Sensors

Synkera was initially founded as an R&D and incubator company in nanotechnology, with a majority of the revenues coming from contracts under the SBIR program (Small Business Innovation Research). In recent years, the company has observed increased interest in their sensor technology and is now focusing on developing gas sensors for smartphones and mobile devices.

IDTechEx visited Grenoble recently, which has a particularly large concentration of companies working on organic, printed and/or flexible electronics in France.

There is an increasingly greater need for a wide choice of sensors to make objects smarter, safer and more responsive. Printing is the natural way to process wet inks and pastes, and it is therefore no surprise that printing has been used to make sensors for years. But there are new materials appearing, taking advantage of the progress that have been enabled by printed electronics. The article gives an overview of what is currently happening in the field of printed sensors. In particular, we will overview main trends in commercialising printed glucose sensors, force and pressure sensors, image and light sensors, gas sensors and temperature sensors. We will highlight key companies commercialising each printed sensor type.

FUJIFILM Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have developed organic CMOS image sensor technology that uses an organic photoelectric conversion layer with a photoelectric conversion property at the light receiving section of an image sensor to achieve performance beyond that of conventional image sensors.

Arjowiggins is a manufacturer of creative and technical paper. The company has launched PowerCoat, a paper substrate product with unique features focussed for the printed electronics market.

Printed sensors are not a novelty: force sensing resistors (FSR) is a proven technology and are manufactured by screen printing a functional polymer. Interlink Electronics was the first company to commercialize FSR and has more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing them. But there has been a lack of innovation. The company is now looking for new acquisitions and partnerships.

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) has been involved in flexible displays for nearly 10 years. They have a unique expertise in North America and have enjoyed continuous funding from the US Army. They are now putting more focus on non-display applications such as X-ray detection and biochemical sensing.

Visual Planet is a niche Cambridge-based company offering very large-sized transparent touch sensors. Their technology is based on a fine metal wire mesh concept, which enables low-cost but large-sized solutions. They key target markets are interactive digital signage and advertisement. A key selling point is their ability to customize the sensor layout and performance in this fragmented space.

ISORG and Plastic Logic have co-developed the first conformable organic image sensor on plastic, with the potential to revolutionise weight/power trade-offs and optical design parameters for any systems with a digital imaging element.

Cameras fitted with a new revolutionary sensor will soon be able to take clear and sharp photos in dim conditions, thanks to a new image sensor.

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) was founded in 1876 and is one of the largest printing companies in the world. DNP also have enormous expertise in photography, which DNP is leveraging to offer transparent conductive films. DNP manufactures ITO-on-glass and ITO-on-PET. The films are pre-patterned with double side coating. DNP has also developed transparent conductive films based on copper metal mesh and another option based on silver nanowires.

Carestream is a $2.5 billion company with 7,000 employees active in the medical industry. The have a large market share in producing medical imagers and X-rays. They produce approx. 100 million sqm of X-ray films annually using their roll-to-roll machines. They also have a strong know-how in silver chemistry and formulation. These two factors enabled Carestream to enter the transparent conductive film (TCF) market as a vertically integrated entity producing both silver nanowires and continuous roll-to-roll single-side coating on PET.

On Wednesday 17th April 2013 at the IDTechEx 2013 Printed Electronics Europe Conference and Exhibition, PST Sensors announced the commercial release of the first new type of transistor in 65 years.

Tactus Technology Inc is a venture-backed company.

Nanōmix Inc., has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has allowed a patent application relating to flexible nanostructure electronic devices, such as nanotube sensors and transistors, and method for fabricating the same.