A beam of light, shaped into precise patterns, will directly control the assembly of microscopic semiconductor structures—no physical masks or mechanical stages required. This research addresses a fundamental bottleneck in manufacturing photonic devices: the need for expensive, custom-made photomasks and slow, sequential fabrication steps. By using structured illumination from LEDs—either inorganic (GaN) or organic—the team can write, cure, and assemble materials in a single, programmable step. This removes the physical tooling that limits flexibility and speed. If successful, the approach could transform how we make anti-counterfeiting tags for high-value objects (from artworks to nuclear fuel containers), custom micro-reactors for fine chemical manufacturing, and autonomous energy-harvesting modules for remote sensors. It could also enable the precise placement of individual quantum dots for quantum technologies, or the automated production of organic lasers that detect explosives in the field. The work is fundamentally about a new manufacturing platform—not a single product. But the ability to "hunt" and immobilise fluorescent markers with light, or to cure polymers continuously over large fields, opens a route to devices that are currently too complex or costly to produce.
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This Platform Grant (PG) will apply our internationally-leading expertise in structured illumination and hybrid inorganic/organic semiconductor optoelectronic devices to create new opportunities in the rapidly developing field of light-controlled manufacturing. Structured illumination fields can in principle be obtained from both inorganic (GaN) and organic LEDs, implemented on a macroscale via relay optics, or demagnified to a microscale. Novel manufacturing with photopolymerisable materials can firstly involve use of structured illumination as a novel means to control motorised stages. This technique can be combined with pattern-programmable UV excitation for mask-free photolithographic patterning, continuous photo-curing over larger fields, localised photochemical deposition, or other forms of photo-labile assembly. Process variants can also be envisaged in which arbitrarily positioned fluorescent objects or markers are 'hunted', and then subject to beam excitation for photocuring or targeted photoexcitation. This method could be used, for example, to immobilise individual colloidal quantum dots for use as emitters in quantum technology applications. Multifunctional devices with sensing ability, such as organic lasers for explosives detection, represent another excellent example of automated devices operating under remote conditions. Further examples of the envisaged uses of this technology include: [1] LED microdisplay asset tags for management of high-value objects (artworks, nuclear fuel containers). [2] Passive asset tags containing unique micro-patterns of fluorescent objects (eg. colloidal quantum dots, organic macromolecules) for higher-volume, anti-counterfeiting applications. [3] Customisable continuous-flow micro-reactors for fine chemical manufacturing. [4] Energy harvesting micro-modules to power other autonomous microsystems, where we will focus on organic PV and ambient-radiation (RF) approaches.
Ian Michael Watson (Co-Investigator)Martin David Dawson (Co-Investigator)Paul Edwards (Co-Investigator)Peter Skabara (Principal Investigator)Robert Martin (Co-Investigator)
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