SAN JOSE, Calif. — Flexible hybrid electronics showed progress on its journey from the lab to the market at an open house for NextFlex here. The U.S. research center was formed in late 2015 with about $165 million in private and public backing to drive the technology that marries on flexible substrates printed circuits and thinned silicon die.
As many as 50 exhibits showed efforts that spanned aviation, consumer electronics, heath care, robotics and industrial automation. They came from established giants such as Boeing and GE, big contract manufacturers Flex and Jabil and many academic departments trying to carve out a niche in the emerging technology.
The U.S. Air Force is an early adopter with about nine active projects with NextFlex. One Air Force researcher described work at NextFlex as helping bring enabling processes to maturity. Commercial projects with some of the center’s 80 members are on the runway.
“We are well down the road…We are no longer dealing with only R&D groups now but business divisions as well,” said Malcolm Thompson, executive director of NextFlex.
“We have 50 people serving on nine NextFlex groups providing $2.3 million in funding,” said Charles Ormsby, acting director of an Air Force materials and manufacturing group.
The Air Force aims to use flexible hybrid electronics to create real-time monitors worn by both airman and aircraft to monitor their health. They also will be used as control electronics to lower weight on everything from small drones to the largest commercial planes.
Shaving just 1 percent off the 550,000 pounds off a 787, “a car’s worth of weight, can turn into billions of dollars in saving across an airline’s fleet,” said Per Beith, director of electronics technology at Boeing’s research group. “We think flexible electronics will create a revolution for us to be more successful,” he said.
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