This report has been updated. Click here to view latest edition.

If you have previously purchased the archived report below then please use the download links on the right to download the files.

Transparent Conductive Films (TCF) 2017-2027: Forecasts, Markets, Technologies

Assessment of ITO alternatives including silver nanowires, metal mesh, carbon nanotubes, graphene and others

Brand new for 2017
By
Show All Description Contents, Table & Figures List FAQs Pricing Related Content
This report provides the most comprehensive and authoritative view of the transparent conductive film (TCF) industry. In particular, it provides:
 
  • Market forecasts: Granular ten-year market forecasts segmented by application and technology. The forecasts are provided in value and sqm area.
 
  • Technology assessment: Detailed, data-driven and insightful analysis of all the existing and emerging transparent conducting layer technologies including ITO film, ITO glass, silver nanowires, silver nanoparticles, various metal mesh technologies (photolithography, direct printing, embossing, hybrid, and so on), graphene, carbon nanotubes, PEDOT, and others.
 
  • Application analysis: Market size and trend analysis of end applications such mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, smart watches, standalone touch monitors, automotive touch screens by size, AiOs, OLED lighting, in-mold electronics, smart windows, and emerging thin film PV such as OPV, DSSC and perovskites.
 
  • Company profiles: Critical and interview-based assessment and SWOT analysis of more than 40 companies active in the TCF industry. Coverage of 70 other players in the TCF value chain.
 
This report is based upon years of research as we have been tracking and analysing TCF industry since 2008. In this time we have witnessed first-hand the rise and fall of technologies and companies, and correctly predicted the consolidation period of the past few years.
 
For our research, our team has interviewed and profiled all the key users and producers of various types of TCF technologies. Often we enjoy close relationships with the key industry players. Our team has also been independently analysing the markets for many existing and emerging target applications for TCFs for years. For example, we have produced market research reports and bespoke consulting projects on OLED lighting, wearable technology, in-mold electronics, smart windows, OPVs, DSSCs, perovskites, and touch screens. This enables us to assess the market from an application as well as technology point of view.
 
We have attended countless relevant events globally and organized our own sessions on the topic since 2008 in Europe, Asia, and the USA. Our team has also delivered around 20 masterclasses on the topic in different continents. We have also completed more than 12 major consulting projects helping our customers profit from changes in this sector. Our work has covered investment due diligence, custom market research, product positioning, customer development, and growth strategy.
 
This market study is the distilled and processed result of our continuous endeavours. Each year we have learned more about the market trends, the key questions, latest prices, etc, and fine-tuned our analysis, insight and forecasts to reflect the latest.
 
The transparent conductive film (TCF) industry will leave behind its years of sluggish grow to achieve rapid growth, serving a size of more than 60 million square meter (sqm) per year (glass based layers excluded) . Indeed, this industry is entering a new phase. Some ITO alternatives have matured, receiving increasing market adoption. Indeed, IDTechEx Research finds that ITO alternative TCFs will become $400m+ market by 2027, although not all alternatives will benefit equally.
 
New market opportunities are emerging, changing the prospects of various technologies and increasing the demand overall in the coming years. In fact, IDTechEx Research forecasts that these new market opportunities will grow to represent nearly 45% of the total TCF market in 2027, up from <10% in 2017. The usefulness of the strategy of slashing prices to protect market share will have plateaued, bringing more stability to the market.
 
