TNO - A-Patch

TNO is an independent applied research institution with a staff of ±4500 people and an annual turnover exceeding €500M€. TNO maintains close contacts with universities and basic research institutions in order to translate up-to-date knowledge and insights into practical applications. Clients include government, large companies, and SME’s. TNO will contribute to this project via its Business Unit Holst Centre.

TNO/Holst Centre is an independent open-innovation R&D center that amongst others develops generic technologies for Flexible Electronics. It focuses on key enabling technologies to realize complex functional electronic devices on thin plastic foils. These technologies, for example, include printing, assembly and all kinds of patterning technologies. Located on High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Holst Centre benefits from the state-of-the-art on-site facilities. It also has its own facilities, primarily for roll-to-roll manufacturing (printing, assembly). Holst Centre has over 180 employees from 28 nationalities and a commitment from close to 40 industrial partners. A key attribute of Holst Centre is its partnership model with industry and academia based around shared research roadmaps and programs. Holst Centre’s ecosystem currently consists of over 50 industrial partners, spanning across the value chain of flexible electronics.

Main tasks attributed in the A-PATCH project:

The main tasks attributed to TNO in the project include the realization of the thin-film IC circuitry in a-IGZO TFT technology using its GEN1 TFT Pilot Manufacturing Line, as well as the final integration of the IC TFT electronics with antenna and sensor electrodes into the actual A-patch, an activity that TNO leads in project work package WP5. TNO expects to employ its integration technologies for a heterogeneous component on foil and various printed electronics technologies (e.g. circuitry patterns on low-cost foils) used in the realization of wearable health patches. In order to streamline design, technology, and system integration, TNO will be involved in setting up the specifications of the A-patch building blocks, and will, therefore, be involved also in WP1, WP2, WP3, WP6, WP7.

Dr. Auke Jisk Kronemeijer

GEN1 TFT Pilot Line Manager

Dr. Auke Jisk Kronemeijer received his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry (2004), M.Sc. degree in Nanoscience (2006) and Ph. D. degree in Applied Physics on the subject of Molecular and Organic Electronics (2011), all from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Afterwards he joined the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, as a Research Associate in Organic Electronics. After shaping the research agenda on the subject of ‘Sensoring’ at KWR Watercycle Research Institute, he moved back into the development of organic and oxide TFT technology as a Senior Researcher at Holst Centre / TNO. In addition to his research activities, he currently manages Holst Centre’s GEN1 Flexible TFT Pilot Manufacturing Line as well. The combined activities at Holst Centre / TNO are focused on the development of advanced TFT technologies and prototyping of flexible electronics applications such as flexible displays, imagers, circuitry, and sensors.

Dr. Charlotte Kjellander

Senior Researcher

Charlotte Kjellander received her MSc in Chemical Technologies in 2001 from Lund Institute of Technologies, Lund University, Sweden, including education at EPFL, Switzerland, and her Ph.D. in Materials Sciences in 2006 from Eindhoven University of Technology (TUe), the Netherlands. The research interests during Charlotte’s career have included research in material properties of organic and polymeric materials for optical and electronic applications at TUe, Philips and the Holst Centre, as well as industrial development of large area coating technologies and development of smart IoT materials for the building and construction market at Trespa. Her work has resulted in several patents and peer-reviewed articles. Currently, at the Holst Centre, Charlotte leads the technical R&D of the electronics integration for wearable applications, with special interests in conformable material research for integrated and printed electronics for health applications. Charlotte is and has been involved in several FP7, H2020, and PENTA funded projects such as One-P, FLAME, COSMIC and Ulimpia.

Mrs. Suzanne de Winter

Senior process engineer

Suzanne H. P. M. de Winter received her BSc in Chemistry in 2000 at the Fontys University of Applied Science in the Netherlands. From 2000 to 2006, she worked at Philips Research on polymer-based OLEDs and contrast agents for molecular imaging. In 2007, she joined TNO where she has been working as senior process engineer in large-area printing technologies for OLED and thin-ﬁlm barrier applications at Holst Centre. She also worked for several years as project manager Powertrain testing at TNO Sustainable Traffic and Transport. Currently she works as senior process engineer and project leader in the field of OLED, thin-film barriers and TFT.

Mr. Milan Saalmink

Senior process engineer

Milan Saalmink received his BSc in Polymer Chemistry in 2000 at the Fontys University of Applied Science Venlo, the Netherlands. After finishing his internship in 2000, he joined Philips Research to work on polymer-based thin films. Application of these films were in LCD displays, multilayer data storage, microcontact printing and a number of projects on sensor applications. In 2007, he joined TNO as a process engineer on integration technologies. Since 2015 he is working as a senior process engineer on hybrid printed electronics, in the field of wearable electronics.

Dr. Shavini Stuart

Researcher

Shavini Stuart has a core background within medical devices with a MSc (2011) and PhD (2016) in Biomedical Engineering from Brunel University, London. She was awarded a full scholarship within her university as well as awards both at Brunel University and international conferences within the fields of nanotechnology and tissue engineering, with publications for her work within biosensors, material science and quantum photonics. From 2016 onwards she has worked internationally for companies within manufacture for nanofabrication instruments to class III medical devices. Her work has encompassed a range of fields from biosensors, electrohydrodynamics, and printed electronics with a core focus on polymer materials and their application in product development within the medical device market. She has worked on UK and EU funded projects ranging from TRL 2 to 8 such as Hi-Response, Hi-Prospects, Flexolighting and Surfas. She also founded a seed stage company, Starling Medical Innovations, for the application of smart nanomaterials for chronic wound dressings. From Oct 2020 she has joined the Holst Centre as a researcher for the integration of printed electronics within wearable technologies with the main focus within the medical device field.

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