Dr Matthew Dyson Senior Technology Analyst

Bio

Matthew is a Senior Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, specializing in printed/organic/flexible/hybrid electronics. Matthew has previously been involved in academic research across a wide range of printed/flexible electronics topics, contributing to 15 scientific papers in well-respected journals and with an h-index of 9. As such he has a comprehensive understanding across the printed/organic/flexible electronics field. Matthew analyses technical innovations and applications across the printed/organic/flexible/hybrid landscape, publishing his analysis on the IDTechEx portal and in reports. He is based in London, UK.

Education

Matthew has a BSc Joint Honours (first class) in Physics and Chemistry from Durham University, providing a broad understanding across both disciplines. After a PGCE and two years teaching physics in London he returned to academia, completing an MRes (with distinction) and PhD in Physics from Imperial College London. This research aimed to better establish processing/structure/property relationships in conjugated polymers, particularly in the context of insulator blends, and was conducted within Imperial College's Centre for Plastic Electronics that spans the Chemistry, Physics and Materials Science departments. More recently, Matthew was a post-doctoral researcher at Eindhoven Technical University as part of an EU funded Innovative Training Network (ITN), focusing primarily on organic photodetectors (OPDs) and sub-bandgap states in conjugated polymers. His research has also included work on hybrid perovskite photovoltaics/photovoltaics and aggregation induced emission materials.

Topics

Matthew covers the printed/organic/flexible/hybrid electronics space, which includes the following (often overlapping) topics:

Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) is an emerging manufacturing methodology that aims to combine the benefits of printed electronics with the functionality offered by mounted components. This enables PCB replacement in with lighter, conformal alternatives across many industries, and includes innovative technologies such as flexible integrated circuits. Matthew previously authored a report on FHE and is currently identifying and analyzing recent developments.

Conductive inks are one of the most developed markets in printed electronics, with screen-printed silver paste used to make conductive fingers on solar panels. However, there is still plenty of innovation in the sector, with the advent of particle-free, stretchable, and copper inks for applications as diverse as e-textiles and in-mold electronics (IME).

Printed sensors span a wide range of applications, ranging from large area image sensors to wearable electrodes. Matthew recently authored an extensive report covering the full gamut of printed sensor applications, which promise to combine sensing capability with flexible form factors and low-cost manufacturing.

Organic semiconductors underpin flexible displays, photovoltaic panels and even some image sensors. Matthew recently authored a report titled 'Materials for printed and flexible electronics', which covers organic semiconductors for OLEDs, OPV and OTFTs along with many other materials.

Transparent conductive films are a crucial technology for displays with capacitive touch and are likely to be increasingly important for transparent heaters in electric vehicles and even transparent antennas. Matthew tracks and analyzes developments in this field, which is especially interesting given the transition from rigid to foldable displays.

3D and additively manufactured electronics covers both established topics such as molded interconnect devices along with emerging technologies such as additively manufactured electronics and in-mold electronics. Printing Matthew has recently completed a report on this intriguing area that has the potential to disrupt both automotive and PCB manufacturing.

Printed/flexible electronics for automotive applications is a recently covered topic that highlights the emerging opportunities as the automotive industry undergoes the transitions to electric power and autonomy.

Photodetectors and image sensors are becoming increasingly important due to the twin drivers of improved machine vision software and the demand for short wave infra-red sensing for autonomous vehicles. Matthew draws on his experience in developing organic photodetectors to deliver technical insight and analysis in this topic and is currently preparing a report on innovations in this sector such as SWIR imaging and event-based vision.

If you would like to discuss an innovative and commercially applicable technology in any of the above (or tangentially related) topics so that it can feature in IDTechEx's reports, please get in touch at m.dyson@idtechex.com.