David Savastano, Editor06.12.13
As LOPE-C (Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics) 2013 enters into its second day in Munich, attendees are seeing new applications, materials and equipment. Exhibitors report that there is a strong sense of optimism for the future of organic, flexible and printed electronics.
Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), which sponsors LOPE-C in conjunction with Messe Munchen, said that the OE-A sees constantly growing interest in exhibitors, visitors and conference speakers.
“The OE-A is growing,” Dr. Hecker said. “We now have more than 220 members, and we have an over-proportional growth from the end-user industry. There are important indicators that this industry is moving from lab to fab and entering more and more markets. These are very positive signals, but there remains a lot of work from technological and business side. These topics are discussed in the new OE-A roadmap.”
Wolfgang Mildner, managing director at PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG and LOPE-C2013 chairman, said that the value that printed electronics offers end-users is increasing.
“The field of printed electronics shows increased value to customers in more and more application fields,” Mildner added. “Industries like automotive, consumer electronics, home appliance, health care and so on use printed electronics components for their products and systems. Printed electronics offer value because of better cost, thinner, light weight or better flexibility, and are therefore easier to integrate.”
Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix, noted that NovaCentrix continues to move toward high-volume production applications with Tier 1 clients using its PulseForge tools and Metalon conductive inks.
“This is a key indicator that printed electronics technologies have gained mainstream acceptance,” Farnsworth added.
Lou Panico, CEO of Xenon Corporation, said that the printed electronics field is clearly moving forward in both R&D and production applications.
“We have more than 70 customer R&D installations worldwide using Xenon’s Sintering tools,” Panico said. “One R2R line running for six months is producing displays. Two new production lines are due to be shipped in early July. We are in the ‘process qualified’ stage with three other customers. We are helping to drive the printed electronics market with our pulsed light technology for applications including RFID tags, silver nanowires for touch panel and membrane switches.”
“As can be seen by the attendance at LOPE-C and the near-daily news stories in popular media, functional products made via printing methods have reached a critical mass,” said Dr. Kai K.O. Baer, managing director at adphos Digital Printing GmbH. “From our vantage point, as a long-time supplier to commercial printers, we see ‘smart packaging’ as a significant growth area.”
Nicolas Bernardin, deputy managing director and co-founder of Ceradrop, said that Ceradrop is excited by the growth of industrial contacts, with concrete requirements up to detailed specification for specific application they are working on as end-users.
“Since the historical activity that equipment providers launched with labs and technical transfer centers or platforms, we are really observing right now the beginning of these requested transfers into the industrial field,” Bernardin added. “From our point of view, the printed electronics market is really entering the industrialization step, especially for organic photovoltaics (OPV) applications, where we are working on the inkjet printing production line for the manufacturing of tailor-made organic PV modules in the context of the project called Inkjet OPV and led by DisaSolar.
Bernardin said that hybrid processing offers opportunities for the near-term.
“Our present feeling is that the production on an industrial scale of components 100% made by printing processes is a goal that will only be achieved in a medium term,” Bernardin said. “We strongly believe in the short-term use of hybrid processes where innovative printing techniques are inserted into existing production lines as complementary processes.”
Dr. Wolfgang Schmidt of Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG said that there is more work to be done before printing complex systems can be achieved.
“There is certainly still some work to do until more complex devices can be manufactured in a standard printing environment,” Dr. Schmidt noted. “The new edition of the OE-A roadmap gives a realistic view of what can be achieved on short, medium and long term. We are highly dedicated to support the further development of printed electronics by further designing and supplying high-end paper grades for this exciting technology.”
Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG and OE-A chairman, said that printed electronics is moving towards real market opportunities.
“The industry continues to grow organically, and at this point a new killer application is not in sight,” Dr. Kirchmeyer added. “However, it is very encouraging to see more and more practical approaches, e.g. by integration of printed electronic parts and silicon-based components. This approach draws the attention of end users. We see specific interest from the following industries: consumer electronic (e.g. for ITO replacement but also increased interest in OLED); automobile industry (e.g. for conformable displays and touch applications); the pharmaceutical and packaging industry (e.g. for smart packaging, brand protection and advertising); and home furnishing (for design lamps with OLEDs and electronic features).”
