11.30.11
Advancements in PE are Leading to Optimism for the Future
As Printed Electronics USA 2011 opens its doors at the Santa Clara Convention Center today, there is much optimism about the growth in the printed electronics (PE) market. That optimism is echoed by many of the exhibitors at the conference, who are seeing more companies looking at how PE can benefit their product portfolio.
“Definitely, the speed of development is impressive,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH. “Just look at the growth of the conference: the show has grown more than 20% in exhibitor numbers compared to the previous event. There are more and more big players from the material supplier world that are moving into the market. In the same way, more and more start-ups are founded and the Asian market especially invests a lot in the PE field. Over time, there is also a movement from small-scale up to semi-production and the new technologies are becoming part of our daily life.”
“We have seen an explosion of activity in our applications lab and facility from global sources specifically for PE,” said Dr. Saad Ahmed, engineering manager for Xenon Corporation. “These have included interest from ink formulators, device manufacturers and industrial process developers.
“As any emerging technology evolves, the areas that see early deployment are those that have specialist needs which are able to sustain the high cost, low volume production requirements.,” Dr. Ahmed added. “The Xenon R&D equipment product range has been very useful to meet the needs of these early technology adopters. By providing these tools at a practical and cost effective point, significant progress by all players has been made. We are at the point now where the technology is entering into the process evaluation for pilot production and small scale production arena. PE is not at the stage for full blown roll-to-roll production, which is the ultimate goal of this technology, but there has been significant progress such that the way forward is reduced to one of scaling and optimization.”
Geir Harald Aase, vice president communications and IR, Thin Film Electronics ASA, said that progress in printed electronics is being made on all fronts, especially in printed logic.
“Novel materials make it possible to print complementary organic circuits, the organic equivalent of CMOS circuitry.,” Aase noted. “This opens up new fields of use, as now our addressable memory can be combined with sensors, power sources and antennas to power smart applications. At the same time we see that the rapid improvement in printing equipment and processes allows high-volume manufacturing of such printed systems.”
“The market has been good,” said Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix. “Customers are moving forward; ink orders that were hundreds of grams are now kilos. There is a lot of interest in our copper inks and our tools, and our shipments are increasing. We just launched our products in Japan, and we’ve had multiple sales. However, while more groups are moving forward, uncertainty is still holding some private investments back.”
“We are working with customers on a number of projects,” said Martin De Moya, sales and service manager, Haiku Tech, Inc. “Our experience ranges from flexible batteries, solar cells, displays and temperature sensors. Our machines are primarily targeted for R&D and pilot production scale.”
“There is no question that the printed electronics market is growing,” said Allen Reid, executive director of NanoGap. “We are seeing growing interest in our conductive inks for applications such as PV and security printing.”
One of the keys for printed electronics is the development of new material and equipment technologies, and there has been much progress in these areas.
“My sense is that a lot of the technical pieces are falling into place, and customers are looking at how printed electronics fits their products,” Farnsworth said.
“Low-cost printed integrated systems and the tagging of everyday objects is possible,” Aase said. “In October, with the Thinfilm Addressable Memory prototype, we demonstrated that one can address an array of memory cells using printed logic. The next step will be to combine other printed electronic components to our memory to make integrated systems. Doing this, we have to explore ‘compatible’ components and work on the printed logic that drives these components and ‘talks’ to the memory. At the same time, we need to adapt and develop materials and printing processes for high-volume manufacturing.”
“Off-the-shelf equipment doesn’t always meet the needs of the customer,” Mr. De Moya noted. “We customize our machines to meet the special requirements of our customers. Our RTP roll-to-roll screen printers from Keko Equipment are ideal for R&D and pilot scale production and provide excellent accuracy on small features and fine lines, while we also have coaters for medium production levels as well.”
