Printing

A new EU-funded project POLARIC was launched in January 2010 to develop roll-to-roll printing of high-performance organic electronic circuits. The project will revolutionise the way printed electronic circuits are made by combining large-area fabrication methods with high-performance organic electronic circuits on a scale not previously attempted.

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.

Semprius is one of 4 to be awarded funding for their novel technology to develop high performance concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules using their patented micro-transfer printing technology.

New start-up company Aneeve Nanotechnologies may be able to provide consumer based easy to use sensors that detect oestrogen and progesterone hormone levels in menopausal women.

Applied Laser Technology, Inc. (ALT) has announced new laser processing capabilities aimed directly at the printed electronics marketplace. These include large area machining, drilling, cutting, marking, and trimming capabilities, utilizing multiple wavelengths of lasers for addressing a wide range of materials.

OTB Solar and Trident Solar today announce a partnership for bringing innovative, cost-saving inkjet technologies to the solar market.

ImageXpert's JetXpert system has been chosen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal agency that works to advance measurement science, to perform accurate and repeatable volume and velocity measurements of single, in-flight droplets.

UniJet a world leader in industrial inkjet systems and innovation has signed a representation agreement with Designlynx Engineering to market their inkjet technology in the United States. Product information can be found at www.unijet.co.kr .

Western Michigan University and Daetwyler R&D Corporation partnership. The AccuPress printing system is Daetwyler R&D's high-precision gravure press for the printing of sheet-fed, layer-to-layer applications. The unit includes many features to maintain the high-accuracy required for printed electronics uses. The unit is scheduled to be delivered to WMU in April of 2010.

Room temperature preparation of conductive silver features using spin-coating and inkjet printing

SonoPlot, Inc. have announced the release of the company's new GIX Microplotter II printing instrument at the Printed Electronics USA 2009 show in San Jose, CA.

PARC showcasing material characterization, application development, and full system prototyping capabilities at Printed Electronics USA 2009

Belair cuts out ancillary services to focus solely on its 30-year flex/PCB production - with enhancements.

Middleton, WI. Dec. 2, 2009. SonoPlot, Inc. today announced the release of the companyʼs new GIX Microplotter II printing instrument at the Printed Electronics USA 2009 show in San Jose, CA.

Aerotech's Enhanced Throughput Module (ETM) improves positioning performance of high-dynamic motion systems by directly measuring unwanted motion of the machine base and communicating it back to the controller for compensation.

Xerox announces silver ink technology

IDTechEx recently interviewed Taiyo America (Carson City, NV), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo based Taiyo Ink.

PolyIC presents highly conductive transparent, high-resolution structures on film

Development kit to instantly print electrical circuits -Methode Electronics, Inc

The Australian research community will soon have access to one of the most powerful nanotechnology instruments in the world, able to write and etch data on particles ten thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair.

ANT130-L Direct-Drive Linear stage offers long travel, smooth cog-free motion, and nanometer accuracy

In the years leading up to its commercial-use of printed electronics, Belair Microelectronics found many of the initial prophecies about printed electronics replacing the printed circuit board industry to be exaggerated. Instead, what it found was a technology capable of enabling an entire new line of products that was not before possible.

MacDermid Autotype, the leading European manufacturer of specialised hard coated films and chemicals, has launched Autotype PLUS GOLD, a photo-stencil emulsion specifically designed for high tolerance electronics screen printing

Printed silicon transistors are now receiving increasing attention because they can provide good transistor characteristics at low cost on flexible substrates, including high frequency performance.

The engine of the new printed electronics will be printed transistors on flexible substrates that can be one tenth to one hundredth of the cost of those in simple silicon chips.

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

NanoGram Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of advanced materials and solutions for optical, electronic and energy applications, has announced the successful fabrication of the first thin film transistor (TFT) produced by ambient printed nanosilicon to reach a carrier mobility of 2.0 cm2/Vs.

