Hong Kong Baptist University

Hkbu R&d Licensing Limited

Guixin Li

Kok Wai Cheah

Hoi Lam Tam

Wing Yui Lam

Yu Wai Chan

King Fai Li

Ka Suen Lee

A method to transfer a layer of harder thin film substrate onto a softer, flexible substrate. In particular, the present invention provides a method to deposit a layer of sapphire thin film on to a softer and flexible substrate e.g. PET, polymers, plastics, paper and fabrics. This combination provides the hardness of sapphire thin film to softer flexible substrates.

Sapphire thin film coated flexible substrate

A method and apparatus of fabrication of a multilayer flexible metamaterial can be fabricated using flip chip transfer (FCT) technique. This technique is different from other similar techniques such as metal lift off process, which fabricates the nanostructures directly onto the flexible substrate or nanometer printing technique. It is a solution-free FCT technique using double-side optical adhesive as the intermediate transfer layer and a tri-layer metamaterial nanostructures on a rigid substrate can be transferred onto adhesive first. Another embodiment of the present invention is the fabrication method and apparatus that allows the transfer of the metamaterial from a rigid substrate such as glass, quartz and metals onto a flexible substrate such as plastic or polymer film. Thus, a flexible metamaterial can be fabricated independent of the original substrate used.

Fabrication of highly flexible near-infrared metamaterials

A novel multilayer flexible metamaterial that can work at near infrared (NIR) regime that can be fabricated on transparent PET substrate using flip chip transfer (FCT) technique. An embodiment of the present invention also provides novel NIR metamaterial device that can be transformed into various shapes by bending the PET substrate, wherein said metamaterial device is tunable via physical manipulation of its flexible substrate with no requirement to change the material composition of the substrate. The flexibility allows the novel NIR metamaterial device to bend and stretch, which can alter the device structure. Since the resonant frequency of each device is a function of the device structure, the resonant frequency can be tuned by the bend and stretch of the substrate. Another embodiment of the present invention further provides novel tunable sensors and emitters using such flexible metamaterials and devices.

Highly flexible near-infrared metamaterials

Growing community of inventors

Hong Kong, China

Guixin Li