Transparent conductive film market forecast segmented by ITO and ITO alternatives. To see exact values or to understand granular technology split refer to the report. (dotted line): % share of new emerging applications relative to the total TCF market size. New applications represent a major growth opportunity
 
 
Source IDTechEx
Analyst access from IDTechEx
All report purchases include up to 30 minutes telephone time with an expert analyst who will help you link key findings in the report to the business issues you're addressing. This needs to be used within three months of purchasing the report.
Further information
If you have any questions about this report, please do not hesitate to contact our report team at research@IDTechEx.com or call one of our sales managers:

AMERICAS (USA): +1 617 577 7890
ASIA (Japan): +81 3 3216 7209
EUROPE (UK) +44 1223 812300
1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
2.1.ITO glass assessment: performance, manufacture & limitations
2.2.ITO glass in LCD displays
2.3.ITO film assessment: performance, manufacture and market trends
2.4.The Boom and Bust Cycle
2.5.ITO film shortcomings: flexibility
2.6.ITO film shortcomings: limited sheet resistance
2.7.ITO film shortcomings: index matching
2.8.ITO film shortcomings: thinness
2.9.ITO film shortcomings: price falls and commoditization
2.10.Indium prices fluctuations and single-supply-risk
2.11.Recycling comes to the rescue?
2.12.ITO-on-PET production capacity
2.13.Indium-free metal oxides win in high temperature applications
2.14.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: principles
2.15.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: growth and deposition
2.16.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: performance levels and value proposition
2.17.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: flexibility
2.18.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: haze, migration, and single supplier risk
2.19.Comparing manufacturing cost of Ag NW and ITO
2.20.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: existing commercial applications on the market
2.21.Silver nanowire transparent conductive films: latest market developments and news
2.22.Hitach Chemical's TCTF
2.23.Key Ag silver nanowire players
2.24.Metal mesh transparent conductive films: operating principles
2.25.Direct printed metal mesh transparent conductive films: performance
2.26.Direct printed metal mesh transparent conductive films: major shortcomings
2.27.Key players
2.28.Embossing/Imprinting metal mesh TCFs
2.29.Uni-Pixel's metal mesh performance
2.30.Unipixel in commercial products
2.31.Yield issues for embossed metal mesh?
2.32.Conductive Inkjet Technology's photo-patterned metal mesh TCF
2.33.Ateml offloads assets to UniPixel
2.34.O-Film's metal mesh TCF technology
2.35.MNTech's metal mesh TCF technology
2.36.ITRI's approach to transparent conducting films
2.37.Metal mesh TCF is flexible
2.38.Cost breakdown of metal mesh and yield
2.39.SWOT analysis on embossed metal mesh TCFs
2.40.Key players
2.41.Fujifilm's photo-patterned metal mesh TCF
2.42.Toppan Printing's copper mesh transparent conductive films
2.43.Dai Nippon Printing's transparent conductive film technology
2.44.Rolith's novel photo patterning technique
2.45.3M's photo-patterned metal mesh TCF
2.46.Tanaka Metal's metal mesh technology
2.47.LCY's metal mesh technology
2.48.Screen Holding's metal mesh technology
2.49.Consistent Materials' photoresist for metal mesh
2.50.Asahi Kasei ultra-fine roll-to-roll imprinting
2.51.Komura-Tech's gravure offset metal mesh printing
2.52.SWOT analysis on photo patterned metal mesh TCFs
2.53.Key players
2.54.Carbon nanotubes: background
2.55.Basic MWCNT product metrics
2.56.Basic SWCNT product metrics
2.57.CNT production capacity by supplier and CNT type
2.58.Carbon nanotube transparent conductive films: performance
2.59.Carbon nanotube transparent conductive films: performance of commercial films on the market
2.60.Carbon nanotube transparent conductive films: matched index
2.61.Carbon nanotube transparent conductive films: mechanical flexibility
2.62.Carbon nanotube transparent conductive films: stretchability as a key differentiator for in-mould electronics
2.63.Example of 3D touch-sensing surface with CNTs
2.64.Example of wearable device using CNT
2.65.Key players
2.66.Graphene: background
2.67.Numerous ways of making graphene