Juergen Kreis, director, business development at AIXTRON SE, said that AIXTRON is seeing opportunities for growth in the area of organic electronics, in particular organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), where AIXTRON’s OVPD and PVPD deposition technologies are ideally suited for processing small molecules and polymers in an “all-dry” approach.
“For organic electronics as a whole, the idea of having a fully flexible device is intriguing, but in many cases, the proposed applications are me-too devices, which are only competitive if they could be produced ‘as good as’ their inorganic counterparts yet ideally cheaper,” Kreis said. “This is always a difficult starting point for a new technology.
“For that, we do specifically look for applications where the specific material or process is enabling, as going to organics is not necessarily equivalent to going cheap,” Kreis added. “So, we do definitely address production needs such as throughput and total cost of ownership, yet we do not postulate that everything has to be done with a vapor phase deposition step. Instead, we try to identify processes where an all-dry, fully scalable deposition of functional thin films, high contour conformity and other intrinsic USPs are making the difference between feasible or not.”
Kreis said that there is a sense of realism as to what the different manufacturing processes can achieve, and organic, flexible and printed electronics producers are seeing the advantages of using a combination of approaches.
“Printing as such for now is not in the focus of our activities, but we acknowledge that tremendous effort is being spent to make processes printable, which is specifically interesting whenever in situ patterning is of paramount importance,” Kreis said. “We see on the other hand that printing alone won’t make devices. Hence it will always be one process step among several. Hence the question should be less for the process as there won’t be ‘one serves all,’ but more about applications that are suitable to be addressed – which, then again will, for instance, point to flexible displays, OLEDs for lighting and others.
“In general, I do see ‘the community’ as becoming more realistic than it used to be a couple of years ago with respect to accepting different processes and technologies required to make a product working (vs. formerly postulated ‘all print’ or ‘all coated’ or ‘all something’ approaches),” Kreis concluded. “Demonstrators are becoming more powerful, capturing the interest of a wider audience, which will hopefully lead to more creative people thinking about the ‘right’ applications.”
Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), which sponsors LOPE-C in conjunction with Messe Munchen, said that the OE-A sees constantly growing interest in exhibitors, visitors and conference speakers.
“The OE-A is growing,” Dr. Hecker said. “We now have more than 220 members, and we have an over-proportional growth from the end-user industry. There are important indicators that this industry is moving from lab to fab and entering more and more markets. These are very positive signals, but there remains a lot of work from technological and business side. These topics are discussed in the new OE-A roadmap.”
Wolfgang Mildner, managing director at PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG and LOPE-C2013 chairman, said that the value that printed electronics offers end-users is increasing.
“The field of printed electronics shows increased value to customers in more and more application fields,” Mildner added. “Industries like automotive, consumer electronics, home appliance, health care and so on use printed electronics components for their products and systems. Printed electronics offer value because of better cost, thinner, light weight or better flexibility, and are therefore easier to integrate.”
Stan Farnsworth, vice president of marketing for NovaCentrix, noted that NovaCentrix continues to move toward high-volume production applications with Tier 1 clients using its PulseForge tools and Metalon conductive inks.
“This is a key indicator that printed electronics technologies have gained mainstream acceptance,” Farnsworth added.
Lou Panico, CEO of Xenon Corporation, said that the printed electronics field is clearly moving forward in both R&D and production applications.
“We have more than 70 customer R&D installations worldwide using Xenon’s Sintering tools,” Panico said. “One R2R line running for six months is producing displays. Two new production lines are due to be shipped in early July. We are in the ‘process qualified’ stage with three other customers. We are helping to drive the printed electronics market with our pulsed light technology for applications including RFID tags, silver nanowires for touch panel and membrane switches.”
“As can be seen by the attendance at LOPE-C and the near-daily news stories in popular media, functional products made via printing methods have reached a critical mass,” said Dr. Kai K.O. Baer, managing director at adphos Digital Printing GmbH. “From our vantage point, as a long-time supplier to commercial printers, we see ‘smart packaging’ as a significant growth area.”
