Masterclasses

The ten optional expert-led masterclasses are interactive consultancy sessions. At each masterclass you will have the chance to handle many samples, and take away printed copies of presentations. They will ensure you get the most from the conference and leave with answers to your questions.

For all masterclasses which are being held off site we will provide transport to and from the Congress Center.

MONDAY 4 April Duration: 9:00am - 12:00pm Registration: 8:30am - 9:00am 1 Introduction to Printed Electronics 2 Thin Film Photovoltaics: Principles, Technologies, Markets 3 Printing Technologies Coffee: 10:15am - 10:30am   Lunch: 12:00pm - 12:30pm   Tours: 12:30pm - 2:00pm     Duration: 2:00pm - 5:00pm Registration: 1:30pm - 2:00pm 4 Materials Now Full 5 Printed Electronics - Materials & Technologies (Held in German)   Investment & Partnership Summit

THURSDAY 7 April Duration: 9:00am - 12:00pm Registration: 8:30am - 9:00am 6 Displays & Lighting 7 Creating New Products with Printed Electronics 8 Flexible Substrates, Transparent Conductors & Barriers for Flexible Electronics Coffee: 10:15am - 10:30am   Lunch: 12:00pm - 12:30pm   Tours: 12:30pm - 2:00pm     Duration: 2:00pm - 5:00pm Registration: 1:30pm - 2:00pm 9 RFID & its Progress Towards Being Printed 10 Energy Harvesting & Storage for Small Electronic Devices

1
	Date to be advised Introduction to Printed Electronics

Designed for those who are new to this disruptive technology or need to understand the big picture to assess the challenges and opportunities, this relatively non technical Masterclass will arm you with the latest knowledge of the applications and technology developments involving printed electronics. Led by experts, it is the ideal time to voice your questions as part of the interactive session and learn of the technologies that are available and emerging. The class will cover:

• Applications of printed electronics - now and in the future – creating new markets vs. replacing old electronics.
• The need for printed electronics, value chain and market forecasts.
• Assessment of technologies, companies, strategies and progress so far  These include thin film transistor circuits (organic, inorganic semiconductors, thin film silicon), displays (OLEDs, electrophoretic, electroluminescent, electrochromatic), sensors and conductive inks and finally batteries and actuators.
• A discussion of manufacturing techniques and the need for building blocks.

2
	Date to be advised Thin Film Photovoltaics: Principles, Technologies, Markets

Thin Film Photovoltaics Masterclass - held at the Coatema facility in conjunction with a company tour. If you are selecting this class you will be unable to attend Masterclass 4 which is also being held off site.

Held in the premises of Coatema, this masterclass will include manufacturing demonstrations in the facilities of the company. Attendees will have the opportunity to witness deposition steps in the manufacture of organic solar panels in the Coatema printing presses utilizing inks from collaborators of the company, such as Plextronics. Alongside the deposition demonstrations, there will be contributed technical presentations from Coatema and Plextronics, together with market insight from IDTechEx.

3
	Date to be advised Printing Technologies

In the early years of printed electronics it was believed that one printing technology might be optimal for a given device such as a transistor circuit or flexible display. It was felt that the inks used would be almost entirely organic in nature.   This technical masterclass gives the true situation.  Indeed, it is even common to combine printing of certain layers with spin coating, vacuum deposition and other non-printing technologies for other layers of a given device. Some thin film circuits even incorporate a silicon chip as an interim stage. Another complication is that the active layers in thin film transistors, photovoltaics and other devices now commonly incorporate combined organic and inorganic substances, some in nanoparticle, carbon fullerene or other form.  The class will cover:

• Screen printing.
• The place for ink jet printing and also the various reel to reel printing technologies such as gravure, flexo and rotary screen.
• Customizing to purpose.
•  How, where, why and what next, bringing the subject alive with many real world examples.

4	MC 4 is now full
	Date to be advised Materials

Materials Masterclass - held at Heraeus offices in conjunction with a company tour. If you are selecting this class you will be unable to attend Masterclass 2 which is also being held off site.

The new electronics world of printed electronics can utilize any solution-based material including organic semiconductors, inorganic semiconductors, metallic conductors, nanoparticles, nanotubes and more. This technical masterclass looks at the most important materials used for printed and organic electronics including substrates (paper, plastic, glass, etc). The special focus of this class will be on the most widely used conductive material for the new electronics: PEDOT:PSS. It is held at the premises of Heraeus Clevios in Leverkusen, a company that has been developing and manufacturing this material successfully for many years, and includes an extended company tour.

5
	Date to be advised Printed Electronics - Materials & Technologies (German)

This Masterclass is held in German
The new electronics world of printed electronics can utilize any solution-based material including organic semiconductors, inorganic semiconductors, metallic conductors, nanoparticles, nanotubes and more. This technical masterclass looks at the full range of these different materials, comparing for each one the available chemistries, performance, cost, printability, lifetime and multiple other parameters. The impact of using different print techniques (inkjet, gravure, etc) and substrates (paper, plastic, glass, etc) are also considered from the materials perspective. Who are the major suppliers of materials by type? What are the biggest material challenges? What are the latest emerging materials capable of achieving? What are the printing and coating technologies? How are the design processes for electronic devices and systems affected by the new materials and technologies? It is all covered here by experts in materials, printing, and design. From organic semiconductors to nano silicon, from inkjet to gravure printing - attend this masterclass to understand materials and technologies, their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and much more.

6
	Date to be advised Displays & Lighting

Displays will be one of the largest market segments in printed/organic electronics. For example, Samsung has invested over $500 million in developing next generation OLED displays. Already 70% of the MP3 flash memory music devices use an OLED display. However, OLEDs are just the tip of the iceberg with electroluminescent, electrophoretic and electrochromic displays with unique benefits being commercially used now.  Five micro thick LEDs are also in prospect which will be compatible with printed components though not printed;  LCDs are being printed on flexible substrates. Within ten years we will also see another major development - conventional lighting being replaced with lighting that is laminar and flexible, although several technologies vie for this.
This masterclass, led by experts in the field, will guide you through:

• The full range of technologies, market opportunities and challenges.
• The issues to be resolved. The IP situation will also be covered.
• The companies in the value chain, along with their positioning and strengths.

7
	Date to be advised Creating New Products with Printed Electronics

Creating New Products Masterclass - held at the Future Store in conjunction with a company tour.

Printed and potentially printed electronics is creating many new products given the benefits of the technology compared to conventional electronics, such as thinness, flexibility, cost, ease of manufacture, fast production turn around, "green" technology, power efficiency and more. However there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. For example incremental improvements to existing products are usually failures or at least take a long time to turn profit.   There is increasing work to look beyond replacing conventional electronics such as competing with LCD displays and silicon chip RFID tags, where the price erosion makes the benefits of printed electronics less obvious. Instead we now have smart skin patches using printed batteries, e-book readers - creating a new market, audio paper, moving bill board posters and much more. This innovation will even apply to woven electronics and many other new applications.   This class will feature early adopters and successful suppliers and will cover:

• How lack of creativity is holding the market back.
• Key vertical industries and how they could benefit from the technology,
• The strategy your company should look at to go to market and assessment of timelines to market.

8	Date to be advised Flexible Substrates, Transparent Conductors & Barriers for Flexible Electronics

Flexible substrates used for printed electronics vary from metal foil to various plastic films or paper. This technical Masterclass explains the needs, the options and the future trends for the chemical structure and processing of these substrates to make them suitable for such uses. We also explore how smart substrates leverage printed electronics by variously acting as loudspeakers, microphones, transistor gates, ultrasound emitters, haptic actuators, barrier layers and sensors etc. We explain what products are made possible in this way and what will be possible in future.  This class will cover:

• Market leaders and the  latest progress with flexible barriers.
• Transparent versions.
• Need by component type (displays, lighting, PV etc), current solutions, how they work, and what is still needed.
• The market opportunity for flexible transparent barriers and emerging solutions.

9
	Date to be advised RFID & its Progress Towards Being Printed

RFID is rapidly taking off for a wide range of applications, with the 2.3 billion tags shipped in 2010 rising to over 124 billion tags in 2020. The endgame is the item level tagging of ten trillion items every year and Ubiquitous Sensor Networks USN with at least billions of tags yearly but both call for ultra low-cost. In the case of item tagging they will cost little more than a barcode does today. For Ubiquitous Sensor Networks they must be self powered and under 50 cents each.  Printed RFID is one of the most promising technologies to achieve these objectives - that includes printed transistors, sensors, batteries, microwave reflecting data carriers and antennas where needed. Today, we already have fully printed sub one cent RFID tags. These do not use thin film transistor circuits though and have various performance compromises. Additionally, over 50 companies are developing printed thin film transistor circuits which can mimic the silicon chip and be used as a printed RFID tag.   This class will cover:

• What technologies are involved and  how do these compete with the reducing cost of silicon chips.
• What benefits beyond cost are offered by this new electronics.
• What are the enabling technologies, progress of the leaders, market sizes and timelines? Which are the most suitable applications for printed RFID initially.

10
	Date to be advised Energy Harvesting & Storage for Small Electronic Devices

Energy harvesting is the use of technologies to generate electricity from the environment, which can be used to power electronics and electrics. Different technologies can be employed depending on the energy source. For movement, mechanical harvesters can be used (which can work from electrostatic, piezoelectric and electromagnetic movement), light, thermal, EM transmission or Human. Some versions are now even printed. This masterclasses covers

• All the technologies involved, how they work, and an appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses, relative costs and developments paths.
• Why photovoltaics and electrodynamics are in the lead.
• The leading developers and their market needs along with  IDTechEx forecasts.
• New battery developments are also covered including super capacitors and super-cabatteries.
• Future trends and new technical options.