NextFlex, America’s Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) Manufacturing Innovation Institute, was launched in 2015 to help build a manufacturing ecosystem for the new flexible hybrid electronics market in the US.

NextFlex issued its first project call in late 2015 to seek hybrid electronics solutions for human health and performance monitoring systems and structural asset health monitoring systems. A total of eight projects were awarded for that first project call for a total value of $14.7 million, including cost share.

Since then, each subsequent project call has built upon the successful foundation established by previous project calls that have added increasing sophistication and reliability to the systems themselves, as well as honing repeatable manufacturing processes.

NextFlex recently announced awardees from its eighth project call, bringing the total amount of funding to date to over $179 million. This round of funding will distribute $6.5 million and is expected to focus on areas such as automotive and extreme environment/temperature applications.

According to NextFlex, this year’s projects include:
• The Boeing Company: Maturing additive die packaging for cryogenic and high temperature operations and developing sustainable additive printing and production of hybrid integrated receiver electronics & sensors.
• GE Research and Binghamton University: Developing and demonstrating the reliability of additively packaged microelectromechanical systems inertia measurements units for harsh environments.
• Auburn University: Further maturing and demonstrating in-mold flexible electronics reliability for harsh automotive applications, and biodegradable substrates low-temperature cure water-based inks room temperature interconnects and rework for sustainable electronics.

Dr. Scott Miller, director of technology, spoke about the beginning of NextFlex, and how the consortium has advanced since then. 

“NextFlex was established in 2015 following a competitive proposal process run by the Department of Defense,” Dr. Miller said. “As a public-private partnership aimed at advancing the manufacturability of hybrid electronics, NextFlex is driving a cohesive strategy with its 200 members around the country to grow a sustainable manufacturing ecosystem and to accelerate the readiness of the workforce of tomorrow.”

Dr. Miller said that the primary goal for each funded project is to address critical cross-cutting technology and manufacturing needs identified and prioritized by NextFlex’s member-driven manufacturing roadmaps.

“Each year the community convenes to assess progress in the state-of-the-art and to prioritize near-term challenges that must be addressed to further mature hybrid electronic manufacturing,” he added. “The topics for the project calls come directly from this process and ensures NextFlex is funding projects that will benefit the hybrid electronics ecosystem and further mature technologies towards transition into defense and commercial markets.”

Dr. Miller noted that the hybrid electronics industry in the U.S. continues to grow and the technology has matured to the point where it is now being designed-in to products that are making their way to market, with medical wearable devices and structural health monitoring devices at the forefront of commercial adoption.

“The technology continues to be of high interest for large industrial companies as well as startups with novel and disruptive technologies,” Dr. Miller observed. “The academic community is deeply engaged in not only development projects but is also educating the workforce that is essential to the successful transition of hybrid electronics to advanced manufacturing in high volume.

“Another important growth of the industry over the years has been diversification from early focus on mechanically flexible systems to include any applications that combine printed electronics with more traditional electronics assembly techniques,” he continued. “There is now a strong focus on structurally integrated electronics, for example, which benefits from the additive techniques of flexible hybrid electronics.”

Dr. Miller spoke of some of the interesting projects he has seen during his time at NextFlex.

“Universal Instruments Corp. led a project in our second project call which focused on developing a high-speed tool for handling very thin wafers and dies to enable advanced semiconductor packaging and integration,” he said. “This project was a success and after several more years of development and internal investment by the company, they released a commercial version of the system. There are now numerous systems installed around the world, including in our Technology Hub in San Jose.

“Boeing and its partners have developed an impressive technology over several project call projects,” Dr. Miller added. “These projects focused on maturing the manufacturing technology for an industrial internet of things (IoT) asset tracking tag. Boeing is highly interested in using this technology on their factory floor to precisely track the location of critical materials and tools in their manufacturing facilities to improve logistical efficiency.

“The wafer handling tool by Universal Instruments is being used commercially today for both flexible hybrid electronics and advances packaging applications,” Dr.  Miller concluded. “There are also several component-level technologies from early NextFlex project calls that are being used in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle applications.”