Vision of PolyApply

Things that think and the communication of people with such things in his environment critically depend on contactless communication technologies. RF communication devices and protocols have been developed in the past and exist today, yet in their present form they cannot and will never be used on a large scale to allow communication with everyday objects. The fundamental reason for this is the cost of the silicon technology employed to realize it. Even in its most optimistic projection, this cost remains at least one order of magnitude higher than the cost of a technology that has been proven to be truly ubiquitously applicable, such as a barcode.

Therefore, a new generation of devices is required to enable ambient intelligence at the right cost point in order to be truly applicable everywhere and anywhere.

Aim of PolyApply

The objective of PolyApply is to lay the foundations of a scalable and ubiquitously applicable communication technology. The boundary condition is the cost of the micro system, combining basic RF communication with sensor functions. The key to achieving a fundamentally different cost point than what will be reachable in the future with the evolution of the existing technologies (e.g. CMOS), is to resolutely move to a disruptive new manufacturing technology: going from batch processing to in-line manufacturing technology. The semiconductor system envisaged to this end is based on polymers.

Photo: TU Chemnitz/Evelyn Oertel

The scalable aspect refers to the fact that PolyApply does not plan to propose a solution for a certain generation of RF communication devices useful at one point in time, but rather intends to develop generic technologies with a meaningful impact in the mid- and long term. In other words, the developed technologies will lead to an extendable family of products, ranging from "simple" RF tags at ultra-low cost to RF communication devices with complex functionality such as integrated re-writable memory, sensory inputs, display, etc…

Structure of PolyApply

PolyApply is structured such as to allow objective-driven application-driven research to be effectively co-ordinated. The core work package is "Reference Design", where the specifications to applications are matched to the technological possibilities, also including standardization. The technological developments are structured in two work packages: "Manufacturing and Processing", for the in-line manufacturing technology, and "Materials, Devices and Circuits" for the development of basic devices, materials, modelling and packaging modules compatible with the in-line manufacturing technologies. The reality check is done in work packages "Reliability" and "Recycling and Life Cycle". The "Accompanying Activities" include special work tasks "Roadmapping", "Training" and "Dissemination". The accompanying activities are foreseen to nurture exchange personnel and students within the consortium and to create awareness outside the Project for the disruptive new technologies to come.