“In general, the most significant need for PE to move forward is the availability of a set of end-to-end solutions as demonstrators,” Dr. Ahmed said. “In this way, end users can easily identify solutions for their specific needs. Right now, users want the flexibility to use their ink sources, print technologies and process solutions without being tied down to one technology source. To date, this has been done by forming synergistic strategic alliances between the various players, but refinement is required to actually create demonstrators using the optimal ink with the optimal deposition and sintering process as a packaged end-to-end solution. This task has already been initiated and should see fruition in 2012 with a number of global sites where different groups collaborate and build solutions rather than components of the puzzle.
“In the last year, Xenon Corporation has developed a number of very innovative and successful products for the PE industry,” Dr. Ahmed added. “We shall be showcasing the Sinteron 2010, which is a tool that provides precise control of optical energy for photonic sintering. Also to address the needs of small scale start stop production, the Luxon 300 system will be presented, which creates a very uniform intensity profile over a 12 inch by 12 inch area. Another system that will be presented is the Sinteron 5000, which is a multi-lamp system for roll-to-roll applications. These emerging products show a path that takes PE from R&D to full production.”
“There are some technical hurdles that need to be overcome, like resolution, registration accuracy, layer thickness, pattern on pattern precision, environmental control and an inline quality management loop,” Kolbusch noted. “The other key need is a competitive pricing. PE technologies must have a real price advantage compared to silicon-based technologies.
“At the moment, there are ongoing requests on OLED lighting equipment, as well as OPV and also thin film batteries,” Kolbusch said. “These requests will probably hold on for a while, with a high number of start-ups evolving in this area and also going into the market. The next step for them will be to invest in semi-production lines, but for all this, there needs to be more funding, especially here in Europe as the Asian market is getting more active. In the long term, we need to establish stable markets for printed electronics so that there will be a complete vertical value chain in those areas in the end.”
With these gains being made, PE suppliers throughout the supply chain are optimistic about the coming years.
“We know printed electronics is growing, and we see new applications coming forward every day,” Mr. De Moya said.
“There’s increased demand for new materials such as our silver nanofibers, which is an alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO),” Reid noted. “Our outlook is positive.”
“We are expanding our facilities and making select additions to our technical team on the application side,” Farnsworth said. “Our installed base is large enough that we needed more people in the field to do on-site support. We are very optimistic.”
“Near-term, we are targeting toys and games with our contact-based fully-printed memories,” Aase said. “We have established a supply chain, with InkTec as our main production partner, and are ready to meet the demand for low-cost high-volume consumer applications. Several leading toy manufacturers have purchased the Thinfilm Toy Development Kit and are evaluating specific toy concepts based on Thinfilm Memory.
“Our vision is ‘memory everywhere,’” Aase added. “The demonstration of Thinfilm's Addressable Memory is a significant step toward the vision of a world filled with the ‘Internet of things,’ where everything is connected via a smart tag. System products are integrated systems that combine Thinfilm's memory technology with other printed components. The target markets for Thinfilm Addressable Memory system products include NFC (Near Field Communications) tags, now available in Android phones, which enable device to device communication and have been predicted to, one day, be on all new objects. Thinfilm also targets sensor tags and disposable price labels. The addressable memory can be integrated with other printed components, such as antennas and sensors, to create fully printed systems for interaction with everyday objects and the "Internet of things" where the temperature of food and drugs are monitored or retail items are tracked individually rather than by pallet, container or truckload with a simple tap of an NFC enabled phone.”
“Over the last year, Xenon has seen sales of PE related equipment skyrocket,” Dr. Ahmed concluded, “In many aspects, commercial success stories are hard to come by, not because they are few but rather that they are typically shrouded in NDAs and corporate confidentiality. Based on the successes, customer feedback and subsequent sales, it is clear that the future for PE is bright and that it is an area that is seeing an accelerated and healthy growth. Though it will be a while before it can compete to replace standard PCBs, in niche areas such as displays, batteries, smart sensors, RFID and flexible electronics PE has shown that small scale deployment is a reality today, and large scale production is a clear and achievable long term objective.”