Speaking in Frankfurt this week, Division Manager Karsten Ries of Mekoprint Graphic Electronics said that his company has been printing mobile phone antennas, mobile phone speaker membranes, antennas in side view mirrors of cars and RFID antennas for many years.

Kodak has developed a fast, printing-like process to fabricate high-performance zinc oxide (ZnO) transistors in open atmospheric conditions.

As long as printed RFID is struggling to overcome serious technical and economic difficulties, other alternatives to identify objects stay in focus with several research groups and companies.

In the last year, the burgeoning printed and thin film electronics industry has greatly enhanced its repertoire and changed its priorities, encompassing such things as rapid commercialisation of disposable and invisible electronics.

The subject of energy harvesting making small electronic and electric devices self-sufficient, usually for decades - is changing rapidly.

ImageXpert's JetXpert system combines state of the art, proprietary strobing technology with customized optics and powerful ImageXpert software to provide a flexible platform for analyzing the performance of any print head through drop-in-flight analysis and visualization.

"In a collaborative effort, Clemson University will conduct a holistic approach to packaging sciences, combining many academic disciplines, to learn how to best create packaging, hot to print, fill, seal, ship and recycle, responsibly".

Optomec announced today that Dave Ramahi, Optomec's President/CEO will give a Masterclass presentation on Aerosol Jet Deposition technology for C-Si and Thin Film Photovoltaics at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics conference in Dresden, Germany on April 6th.

iTi Solar has been selected by Solarcoating Machinery GmbH (ScM) of Germany, a supplier of turnkey production line solutions for flexible solar cell fabrication, to provide the first digital inkjet system for its integrated roll-to-roll solar cell manufacturing production line.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics can now print electronic circuitry with copper and/or silver ink using an environmentally friendly and economically viable process. The company is a leader in displays, including OLED and e-paper, and has significant work on thin film transistors. Now it enters inkjet print head and material manufacture.

Optomec's Aerosol Jet system has been used to fully print Carbon NanoTube (CNT) based Thin Film Transistors (TFT) with operating frequencies over 5 Gigahertz (GHz). The work was conducted in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts and Brewer Science, Inc.

imaging Technology international (iTi) Corporation today announced iTi Solar, an equipment manufacturing division established to advance the development of precision industrial inkjet systems that enable solar cell producers to improve production efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs.

TTP and ImageXpert Inc. are pleased to announce a collaboration to supply a complete ink development tool that will speed up inkjet printhead, ink and system development.

Whether printing with a graphics ink or a functional fluid for printed electronics, photovoltaic, coatings or other industrial application, visualization and analysis of jetting parameters is an essential primary step for successful printing or materials deposition.

Soligie, a market leader in the design and manufacture of Printed Electronics and ACreo, a leading Swedish research institute, have announced that they have entered into an agreement for the development and volume manufacturing of Acreo's printed electrochromic display technology, PaperDisplay™.

Soligie, a market leader in design and manufacture of Printed Electronics, has announced that industry veteran Dr. David Fyfe has joined Soligie's Advisory Board.

Rogers will showcase its Printed Electronics and Lighting Solutions at the Printed Electronics USA 2008 show (December 3-4, in San Jose, CA).

The ISRA VISION Smash PCB™ inspection system can be used in printed electronics applications to detect defects to include: mis-registration, shorts, opens, cracks, "mouse bites", and substrate defects.

prelonic build first display - battery modules: fully printed, on one substrate and low-cost. Focused to mass production processes these prototypes will be the base of the starting business in 2009.

IDTechEx's technology analyst Dr Harry Zervos attended GRAPH EXPO 2008 and reports on the innovative technologies that could benefit from the merging of electronics and printing.

Further to the company visits covered in yesterday's article, attendees to the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo last week had the opportunity to visit Dai Nippon Printing, Frontier Carbon Corporation and Toppan Printing. Here we cover some of the highlights.

IDTechEx is famed for organising visits to local centers of excellence. On 30 September, delegates were treated to visits to the University of Tokyo and the skyscrapers of Sony and Toppan Forms in central Tokyo.