2.68.Quantitative mapping of graphene morphologies on the market
2.69.Chemical vapour deposition
2.70.The transfer challenge
2.71.Roll-to-roll transfer of CVD graphene
2.72.Novel methods for transferring CVD graphene
2.73.Sony's approach to transfer of CVD process
2.74.Sony's CVD graphene approach
2.75.Wuxi Graphene Film Co's CVD graphene progress
2.76.Wuxi Graphene Film Co's CVD graphene progress
2.77.Production cost of CVD graphene
2.78.Direct CVD graphene growth on an insulating substrate?
2.79.Graphene transparent conductive film: performance levels
2.80.Doping as a strategy for improving graphene TCF performance
2.81.Be wary of extraordinary results for graphene
2.82.Graphene transparent conducting films: flexibility
2.83.Graphene transparent conducting films: thinness and barrier layers
2.84.SWOT analysis on graphene TCFs
2.85.Key players
2.86.PEDOT:PSS
2.87.Patterning PEDOT:PSS
2.88.Performance of PEDOT:PSS has drastically improved
2.89.PEDOT:PSS is now on a par with ITO-on-PET
2.90.PEDOT:PSS is mechanically flexible
2.91.PEDOT:PSS is stretchable and can be thermoformed
2.92.Stability and spatial uniformity of PEDOT:PSS
2.93.Nippon Chemi-Con's polymeric transparent conductive film
2.94.Commercial product using PEDOT:PSS
2.95.Use case examples of PEDOT:PSS TCFs
2.96.Key players
2.97.Fine wire TCF technology
2.98.Performance of fine wire large-sized touch displays on the market
2.99.SWOT analysis on micro wire TCFs
2.100.CimaTech's self-assembled nanoparticle technology
2.101.Examples of Cima Nanotech's technology
2.102.ClearJet's inkjet printed nanoparticle-based TCFs
2.103.E-Fly Corporation's nanoparticle-based TCFs
2.104.Quantitative benchmarking of different TCF technologies
2.105.Technology comparison
3.APPLICATIONS
3.1.Consumer electronic device shipment forecasts
3.2.Smart phones have been growing in size
3.3.Growth in smart phones to come in the low-cost brackets
3.4.Chinese brands are stealing market share in China
3.5.Smart phone market is highly diverse and fragmented
3.6.Different capacitive touch architectures
3.7.Share of different touch screen architectures
3.8.Optical touch systems for large area touch displays
3.9.Assessing different optical touch technologies
3.10.Assessing different optical touch technologies
3.11.Metal mesh in large area capacitive touch screens
3.12.Metal mesh in large area capacitive touch screens
3.13.OLED lighting market
3.14.Latest OLED lighting market announcements
3.15.Integrated substrates for OLED lighting
3.16.Market Forecast for Organic photovoltaics
3.17.Latest news on organic photovoltaics
3.18.Segmented market forecast for flexible OLED displays
3.19.OLED display revenue by technology
3.20.Smart window production capacity by technology & player
3.21.Smart window market projection
4.MARKET FORECASTS
4.1.TCF film prices used in our projections
4.2.Ten-year technology-segmented transparent conducting layer forecasts in $
4.3.Ten-year technology-segmented transparent conducting film forecasts in area
4.4.Ten-year technology-segmented transparent conducting glass forecasts in area
4.5.Ten-year application-segmented for ITO films
4.6.Ten-year application-segmented for ITO glass
4.7.Ten-year application-segmented for silver nanowire TCFs
4.8.Ten-year application-segmented for metal mesh TCFs
4.9.Ten-year application-segmented for PEDOT TCFs
5.COMPANY INTERVIEWS
5.1.Typical properties on PET with bar coater
5.1.Arkema, France
5.2.Blue Nano, USA
5.2.Key performance data characteristics 3M's metal mesh TCFs
5.3.Yielded cost per unit area of TCF for touch panel applications
5.3.Bluestone Global Tech, USA
5.4.C3Nano
5.4.Tiny copper wires can be built in bulk and then "printed" on a surface to conduct current, transparently.
5.5.Eastman Kodak HCF Film
5.5.Cambrios, USA
5.6.Canatu, Finland
5.6.Opportunity for PEDOT in the Display industry
5.7.Performance of PEDOT formulation from Eastman Kodak versus ITO
5.7.Carestream Advanced Materials, USA
5.8.Charmtron Inc
5.8.CNT Ink Production Process
5.9.Target application areas of Eikos
5.9.Chasm(ex SWeNT)
5.10.Cima Nanotech, USA
5.10.Transmittance (%) as a function of wavelength (nm) for organic conductive polymers and ITO.
5.11.Comparison of organic conductive polymers and configuration of the developed organic conductive polymer film
5.11.ClearJet, Israel
5.12.Dai Nippon Printing, Japan
5.12.Gunze's flexible display, presented early 2009
5.13.Picture and pattern of transparent thermally conductive film