As Printed Electronics USA 2011 opens its doors at the Santa Clara Convention Center today, there is much optimism about the growth in the printed electronics (PE) market. That optimism is echoed by many of the exhibitors at the conference, who are seeing more companies looking at how PE can benefit their product portfolio.
“Definitely, the speed of development is impressive,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president, Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH. “Just look at the growth of the conference: the show has grown more than 20% in exhibitor numbers compared to the previous event. There are more and more big players from the material supplier world that are moving into the market. In the same way, more and more start-ups are founded and the Asian market especially invests a lot in the PE field. Over time, there is also a movement from small-scale up to semi-production and the new technologies are becoming part of our daily life.”
“We have seen an explosion of activity in our applications lab and facility from global sources specifically for PE,” said Dr. Saad Ahmed, engineering manager for Xenon Corporation. “These have included interest from ink formulators, device manufacturers and industrial process developers.
“As any emerging technology evolves, the areas that see early deployment are those that have specialist needs which are able to sustain the high cost, low volume production requirements.,” Dr. Ahmed added. “The Xenon R&D equipment product range has been very useful to meet the needs of these early technology adopters. By providing these tools at a practical and cost effective point, significant progress by all players has been made. We are at the point now where the technology is entering into the process evaluation for pilot production and small scale production arena. PE is not at the stage for full blown roll-to-roll production, which is the ultimate goal of this technology, but there has been significant progress such that the way forward is reduced to one of scaling and optimization.”
Geir Harald Aase, vice president communications and IR, Thin Film Electronics ASA, said that progress in printed electronics is being made on all fronts, especially in printed logic.
“Novel materials make it possible to print complementary organic circuits, the organic equivalent of CMOS circuitry.,” Aase noted. “This opens up new fields of use, as now our addressable memory can be combined with sensors, power sources and antennas to power smart applications. At the same time we see that the rapid improvement in printing equipment and processes allows high-volume manufacturing of such printed systems.”
“The market has been good,” said Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix. “Customers are moving forward; ink orders that were hundreds of grams are now kilos. There is a lot of interest in our copper inks and our tools, and our shipments are increasing. We just launched our products in Japan, and we’ve had multiple sales. However, while more groups are moving forward, uncertainty is still holding some private investments back.”
“We are working with customers on a number of projects,” said Martin De Moya, sales and service manager, Haiku Tech, Inc. “Our experience ranges from flexible batteries, solar cells, displays and temperature sensors. Our machines are primarily targeted for R&D and pilot production scale.”
“There is no question that the printed electronics market is growing,” said Allen Reid, executive director of NanoGap. “We are seeing growing interest in our conductive inks for applications such as PV and security printing.”
One of the keys for printed electronics is the development of new material and equipment technologies, and there has been much progress in these areas.
“My sense is that a lot of the technical pieces are falling into place, and customers are looking at how printed electronics fits their products,” Farnsworth said.
“Low-cost printed integrated systems and the tagging of everyday objects is possible,” Aase said. “In October, with the Thinfilm Addressable Memory prototype, we demonstrated that one can address an array of memory cells using printed logic. The next step will be to combine other printed electronic components to our memory to make integrated systems. Doing this, we have to explore ‘compatible’ components and work on the printed logic that drives these components and ‘talks’ to the memory. At the same time, we need to adapt and develop materials and printing processes for high-volume manufacturing.”
“Off-the-shelf equipment doesn’t always meet the needs of the customer,” Mr. De Moya noted. “We customize our machines to meet the special requirements of our customers. Our RTP roll-to-roll screen printers from Keko Equipment are ideal for R&D and pilot scale production and provide excellent accuracy on small features and fine lines, while we also have coaters for medium production levels as well.”
