Project Description

Objectives:

  • Polymers have a certain Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) expressed in g/(cm2day) under standard conditions and assuming the transport of the water is diffusion-limited. Usually polymers have a WVTR in the range of 1-10 g/(cm2day).
  • The WVTR is a very important property in relation to flexible electronics since in these devices corrosion of metals is often a show stopper in relation to the lifetime of the device. For flexible electronics a WVTR lower than 0,1 g/(cm2day) is needed.

M2i Project:

  • Replacement of the so-called MOCON test which is very slow and time consuming.
  • Investigate if a MEMS device could be used for this purpose, i.e. measuring water diffusion.

Industrial benefits:

  • Design and working principle was developed for an Radio Frequency – MEMS resonator for antennas in wafer cavity.
  • Q-factor (indication of how under-damped a resonator is) depends on ambient pressure.
  • A patent application was filed for this device in the Netherlands (No. NL2004419).

 

Measuring water diffusion of polymers with MEMS