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.




