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Future Advances in Electronic Materials and Processes - Flexible Hybrid Electronics

  • Magazine Article
  • 20AERP02_07
Published February 01, 2020 by SAE International in United States
Language:
  • English

Despite progress being made, there are still significant obstacles to the manufacture and use of flexible hybrid electronics in military applications.

Air Force Research Laboratories, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

This project performed an integrated assessment focused on projected advances in electronics materials and processes over the next 25 years and their implications for military aerospace applications, with a particular emphasis on flexible hybrid electronics (FHE).

In essence, FHE is a combination of conventional inorganic semiconductor circuits and microelectronics fabrication processes and packaging with rigid or flexible, organic or inorganic electronic components and techniques for digital functional printing on rigid or flexible-substrates. One key concern for the U.S. electronics industry, and for defense electronics in particular, is that while significant research and development in electronics occurs domestically, much of the manufacturing strength for electronics products resides overseas. The emerging FHE field is no exception. This tendency for stronger foreign manufacturing of electronics implies that U.S. defense organizations must actively work to ensure the availability of domestic suppliers and improve their capability to meet the demand for increasingly sophisticated defense electronics.