BELC is identified, where an open strategy emerges at the birth and expansion phases, then a dominating strategy rises at the authority phase, and finally the opportunistic strategy takes over at the renewal phase. This paper connects the core firms in the business ecosystem with the evolutionary platform strategies. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Plasmonic nanofocusing of light in an integrated silicon photonics platform.

The capability to focus electromagnetic energy at the nanoscale plays an important role in nanoscinece and nanotechnology. It allows enhancing light matter interactions at the nanoscale with applications related to nonlinear optics, light emission and light detection. It may also be used for enhancing resolution in microscopy, lithography and optical storage systems. Hereby we propose and experimentally demonstrate the nanoscale focusing of surface plasmons by constructing an integrated plasmonic/photonic on chip nanofocusing device in silicon platform. The device was tested directly by measuring the optical intensity along it using a near-field microscope. We found an order of magnitude enhancement of the intensity at the tip's apex. The spot size is estimated to be 50 nm. The demonstrated device may be used as a building block for "lab on a chip" systems and for enhancing light matter interactions at the apex of the tip.

On-chip switching of a silicon nitride micro-ring resonator based on digital microfluidics platform.

We demonstrate the switching of a silicon nitride micro ring resonator (MRR) by using digital microfluidics (DMF). Our platform allows driving micro-droplets on-chip, providing control over the effective refractive index at the vicinity of the resonator and thus facilitating the manipulation of the transmission spectrum of the MRR. The device is fabricated using a process that is compatible with high-throughput silicon fabrication techniques with buried highly doped silicon electrodes. This platform can be extended towards controlling arrays of micro optical devices using minute amounts of liquid droplets. Such an integration of DMF and optical resonators on chip can be used in variety of applications, ranging from biosensing and kinetics to tunable filtering on chip.

Development of a nanoporous and multilayer drug-delivery platform for medical implants.

Biodegradable polymers can be applied to a variety of implants for controlled and local drug delivery. The aim of this study is to develop a biodegradable and nanoporous polymeric platform for a wide spectrum of drug-eluting implants with special focus on stent-coating applications. It was synthesized by poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA 65:35, PLGA 75:25) and polycaprolactone (PCL) in a multilayer configuration by means of a spin-coating technique. The antiplatelet drug dipyridamole was loaded into the surface nanopores of the platform. Surface characterization was made by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). Platelet adhesion and drug-release kinetic studies were then carried out. The study revealed that the multilayer films are highly nanoporous, whereas the single layers of PLGA are atomically smooth and spherulites are formed in PCL. Their nanoporosity (pore diameter, depth, density, surface roughness) can be tailored by tuning the growth parameters (eg, spinning speed, polymer concentration), essential for drug-delivery performance. The origin of pore formation may be attributed to the phase separation of polymer blends via the spinodal decomposition mechanism. SE studies revealed the structural characteristics, film thickness, and optical properties even of the single layers in the triple-layer construct, providing substantial information for drug loading and complement AFM findings. Platelet adhesion studies showed that the dipyridamole-loaded coatings inhibit platelet aggregation that is a prerequisite for clotting. Finally, the films exhibited sustained release profiles of dipyridamole over 70 days. These results indicate that the current multilayer phase therapeutic approach constitutes an effective drug-delivery platform for drug-eluting implants and especially for cardiovascular stent applications.

On-chip tunable micro-ring resonator based on digital microfluidics platform

We demonstrate the tunability of a silicon nitride micro-resonator using the concept of Digital Microfluidics. Our system allows driving micro-droplets on-chip, enabling the control of the effective refractive index at the vicinity of the resonator. © 2010 OSA/FiO/LS 2010.

Rapid patterning of 1-D collagenous topography as an ECM protein fibril platform for image cytometry.

Cellular behavior is strongly influenced by the architecture and pattern of its interfacing extracellular matrix (ECM). For an artificial culture system which could eventually benefit the translation of scientific findings into therapeutic development, the system should capture the key characteristics of a physiological microenvironment. At the same time, it should also enable standardized, high throughput data acquisition. Since an ECM is composed of different fibrous proteins, studying cellular interaction with individual fibrils will be of physiological relevance. In this study, we employ near-field electrospinning to create ordered patterns of collagenous fibrils of gelatin, based on an acetic acid and ethyl acetate aqueous co-solvent system. Tunable conformations of micro-fibrils were directly deposited onto soft polymeric substrates in a single step. We observe that global topographical features of straight lines, beads-on-strings, and curls are dictated by solution conductivity; whereas the finer details such as the fiber cross-sectional profile are tuned by solution viscosity. Using these fibril constructs as cellular assays, we study EA.hy926 endothelial cells' response to ROCK inhibition, because of ROCK's key role in the regulation of cell shape. The fibril array was shown to modulate the cellular morphology towards a pre-capillary cord-like phenotype, which was otherwise not observed on a flat 2-D substrate. Further facilitated by quantitative analysis of morphological parameters, the fibril platform also provides better dissection in the cells' response to a H1152 ROCK inhibitor. In conclusion, the near-field electrospun fibril constructs provide a more physiologically-relevant platform compared to a featureless 2-D surface, and simultaneously permit statistical single-cell image cytometry using conventional microscopy systems. The patterning approach described here is also expected to form the basics for depositing other protein fibrils, seen among potential applications as culture platforms for drug screening.

Silicon: the promising material for phontonic integrated circuits platform

The development of optical network demands integrated arid multiple functionality modules to lowing cost and acquire highly reliability. Among the various contender materials to be photonic integrated circuits platform, silicon exhibits dominant characteristics and is the most promising platform materials. The paper compares the characteristics of some candidate materials with silicon and reviews recent progress in silicon based photonic integration technology. Tile challenges to silicon for optical integration for optical networking application arc also indicated.

Reduction-Based Model Updating of a Scaled Offshore Platform Structure

This paper attempts to develop a reduction-based model updating technique for jacket offshore platform structure. A reduced model is used instead of the direct finite-element model of the real structure in order to circumvent such difficulties as huge degrees of freedom and incomplete experimental data that are usually civil engineers' trouble during the model updating. The whole process consists of three steps: reduction of FE model, the first model updating to minimize the reduction error, and the second model updating to minimize the modeling error of the reduced model and the real structure. According to the performance of jacket platforms, a local-rigidity assumption is employed to obtain the reduced model. The technique is applied in a downscale model of a four-legged offshore platform where its effectiveness is well proven. Furthermore, a comparison between the real structure and its numerical models in the following model validation shows that the updated models have good approximation to the real structure. Besides, some difficulties in the field of model updating are also discussed.