5.13.Displax Interactive Systems, Portugal
5.14.Epigem Ltd
5.14.Efficiency of TCF vs cell size
5.15.Indium migration vs other TCFs
5.15.E-Fly Optoelectronic Materials Co., Ltd.
5.16.Goss International Americas, USA
5.16.A schematic giving insight into MNTech's manufacturing process and a table outlining performance levels
5.17.Ga: ZnO films on a glass panel with the inventors and scanning electron images of 3D transparent conducting electrodes
5.17.Graphene Frontiers
5.18.Graphene Laboratories, USA
5.18.The owners of Nicanti
5.19.Nicanti Printaf project
5.19.Graphene Square
5.20.Graphenea
5.20.Transparent conductive film - ELECRYSTA
5.21.Sales and operating profits for Nitto Denko
5.21.Haydale Ltd
5.22.Heraeus, Germany
5.22.Nitto Denko's product offerings for displays including ITO film
5.23.Transparent conductive film using organic semiconductors
5.23.Kimoto
5.24.Komori Corporation
5.24.TCF solutions from Panipol
5.25.Polychem PEDOT Polymer Coating
5.25.Multitaction
5.26.Nanogap, Spain
5.26.Patterned Sample by the New Technology
5.27.JEFF FITLOW -Yu Zhu, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University, holds a sample of a transparent electrode that merges graphene and a fine aluminum grid
5.27.NanoIntegris
5.28.Nanomade
5.28.A hybrid material that combines a fine aluminum mesh with a single-atom-thick layer of graphene
5.29.An electron microscope image of a hybrid electrode developed at Rice University
5.29.Neonode
5.30.OCSiAl
5.30.Roll-to-roll CVD production of very large-sized flexible graphene films
5.31.ITO-on-PET film stack
5.31.O-Film, China
5.32.PolyIC, Germany
5.32.FLECLEAR structure
5.33.Teijin's ELECLEAR ITO film
5.33.Poly-Ink, France
5.34.Promethean Particles
5.34.New metal grid TCF technology developed by Toray
5.35.Etched metal mesh TCF technology developed by Toray
5.35.Seashell Technology, USA
5.36.Showa Denko, Japan
5.36.CNT TCF technology developed by Toray
5.37.Showa Denko K.K
5.38.Sinovia Technologies, USA
5.39.SouthWest NanoTechnologies, USA
5.40.Toppan Printing
5.41.UniPixel, USA
5.42.University of Exeter, UK
5.43.Visual Planet, UK
5.44.Wuxi Graphene Film
5.45.XinNano Materials, Taiwan
5.46.Zytronic, UK
5.47.Zyvex
6.COMPANY PROFILES
6.1.Agfa-Gevaert, Belgium
6.2.3M, USA
6.3.Atmel, USA
6.4.C3Nano, USA
6.5.Chasm Technologies, USA
6.6.Cheil Industries, South Korea
6.7.Chimei Innolux, Taiwan
6.8.Chisso Corp., Japan
6.9.Conductive Inkjet Technologies (Carlco), USA
6.10.Dontech Inc., USA
6.11.Duke University, USA
6.12.Eastman Kodak, USA
6.13.Eikos, USA
6.14.ELK, South Korea
6.15.Evaporated Coatings Inc., USA
6.16.Evonik, Germany
6.17.Fujifilm Ltd, Japan
6.18.Fujitsu, Japan
6.19.Gunze Ltd, Japan
6.20.Hitachi Chemical, Japan
6.21.Holst Center, Netherlands
6.22.Iljin Display, South Korea
6.23.Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (ICES), Singapore
6.24.Join Well Technology Company Ltd., Taiwan
6.25.J-Touch, Taiwan
6.26.KAIST, South Korea
6.27.Komoro, Japan
6.28.KPT Shanghai Keyan Phosphor Technology Co. Ltd., China
6.29.Lee Tat Industrial Development (LTI) Ltd, Hong Kong
6.30.LG Chem, South Korea
6.31.Maxfilm, South Koera
6.32.Mianyang Prochema Plastics Co., Ltd., China
6.33.Mirae/MNTec, South Korea
6.34.Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., Mitsui Ltd., Japan
6.35.Mutto Optronics, China
6.36.Nagase Corporation, Japan
6.37.Nanopyxis, South Korea
6.38.National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
6.39.National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
6.40.Nicanti, Finland
6.41.Nitto Denko, Japan
6.42.Nouvo Film
6.43.Oike & CO., Ltd., Japan
6.44.Oji Paper Group, Japan
6.45.Panipol Ltd., Finland
6.46.Perceptive Pixel, USA
6.47.Polychem UV/EB, Taiwan
6.48.Power Booster, China
6.49.Rice University, USA
6.50.Rolith, USA
6.51.Samsung Electronics, South Korea
6.52.Sang Bo Corporation (SBK), South Korea
6.53.Sekisui Nano Coat Technology Ltd., Japan
6.54.Sheldahl, USA
6.55.Sigma-Aldrich, USA
6.56.Sony Corporation, Japan
6.57.Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Inc., Japan
6.58.Suzutora, Japan
6.59.TDK, Japan
6.60.Teijin Kasei America, Inc. / Teijin Chemical, USA
6.61.Top Nanosys, South Korea
6.62.Toray Advanced Film (TAF), Japan
6.63.Toyobo, Japan
6.64.UCLA, USA
6.65.Unidym, USA
6.66.University of Michigan, USA
6.67.VisionTek Systems Ltd., UK
6.68.Young Fast Optoelectronics, Taiwan
IDTECHEX RESEARCH REPORTS AND CONSULTING
FIGURES
 

