Winner. Scientist of the Year 2019. Engineering & Technology

Takao Someya

Academic title, degree: Ph.D.
Fields of science: Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Research interest: Organic Electronics
Institution: University of Tokyo
Position: Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, School of Engineering
Country: Japan

Takao Someya received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1997. Since 2009, he has been a professor of Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Tokyo. From 2001 to 2002, he worked at the Nanocenter (NSEC) of Columbia University and Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, as a Visiting Scholar. His current research focus is on stretchable and flexible organic electronics for the applications to healthcare, biomedical and robotics. He conducted NEDO/JAPERA Project as Project Leader (since 2011) and currently leading JST/ACCEL Super-bioimager Project as Research Director (2017-2022). He was appointed a global scholar of Princeton University (2009-2017), MRS board of directors (2009-2011), and National University of Singapore (NUS) Global Foundaries Visiting Professor (2016-2019). His current appointments are: The Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hans Fischer Senior Fellow (2017-), Director of The Japan Society of Applied Physics (2018-), Associate Editor of Science Advances, and IEEE Spectrum Editorial Advisory Board Member.

His current research interests include organic transistors, flexible electronics, plastic integrated circuits, large-area sensors, and plastic actuators.

Development ultrathin, highly elastic skin display. Device displays electrocardiogram recorded by skin sensor, holds promise for home healthcare applications.

A new ultrathin, elastic display that fits snugly on the skin can show the moving waveform of an electrocardiogram recorded by a breathable, on-skin electrode sensor. Combined with a wireless communication module, this integrated biomedical sensor system - called "skin electronics" - can transmit biometric data to the cloud. Wearable devices can now monitor health by first measuring vital signs or taking an electrocardiogram, and then transmitting the data wirelessly to a smartphone. The readings or electrocardiogram waveforms can be displayed on the screen in real time, or sent to either the cloud or a memory device where the information is stored.

This skin electronics system aims to go a step further by enhancing information accessibility for people such as the elderly or the infirm, who tend to have difficulty operating and obtaining data from existing devices and interfaces. It promises to help ease the strain on home healthcare systems in aging societies through continuous, non-invasive health monitoring and self-care at home. It is the first stretchable display to achieve superior durability and stability in air, such that not a single pixel failed in the matrix-type display while attached snugly onto the skin and continuously subjected to the stretching and contracting motion of the body.

The researchers led by Prof. Someya applied tried-and-true methods used in the mass production of electronics - specifically, screen printing the silver wiring and mounting the micro LEDs on the rubber sheet with a chip mounter and solder paste commonly used in manufacturing printed circuit boards. Applying these methods will likely accelerate the commercialization of the display and help keep down future production costs.