FACTS

Learn more about the Applications, Technologies and Markets
driving this Industry forward.

The real promise for the future in plastic electronics are expected based on solution based printed devices, applications and products on flexible substrates. Considerable progress is made over the last 12 months in processing printed, whether sheet-to-sheet or roll-to roll, for energy harvesting applications and integrated systems on foil for packaging and fast mover consumer goods. Companies such as Heliatek from Germany are leading in R2R FPV, and are close to reaching efficiencies, allowing for commercial use of thick film photovoltaics.

Yet another example of extraordinairy progress in com-mercialisation is the Norwegian firm Thin Film Electronics ASA, which was able to develop printed R2R memory and logic to be used for brand protection and product identification in fast mover consumer goods. More progress is expected to be become visible this year in thick film based printed sensors, printed batteries, smart labels and other integrated devices.

The US based market research company NanoMarkets (www.nanomarkets.net) believes that there are now genuine opportunities to be had as the result of printing development and that this new kind of PE, which is called Printed Electronics V3.0, can learn from the failures of the past, both in applications and in printing itself, to generate new business revenues. 

Within PE V3.0 a relatively narrow group of applications is identified  that is being treated seriously by those interested in PE V3.0, but these applications are systems that rely on a large number of components and it is these components that are actually printed. For example, from the end-user perspective one area of interest would be powered smart cards, but this might mean printing two types of components; chips and displays:

• Most of the current interest within the PE V3.0 framework is with a class of applications that are clearly strategic in nature with a tendency for them to be low-cost and disposable/short-lived. These points are interrelated in that for very low-cost applications, it may be very hard to achieve economic viability without using functional printing.

• There are also some other applications, which we are including in PE V3.0 where printing is used (or could be used) and there is a chance that it could become strategic in nature, but where “disposability” is not really the issue. Printed mobile and TV displays and printed solar panels are the main examples here. These PE V3.0 applications are mostly characterized by the fact that, although not common, printing is being deployed by one or two firms, in a way that is hard to ignore. 

What this third phase of PE has in common with the previous phase is at the fabrication level. That is, we are again talking about creating fairly complex devices using printing processes. And the motivation at least is fairly strategic; printing is seen as important so that these devices can become fairly ubiquitous. However, there is in this latest phase of PE development, a lot more thought being given to how and why the market could lead to such ubiquity.

Displays for Mobile Devices and Televisions

Mobile displays remain predominantly LCD. These are never printed, nor likely to be. The main alternative to LCDs in cell phones these days is mostly OLEDs, which are growing in importance. However, despite many attempts, there are no active matrix (AM) OLED displays being created using printing at this time, but vacuum thermal deposited (VTE) AMOLED displays are now becoming mainstream in small and large formats.

The one place where printing is already used extensively for mobile displays is in e-readers, where the frontplane market is dominated by E Ink, which already uses a printing/coating process to create its frontplanes.  This is the one example where printing is being used in the AM display industry in any volume, despite many attempts and proposals to extend the use of printing.

Printed Lighting

Electroluminescent (EL) lighting is a form of screen printed lighting that has been used for many years in automotive dashboard and exit signs.  However, it seems likely that EL lighting will decline under an onslaught from OLED lighting.

OLED lighting already exists and reaches consumers primarily in the form of very high priced luminaires. However, some of the most important electronics and lighting firms in the world (GE, Osram, Philips, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, etc.) have begun to manufacture OLED lighting and they are clearly only doing so in the belief that this kind of lighting will eventually reach mass market status and will take a noticeable share of the general illumination market.

 

Printing—or at least solution processing—enters into this because it seems that it is the only fabrication technology that can bring the cost of OLED lighting down to a level where it would become a widely affordable alternative to other forms of lighting in the home or office. In this sense, we see printing as a highly strategic fabrication technology in the OLED sector.

Printed Solar Panels

Over the years, several solar panel firms have made use of printing as a core technology for deposition and patterning of the absorber layer. Until recently, printing has primarily been associated with organic PV (OPV) and dye sensitive cell (DSC) PV, although a few panel firms using more conventional technologies have adopted proprietary printing technologies from time to time:

• The printed PV environment has changed in a number of ways in the past year or two.  First, it now seems less likely to use printing.  The reason for this is that Konarka, the mindshare leader in OPV, and a firm that made extensive use of printing, has gone into bankruptcy.  The firm that seems to be replacing this firm as OPV mindshare leader is Heliatek, which uses regular vacuum deposition.

• Despite the troubles of the PV sector as a whole, CIGS still gets plenty of “airtime.”  This is because it apparently offers high efficiency and substrate flexibility at a reasonable cost.  Printing is already used by a number of firms in the CIGS sector and it is well enough established in the CIGS sector for us to expect it to be a permanent feature here.

Integrated Smart Systems

The evolving "ecosystem" in integrated smart systems involves extensive cooperation between applications developers, materials firms, printers, equipment makers, and a wide range of firms making printed electronic components in order to build a complete printed electronics supply chain that offers integrated, useful products to the marketplace. Key industry partnerships that make up part of this ecosystem include the following two examples:

• Pharmaceutical compliance packaging firm Qolpac recently announced an extended partnership with Dutch based Holst Centre to develop and commercialize smart blister packaging based on OTFTs/OFETs (and other printed electronics components). The Host Centre will prove its printed electronics integration expertise with Qolpac's "therapy adherence" tablet packaging products.

• Pioneering polymer memory firm Thin Film Electronics has, for many years, had several partnerships in place with various other technology firms in the printed electronics arena, but has recently announced the addition of packaging firm Bemis (U.S.) to its circle.  This move is a significant development, because it brings the end-user's perspective—and existing customer base—to the table, and it will allow TFE to more quickly get its polymer memory technology into real-world products.

• The printed battery firm Enfucell, has recently teamed up with Pragmatic Printing Ltd. and Printed Electronics Limited (PEL), two U.K. firms. The goal here is to produce a complete "ecosystem for integrated printed electronics products" that will together "provide all the key technology elements for complete PE products aimed at the consumer, security and novelty markets." The three companies claim that together they have developed an integrated printed electronics concept in business card format.

Summarizing

The market for PE V3.0 components as projected by Nanomarkets for the period 2012-2019 will reach a total aggregated value of $ 14 Bn by 2019. OLEDs for mobile Communications and TV, as well as PV are expected to be the main driver applications.

Materials, manufacturing and processing technologies as well as device integration are at the focal point of the Plastic Electronics Conference & Exhibition each and every year. Presentations on all three aspects of this amazing new technology area, leading to manufacturing from top professionals in the field is acquiring your attention and your attendance. Two highly efficiënt days to get updated.