About IDTechEx reports

What are the qualifications of the people conducting IDTechEx research?

Content produced by IDTechEx is researched and written by our technical analysts, each with a PhD or master's degree in their specialist field, and all of whom are employees. All our analysts are well-connected in their fields, intensively covering their sectors, revealing hard-to-find information you can trust.

How does IDTechEx gather data for its reports?

By directly interviewing and profiling companies across the supply chain. IDTechEx analysts interview companies by engaging directly with senior management and technology development executives across the supply chain, leading to revealing insights that may otherwise be inaccessible.
 
Further, as a global team, we travel extensively to industry events and companies to conduct in-depth, face-to-face interviews. We also engage with industry associations and follow public company filings as secondary sources. We conduct patent analysis and track regulatory changes and incentives. We consistently build on our decades-long research of emerging technologies.
 
We assess emerging technologies against existing solutions, evaluate market demand and provide data-driven forecasts based on our models. This provides a clear, unbiased outlook on the future of each technology or industry that we cover.

What is your forecast methodology?

We take into account the following information and data points where relevant to create our forecasts:
  • Historic data, based on our own databases of products, companies' sales data, information from associations, company reports and validation of our prior market figures with companies in the industry.
  • Current and announced manufacturing capacities
  • Company production targets
  • Direct input from companies as we interview them as to their growth expectations, moderated by our analysts
  • Planned or active government incentives and regulations
  • Assessment of the capabilities and price of the technology based on our benchmarking over the forecast period, versus that of competitive solutions
  • Teardown data (e.g. to assess volume of materials used)
  • From a top-down view: the total addressable market
  • Forecasts can be based on an s-curve methodology where appropriate, taking into account the above factors
  • Key assumptions and discussion of what can impact the forecast are covered in the report.

