This work focuses on deposition technologies to be applied for the development and manufacturing of sensors based on ultra-thin glass substrates. The deposition technologies of interest are silkscreen printing, ink-jet printing and physical vapour phase deposition (PVD). In this project, the main target is to develop technologies for flexible sensors to be used for high temperature fuel cells applications. This application case demands for sensors which sustain harsh environmental conditions and which are of very low thickness. Use case conditions involve temperatures above 400 °C and a chemically reactive ambient. The stack design of a fuel cell demands for sensor with a thickness less than 250 μm. Such thin sensors may offer mechanically flexibility which would be of interest for other applications. Furthermore, the aim of the project is to develop manufacturing technologies which can be transferred to roll-to-roll (R2R) processes in future. Finally, not only the deposition of conductor materials but also resistor, insulator and eventually specifically sensitive materials and coatings are subsequent tasks. A use of sensors based on ultra-thin glasses technologies for the described use scenario is not known neither in the state of technology nor in literature. In case of a successful development, such sensor systems would enable an increased fuel cell efficiency due to the ability of in-situ measuring of process parameters. Additionally, ultra-thin flexible sensors which sustain harsh environmental conditions and cheap to produce will be useful in many other applications.
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