Laser nanowire films promise EMI shielding for 6G devices

Glasgow researchers create transparent, flexible silver nanowire films that cut EMI across 2.2-6 GHz, enabling denser radios in future devices.

- BY SHUBHENDU PARTH

A new nanofabrication method developed at the University of Glasgow could influence how next-generation electronic devices are designed to cope with electromagnetic interference (EMI), especially for upcoming technologies such as 6G wireless communication networks, WiFi systems, radar, and biotelemetry.

Published in the December 2025 issue of ACS Nano, the research outlines a dual-process innovation combining interfacial dielectrophoresis (i-DEP) with non-contact picosecond laser processing to fabricate ultrathin, transparent, and flexible EMI shielding films using aligned silver nanowire (AgNW) networks. Capacitively coupled nanogaps provide an EMI-shielding mechanism beyond conductivity, suggesting smarter passive suppression for dense RF design.

The method provides a solution to a longstanding material challenge—achieving high shielding effectiveness without compromising optical transparency or requiring complex manufacturing steps.

SCALABLE EMI SHIELDING FOR NEXT-GEN WIRELESS DEVICES

As wireless spectrum becomes more crowded and transmission power increases across consumer, industrial, and healthcare domains, EMI shielding has become critical to ensure signal integrity and device safety. Traditional shielding materials, such as metal foils, are rigid, opaque, and unsuitable for modern flexible electronics.

The University of Glasgow's James Watt School of Engineering team, led by researchers at its Microelectronics Laboratory (meLAB), addressed this gap by designing a method that allows nanowires—each a thousand times thinner than a human hair—to be arranged in precise geometries onto thin polyimide (PI) substrates, using electric fields to guide their positioning.