How can I be confident about the quality of work in IDTechEx reports?

Based on our technical analysts and their research methodology, for over 25 years our work has regularly received superb feedback from our global clients. Our research business has grown year-on-year.
 
Recent customer feedback includes:
"It's my first go-to platform"
- Dr. Didi Xu, Head of Foresight - Future Technologies, Freudenberg Technology Innovation
 
"Their expertise allows us to make data-driven, strategic decisions and ensures we remain aligned with the latest trends and opportunities in the market."
- Ralf Hug, Global Head of Product Management & Marketing, Marquardt

What differentiates IDTechEx reports?

Our team of in-house technical analysts immerse themselves in industries over many years, building deep expertise and engaging directly with key industry players to uncover hard-to-find insights. We appraise technologies in the landscape of competitive solutions and then assess their market demand based on voice-of-the-customer feedback, all from an impartial point of view. This approach delivers exceptional value to our customers—providing high-quality independent content while saving customers time, resources, and money.

Why should we pick IDTechEx research over AI research?

A crucial value of IDTechEx research is that it provides information, assessments and forecasts based on interviews with key people in the industry, assessed by technical experts. AI is trained only on content publicly available on the web, which may not be reliable, in depth, nor contain the latest insights based on the experience of those actively involved in a technology or industry, despite the confident prose.

How can I justify the ROI of this report?

Consider the cost of the IDTechEx report versus the time and resources required to gather the same quality of insights yourself. IDTechEx analysts have built up an extensive contact network over many years; we invest in attending key events and interviewing companies around the world; and our analysts are trained in appraising technologies and markets.
 
Each report provides an independent, expert-led technical and market appraisal, giving you access to actionable information immediately, rather than you having to spend months or years on your own market research.

Can I speak to analysts about the report content?

All report purchases include up to 30 minutes of telephone time with an expert analyst who will help you link key findings in the report to the business issues you're addressing. This needs to be used within three months of purchasing the report.

What is the difference between a report and subscription?

A subscription from IDTechEx can include more reports, access to an online information platform with continuously updated information from our analysts, and access to analysts directly.

Before purchasing, I have some questions about the report, can I speak to someone?

Please email research@idtechex.com stating your location and we will quickly respond.

About IDTechEx

Who are IDTechEx's customers?

IDTechEx has served over 35,000 customers globally. These range from large corporations to ambitious start-ups, and from Governments to research centers. Our customers use our work to make informed decisions and save time and resources.

Where is IDTechEx established?

IDTechEx was established in 1999, and is headquartered in Cambridge, UK. Since then, the company has significantly expanded and operates globally, having served customers in over 80 countries. Subsidiary companies are based in the USA, Germany and Japan.

Questions about purchasing a report

How do I pay?

In most locations reports can be purchased by credit card, or else by direct bank payment.

How and when do I receive access to IDTechEx reports?

When paying successfully by credit card, reports can be accessed immediately. For new customers, when paying by bank transfer, reports will usually be released when the payment is received. Report access will be notified by email.

How do I assign additional users to the report?

Users can be assigned in the report ordering process, or at a later time by email.

Can I speak to someone about purchasing a report?

Please email research@idtechex.com stating your location and we will quickly respond.
 
ITO alternative films will reach a combined market value of $220m by 2027

Report Statistics

Slides 192
Companies 115
Forecasts to 2027
 

Customer Testimonial

quote graphic
"The resources produced by IDTechEx are a valuable tool... Their insights and analyses provide a strong foundation for making informed, evidence-based decisions. By using their expertise, we are better positioned to align our strategies with emerging opportunities."
Director of Market Strategy
Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)
 
 
 

Subscription Enquiry