Applications & Markets

With a month still to go, more than 650 unique attendees from 24 countries have registered for Europe's largest show covering printed electronics and its many variants (flexible, organic and inorganic electronics). As of this week, there are 74 exhibiting companies - the World's largest exhibition on the topic.

With its 135 members all over the world, the OE-A has become a highly dynamic and constantly growing network of leading international companies and institutes in the past five years", said Wolfgang Mildner, Chairman of the OE-A and Managing Director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary celebration of the OE-A - the industry association for organic and printed electronics - in late February at the Holst Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In December 2004, 35 members founded this working group within VDMA. "One of the founding principles of the OE-A five years ago was the goal to build an international industry association to jointly develop this future multi-billion Euro market", emphasized the Chairman of the OE-A. "Cooperation all along the value chain is essential in this phase; no company can achieve it alone."

The traditional electronics manufacturing process is poised for a paradigm shift away from expensive photolithography toward inkjet technology. Carbon nanotubes are enabling this paradigm shift due to their high conductivity and nanoscale size. This combination enables the production of new inks that create the needed conductive paths at much smaller feature sizes than is currently possible.

Interest in Printed Electronics from major consumer brands worldwide is constantly increasing. A testimony to that is the ever-growing number of end-users presenting at the latest IDTechEx Printed Electronics conference this coming April, as well as the variety of industries they represent.

MuTracx BV, a technology spin-out from Océ Technologies, have secured additional funding of US$11.3M for the Lunaris project. Lunaris is an industrialized solution for the jetting of etch resist for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inner layers. The additional funds have been raised from multiple sources and bring the total post spin-out funding to US$17.5M.

SmartKem Ltd, the developer of novel materials and processes that create high resolution microelectronic components directly onto thin flexible materials, today announces the launch of its new website - www.smartkem.com. The easy-to-navigate website offers quick access to information about the innovative SmartKem technique, which is set to revolutionise the rapidly growing printed electronics industry and overcome challenges associated with other printed electronics techniques.

Intel teams up with Glasgow University to facilitate the design of future nanoscale memories A European taskforce has been set up to investigate how to design the next generation of tera-scale computer memory systems.

Enfucell, a Finnish company recognized for its achievements in developing its SoftBattery® technology, has received a 600.000 eur capital injection from its existing and new owners, including Vera Venture and Varma, who have both invested in the company previously.

Nano ePrint partners with Novalia to deliver printed electronic greeting cards for Tigerprint

The success of e-reader technology so far has only wetted the appetite for new devices with more functionality. The Kindle, for all its success, has its limitations and the technology companies behind it are fully aware of that. That is why E Ink, and its parent company PVI, are working intensely on the next generation of e-readers. Requirements include flexibility, the transition from black and white to full colour displays, and switching speeds able to support video playback.

IBM believe they have achieved the highest cut-off frequency so far for any graphene device of 100 billion cycles/second (100 GigaHertz).

Europe's largest event on Printed Electronics, the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe 2010 in Dresden, Germany in April, will reflect new trends in the subject such as carbon nanotubes in conductive paper and transistors, printing silicon for enhancing solar cells, for transistors and other uses and printing copper at a fraction of the cost of silver.

We are on the brink of a new age of Plastic Electronics, production costs are tumbling and business opportunities are growing exponentially, yet companies are slow to take up the innovation challenge, according to research from the Advanced Institute of Management Research.

The e-reader is a killer application involving printed electronics. Despite costing more than an i-Pod, the Amazon Kindle achieved 500,000 unit sales in its first year of trading last year and now we are talking of millions. The i-Pod, an iconic success, only achieved 300,000 unit sales in its first year of trading.

As we enter the New Year IDTechEx look back and summarises some of the main global trends in 2009 and gives some predictions, and indeed areas of opportunity, for the New Year.

The IDTechEx event Printed Electronics USA in San Jose CA December 1-4 retained its position as the world's largest gathering on the subject with 25% growth on the year before. 910 delegates flew in from 25 countries and there were 85 exhibitors, 100 presenters, 8 Masterclasses and many visits in Silicon Valley to centers of excellence in this "next big thing".

IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA Award Winners Announced This week the IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA event opened to more than 900 attendees from 28 countries - by far the World's largest event on the topic. Held in San Jose, CA, the event featured more end users than ever before and grew by almost 25% compared to the same event in 2008. The event featured the annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA Awards ceremony, aimed to recognize outstanding achievement.

Trials have started on patients at St Mary's Hospital London on a wireless digital plaster that tracks vital signs without being hooked up to expensive bedside monitoring equipment.

Over 2,250 organizations around the world are developing an entirely new platform of materials, manufacturing processes and associated equipment for printed electronics. This printed electronics industry will eventually become far larger than the semiconductor industry today

The first cars looked like horse drawn carriages - suboptimal and using the design rules of the past. So it is with most printed electronics today. It is frequently burdened with old fashioned components like silicon chips, cylindrical capacitors, chip resistors and button batteries.

ITN Energy Systems (ITNES), a clean energy and technology incubator, announced that it has been awarded $4.9 million as part of the Department of Energy ARPA-E grant program.

Toumaz Technology announced that it has been named "Emerging Technology Company of the Year" by the National Microelectronics Institute (NMI), the premier trade association representing the semiconductor industry in the UK and Ireland.

Terepac Corporation and IMEC announced their collaboration on novel packaging technologies for flexible electronics.

Collaboration between market leaders designed to speed eBook evolution and enable new product categories.

IDTechEx joins FlexTech Alliance

Ascent Solar announces public offering of common stock and commitment from Norsk Hydro to purchase common stock

Dr Harry Zervos reports from Tokyo an overview of the first day of Printed Electronics Asia, which covered exciting developments in printed electronics and photovoltaics for East Asia.

NSF Spintronics grant will help NC State researchers develop smaller, faster electronic devices

NTERA, Inc., and plastic electronic GmbH have announced they have entered into a license agreement to develop advanced printed electronics products using NTERA's NanoChromics technology.

Printed intelligence to generate new business for industry in the Navarre region in Spain. Required expertise and new business to be built using the roadmap outlined by VTT.

Innovalight has demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion efficiency with silicon-ink processed solar cells.

While materials for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are getting better and better, and encouraging news about record-breaking parameters in efficacy and luminance were published quite recently, one of the major problems in flexible lighting and display devices is still unsolved: the lifetime of such devices is too short, and hence, customers are not ready to pay, no matter how impressive and elegant the systems may look.

Consumer packaged goods companies would like to see more printed electronics providers offering final products rather than just components. Read more about brand enhancement using electronics in packaging.

IDTechEx presented at the well-attended FlexTech Alliance meeting at Binghamton, NY, last week. The session focussed on the use of printed and flexible electronics for medical applications.

Rogers Corporation have recently announced that it has made a strategic investment of $5 million in Solicore, Inc., headquartered in Lakeland, Florida.

$14 million funding will enable Plextronics to continue to advance their OLED lighting and OPV products.

The board of Enfucell has appointed Mr. Marko Hanhikorpi, M. Sc. (Chem. Eng.), eMBA, as new CEO commencing August 12, 2009.

Power Paper's new business model solidifies company standing as the leading developer of paper thin, flexible and environmentally safe, printable micro-electronic clean technology and patches.

Flextech Alliance Awards contract to Etched in Time for linear plasma etch module. System specifically designed for plasma etching dielectric films required in flexible electronics fabrication.

New 256Jet-S printhead from Trident reduces costs and enhances efficiency of solar photovoltaic production processes. This product is first to be launched by Trident Solar, a new division dedicated exclusively to solar inkjet technologies.

The closure of several printed electronics operations has now resulted in phoenix operations rising from the ashes.

NovaCentrix announced that the PulseForge 3100 with Pulse Thermal Processing has been selected by R&D Magazine as a recipient of the 2009 R&D 100 Award in the Process Sciences category.

While some involved in OLEDs and OTFTs are moving out of the business of printed and potentially printed electronics, work on inorganic materials and compounds is increasing. The IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo will give a balanced view with many presentations being World firsts.

Part one of a beginner's guide to electronic components and why we try to print them.

The New University of Lisbon presented a new Ion Jelly® material, which combines a biodegradable polymer (gelatin) with an ionic liquid (IL).

SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. (SWeNT), a leading developer and manufacturer of single-wall carbon nanotubes and specialty multiwall nanotubes will receive up to a $3 million equity infusion for carbon nanotube products from the Insight Technology Capital Partners, LP, (Insight) a growth capital fund based in Troy, Michigan.

The Printed Circuit Board industry is about to become green through the introduction of printed electronics manufacturing processes being developed.

IDTechEx is seeking several exceptional sales candidates.

Plextronics, Inc. has hired two new professionals to focus on manufacturing operations and quality management.