“In general, the most significant need for PE to move forward is the availability of a set of end-to-end solutions as demonstrators,” Dr. Ahmed said. “In this way, end users can easily identify solutions for their specific needs. Right now, users want the flexibility to use their ink sources, print technologies and process solutions without being tied down to one technology source. To date, this has been done by forming synergistic strategic alliances between the various players, but refinement is required to actually create demonstrators using the optimal ink with the optimal deposition and sintering process as a packaged end-to-end solution. This task has already been initiated and should see fruition in 2012 with a number of global sites where different groups collaborate and build solutions rather than components of the puzzle.
“In the last year, Xenon Corporation has developed a number of very innovative and successful products for the PE industry,” Dr. Ahmed added. “We shall be showcasing the Sinteron 2010, which is a tool that provides precise control of optical energy for photonic sintering. Also to address the needs of small scale start stop production, the Luxon 300 system will be presented, which creates a very uniform intensity profile over a 12 inch by 12 inch area. Another system that will be presented is the Sinteron 5000, which is a multi-lamp system for roll-to-roll applications. These emerging products show a path that takes PE from R&D to full production.”
“There are some technical hurdles that need to be overcome, like resolution, registration accuracy, layer thickness, pattern on pattern precision, environmental control and an inline quality management loop,” Kolbusch noted. “The other key need is a competitive pricing. PE technologies must have a real price advantage compared to silicon-based technologies.
“At the moment, there are ongoing requests on OLED lighting equipment, as well as OPV and also thin film batteries,” Kolbusch said. “These requests will probably hold on for a while, with a high number of start-ups evolving in this area and also going into the market. The next step for them will be to invest in semi-production lines, but for all this, there needs to be more funding, especially here in Europe as the Asian market is getting more active. In the long term, we need to establish stable markets for printed electronics so that there will be a complete vertical value chain in those areas in the end.”
With these gains being made, PE suppliers throughout the supply chain are optimistic about the coming years.
“We know printed electronics is growing, and we see new applications coming forward every day,” Mr. De Moya said.
“There’s increased demand for new materials such as our silver nanofibers, which is an alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO),” Reid noted. “Our outlook is positive.”
“We are expanding our facilities and making select additions to our technical team on the application side,” Farnsworth said. “Our installed base is large enough that we needed more people in the field to do on-site support. We are very optimistic.”
“Near-term, we are targeting toys and games with our contact-based fully-printed memories,” Aase said. “We have established a supply chain, with InkTec as our main production partner, and are ready to meet the demand for low-cost high-volume consumer applications. Several leading toy manufacturers have purchased the Thinfilm Toy Development Kit and are evaluating specific toy concepts based on Thinfilm Memory.
“Our vision is ‘memory everywhere,’” Aase added. “The demonstration of Thinfilm's Addressable Memory is a significant step toward the vision of a world filled with the ‘Internet of things,’ where everything is connected via a smart tag. System products are integrated systems that combine Thinfilm's memory technology with other printed components. The target markets for Thinfilm Addressable Memory system products include NFC (Near Field Communications) tags, now available in Android phones, which enable device to device communication and have been predicted to, one day, be on all new objects. Thinfilm also targets sensor tags and disposable price labels. The addressable memory can be integrated with other printed components, such as antennas and sensors, to create fully printed systems for interaction with everyday objects and the "Internet of things" where the temperature of food and drugs are monitored or retail items are tracked individually rather than by pallet, container or truckload with a simple tap of an NFC enabled phone.”
“Over the last year, Xenon has seen sales of PE related equipment skyrocket,” Dr. Ahmed concluded, “In many aspects, commercial success stories are hard to come by, not because they are few but rather that they are typically shrouded in NDAs and corporate confidentiality. Based on the successes, customer feedback and subsequent sales, it is clear that the future for PE is bright and that it is an area that is seeing an accelerated and healthy growth. Though it will be a while before it can compete to replace standard PCBs, in niche areas such as displays, batteries, smart sensors, RFID and flexible electronics PE has shown that small scale deployment is a reality today, and large scale production is a clear and achievable long term objective.”