Masterclasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

Designed for those who are new to this disruptive technology or need to understand the big picture to assess the challenges and opportunities, this 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 session will cover:

 

 

 

 

This Masterclass will be held in Germanand is designed for German managers, decisions makers, and responsible technical staff, who want to learn more about the potential benefits of the new electronics and photovoltaics beyond conventional silicon. It is business-oriented and should lead to better understanding ofthe opportunities and challenges of this exciting new technology, with examples of products already on the market and visions of what to expect in the near and long-term future.

Dr. Andreas Rückemann, CEO of Heliatek, will be discussing new potentials of the new photovoltaics. Dr. Martin-Schmitt Lewen of printing equipment manufacturer Heidelberg will talk about new printed functionalities and their specific implementation into projects.

1. Applications of printed electronics - now and near future
2. The value chain
3. Assessment of technologies, companies, strategies and progress so far including
   • Thin film transistor circuits (organic, inorganic semiconductors, thin film silicon)
   • Displays (OLEDs, electrophoretic, electroluminescent, electrochromatic and others)
4. Sensors and conductive ink
5. Conductable inks and pastes, sensors and batteries
   • A discussion of manufacturing techniques, their relevancy and challenges
   • Pick of materials
   • Challengesand the roadmap to the full printed electronics toolkit

 

 

 

 

This masterclass is designed to give an overall picture of photovoltaic technologies, from basic principles all the way to current advances. The masterclass is structured as follows:

a. Photovoltaics: Basic principles and operation. Heterojunctions

b. After an overview of underlying principles, further details will be given on specific technologies:

• Organic and hybrid organic/inorganic photovoltaics

• Dye-sensitised solar cells, and

• Thin film technologies (e.g. amorphous silicon, CdTe, CIGS)

• III-V/ II-VI multijunctions

c. Advances/ Cutting Edge Applications

d. Market Analysis

 

 

 

 

 

 

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? It is all covered here by experts in material development. From organic semiconductors to liquid silicon to quantum dots - attend this masterclass to understand the full range of materials, their strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and much more.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

Some of the technical topics newly included this year are:

• How printed electronic circuits differ from conventional circuits: different problems, different opportunities, potential for distributed circuits where the material is the circuit. Exploiting unique physical features now possible including invisible, edible and stretchable circuits
• Significance, in circuit design, of totally new components made possible by thin film and printed technology such as memristors, metamaterial components, ballistic diodes and supercabatteries.
• Reel to reel printing of organic transistors and circuits and their integration into products
• Reel to reel printed organic memory and its integration into products
• Challenges with designing logic in printed electronics, drawing a comparison between conventional ASIC/IC design and printed electronics. Nano ePrint's approach to trying to create convergence between the flows and methodologies required for both, using printed single layer zinc oxide transistors. Challenges of low mobility materials and circuit performance in general.
• Integrating printed OLEDs, transistors and PV cells.
• Roadmapping circuit issues going forward, such as feature size, footprint, possible CMOS or analogues and system integration.

 

 

 

 

 

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. However, life has not proved that simple and most manufacturers and putative manufacturers are now using a variety of printing technologies for the various layers in a given device in order to optimize performance and cost.

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.

All this means that there is a place for ink jet printing but also the various reel to reel printing technologies such as gravure, flexo and rotary screen. However, each must be customized to purpose.

This Masterclass demystifies the how, where, why and what next, bringing the subject alive with many real world examples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. Within ten years we will also see another major development - conventional lighting being replaced with lighting that is laminar and flexible.

This masterclass, led by experts in the field, will guide you through the full range of technologies, market opportunities and challenges, and issues to be resolved. The IP situation will also be covered as will companies in the value chain, along with their positioning and strengths.

 

 

 

 

New topics this year include:

• Creative design using printed electronics PE - benchmarking success at Hasbro, Timberland, Caterpillar, Sears Craftsman, Hallmark, ToysRUs, John Dickinson, Kent, McDonald's, Estee Lauder, Ford, Toyota, GM, Playtex, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Duracell, NTT DoCoMo, Sony and others.
• Getting the technology into branded goods by lowering the risk of what is a very intuitive design process and generally coming at it from the point of view of understanding the consumer experience.
• Lessons from the success of creative PE designers T-Ink USA, Menippos Germany, Power Paper Israel and others. The different approach of printed electronics product designers Zolo and Novalia in the UK.
• Importance of basic hardware platforms - cost down, reliability up, design turnaround faster. How printed electronics is becoming more integrated than the integrated circuit it sometimes replaces - implications for design.

 

 

 

 

RFID is rapidly taking off for a wide range of applications, with the 2.4 billion tags shipped in 2009 rising to over 710 billion tags in 2019. 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, some meeting EPC data specifications. 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. But 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? This Masterclass answers these questions, assesses the technologies and how they work, and the latest progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previous Masterclass delegates have reported: