The main activities carried out at the Sensing Technology Lab are related to printed, flexible, environmentally-friendly, disposable, and biodegradable electronic devices used in a wide range of applications, from internet of things, food science, biotechnology, smart environment and agriculture, to wearable and medical systems. The main aim of the laboratory is to develop fully autonomous systems incorporating sensing, energy harvesting, storage, read-out, and wireless communication functionality, based on printed and flexible technologies. This is performed through basic research on novel materials, devices, and integration technologies, as well as through the field application of these innovative devices and systems.

Research Focus

• Printed and large-area electronics
• Internet of things
• Environmentally friendly production of electronic devices
• Design and simulation of electronic devices
• Disposable and biodegradable electronics

Main Instrumentation

The laboratory equipment of the Sensing Technology Lab is dedicated to the synthesis and deposition of novel active and passive materials, to the device fabrication and characterization, as well as to the integration of these devices into more complex systems.

Our current laboratories in piazza Università 1 include the following equipment for the fabrication and characterization of printed devices and systems:

• Screen printer
• Inkjet printer
• Dispense printer
• Spray-coating robot
• 3D printer
• Spin-coater
• Plasma asher
• Fourier-transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR)
• Reflectometer
• Optical profilometer
• Optical reflection microscope
• Impedance analyzer
• Oscilloscopes, power supplies, function generator, source meters, and digital multimeter
• Thermal camera

Our new laboratories at NOI Techpark will include (from Summer 2019) the following equipment for the material synthesis, deposition and analysis, as well as for the device fabrication and characterization:

• Soft wall clean-room
• Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of carbon nanotubes and graphene
• Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of oxides
• Glovebox with e-beam and thermal evaporators of metals and insulators, spin-coaters, and hotplates
• Chemical wet benches with microbalance, probe sonicator, centrifuge, and ultrasound bath
• Atomic force microscope (AFM)
• Optical reflection and transmission microscope
• Mask aligner
• Optical setup for transmission and quantum efficiency measurements
• Probe station equipped with parameter and network analyzer
• Oscilloscopes, source meters, data acquisition switch with multiplexer, and power supplies

Location
Piazza Università 1, Bolzano

Team
Biresaw Demelash Abera
Enrico Avancini
Giuseppe Cantarella
Ali Douaki
Pietro Ibba
Sarwar Inam
Muhammad Ahmed Khan
Paolo Lugli
Asma Mushtaq
Luisa Petti
Bajramshahe Shkodra

Head
Paolo Lugli

Vice head
Luisa Petti