Background and scope

Responsible electronics represents a unique opportunity for the future of EU industrial autonomy in a decarbonised and digital society, however fundamental scientific and technological challenges remain to be addressed. It has been predicted that by 2050, the production of electronics components and devices will rise exponentially and thus the use of raw materials in the sector will increase accordingly. As a result, the amount of electronic waste is also set to rise massively.

Responsible electronics can contribute to drastically reducing the environmental load of the electronic industry by shifting from traditional manufacturing industrial methods to innovative methods and materials with a lower environmental impact. This is in line with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan ^[1] fostering research towards a circular economy with effective waste and carbon recycling strategies as well as complementary with the objectives of the European Chips Act ^[2].

Besides reducing the environmental impact of the electronics sector, innovations such as sustainable manufacturing or bio-inspired electronic systems can help Europe overcome the current chips crisis by reducing the dependency on critical raw materials ^[3] and traditional high energy demanding semiconductor processes. Moreover, investing in responsible electronics would be beneficial for the entire semiconductor ecosystem in Europe and will uphold the EU technology sovereignty.

Overall goal and specific objectives

The overall goal of this Challenge is to create opportunities for discovery of new environmentally friendly electronic materials, thus reducing its environmental impact and the need for critical raw materials and hazardous chemicals.

The projects supported under this Challenge are expected to offer either materials with improved properties (such as flexibility, durability, end of life recyclability/reusability), materials processed with low energy consumption and low carbon footprint processing (such as printing instead of photolithography, avoiding use of fluorinated gases for patterning), or alternatives, including nano-sized ones, to replace common electronic materials such as silicon and silicon nitride.

The specific objectives of this Challenge are to support the scientific community in reaching breakthroughs in development/discovery of:

• Advanced electronic materials for unconventional devices:
• small-molecule and polymeric organic materials,
• solution-processable inorganic materials,
• hybrid organic-inorganic materials,
• polymer-matrix nano-composite materials,
• bio-based and nature-inspired materials
• for the manufacturing of n- and p-semiconductors, dielectrics, conductors, including transparent conductors, particularly those suitable to make functional inks, passivation/encapsulation/packaging materials, flexible/stretchable substrates, etc.
• Advanced processes:
• production methods based on solution processing such as blade coating, slot die coating, spray coating, screen printing, inkjet printing, offset, gravure and flexo-printing, or
• other techniques particularly suitable for sheet-to-sheet or roll-to-roll manufacturing.
• Unconventional applications including e-textile/e-skin:
• backplane and logic circuits,
• microprocessors (4-8 bits),
• sensors,
• displays,
• power supplies,
• wireless transmitters/receivers, etc.

particularly those suitable for Internet-of-Thing (IoT) applications, while applying the life-cycle thinking approach.

Expected outcomes and impacts

This Challenge is expected to contribute to the development of materials with new properties or replacing materials used in current electronic devices with materials, which:

• reduce dependency on critical raw materials,
• are sustainable: having a low environmental footprint and developed recurring to the life cycle thinking approach.

The overall outcome of this Challenge is to support the move from traditional materials and manufacturing processes to less environmental impactful ones. It is expected that the Challenge will lead to the development of lab-scale validated proof of concept devices based on the developed innovative materials and manufacturing processes, which may represent a potential application of a more sustainable, trusted and secure electronics.

Specific conditions

Projects with multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial approaches, looking for inspiration, ideas and knowledge in a broad range of disciplines are particularly welcome.

The safe and sustainable use of non-critical raw materials or the full recycle/reuse of them is mandatory. All projects are expected to conduct a full life cycle analysis of the proposed solutions and they shall apply or identify a methodology to measure the environmental and/or carbon footprint of the proof of principle/s that will be developed during the project.

Applicants should ensure that the proposed method/technology/material/s is not harmful to the natural ecosystems. Packaging and durability should be taken into consideration.

For more details, see the WP 2023.

[1] Circular economy action plan (europa.eu)

[2] European Chips Act | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)

[3] Critical raw materials (europa.eu)