Nicolas Bernardin, deputy managing director and co-founder of Ceradrop, said that Ceradrop is excited by the growth of industrial contacts, with concrete requirements up to detailed specification for specific application they are working on as end-users.
“Since the historical activity that equipment providers launched with labs and technical transfer centers or platforms, we are really observing right now the beginning of these requested transfers into the industrial field,” Bernardin added. “From our point of view, the printed electronics market is really entering the industrialization step, especially for organic photovoltaics (OPV) applications, where we are working on the inkjet printing production line for the manufacturing of tailor-made organic PV modules in the context of the project called Inkjet OPV and led by DisaSolar.
Bernardin said that hybrid processing offers opportunities for the near-term.
“Our present feeling is that the production on an industrial scale of components 100% made by printing processes is a goal that will only be achieved in a medium term,” Bernardin said. “We strongly believe in the short-term use of hybrid processes where innovative printing techniques are inserted into existing production lines as complementary processes.”
Dr. Wolfgang Schmidt of Schoeller Technocell GmbH & Co. KG said that there is more work to be done before printing complex systems can be achieved.
“There is certainly still some work to do until more complex devices can be manufactured in a standard printing environment,” Dr. Schmidt noted. “The new edition of the OE-A roadmap gives a realistic view of what can be achieved on short, medium and long term. We are highly dedicated to support the further development of printed electronics by further designing and supplying high-end paper grades for this exciting technology.”
Dr. Stephan Kirchmeyer, Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG and OE-A chairman, said that printed electronics is moving towards real market opportunities.
“The industry continues to grow organically, and at this point a new killer application is not in sight,” Dr. Kirchmeyer added. “However, it is very encouraging to see more and more practical approaches, e.g. by integration of printed electronic parts and silicon-based components. This approach draws the attention of end users. We see specific interest from the following industries: consumer electronic (e.g. for ITO replacement but also increased interest in OLED); automobile industry (e.g. for conformable displays and touch applications); the pharmaceutical and packaging industry (e.g. for smart packaging, brand protection and advertising); and home furnishing (for design lamps with OLEDs and electronic features).”
Juergen Kreis, director, business development at AIXTRON SE, said that AIXTRON is seeing opportunities for growth in the area of organic electronics, in particular organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), where AIXTRON’s OVPD and PVPD deposition technologies are ideally suited for processing small molecules and polymers in an “all-dry” approach.
“For organic electronics as a whole, the idea of having a fully flexible device is intriguing, but in many cases, the proposed applications are me-too devices, which are only competitive if they could be produced ‘as good as’ their inorganic counterparts yet ideally cheaper,” Kreis said. “This is always a difficult starting point for a new technology.
“For that, we do specifically look for applications where the specific material or process is enabling, as going to organics is not necessarily equivalent to going cheap,” Kreis added. “So, we do definitely address production needs such as throughput and total cost of ownership, yet we do not postulate that everything has to be done with a vapor phase deposition step. Instead, we try to identify processes where an all-dry, fully scalable deposition of functional thin films, high contour conformity and other intrinsic USPs are making the difference between feasible or not.”
Kreis said that there is a sense of realism as to what the different manufacturing processes can achieve, and organic, flexible and printed electronics producers are seeing the advantages of using a combination of approaches.
“Printing as such for now is not in the focus of our activities, but we acknowledge that tremendous effort is being spent to make processes printable, which is specifically interesting whenever in situ patterning is of paramount importance,” Kreis said. “We see on the other hand that printing alone won’t make devices. Hence it will always be one process step among several. Hence the question should be less for the process as there won’t be ‘one serves all,’ but more about applications that are suitable to be addressed – which, then again will, for instance, point to flexible displays, OLEDs for lighting and others.
“In general, I do see ‘the community’ as becoming more realistic than it used to be a couple of years ago with respect to accepting different processes and technologies required to make a product working (vs. formerly postulated ‘all print’ or ‘all coated’ or ‘all something’ approaches),” Kreis concluded. “Demonstrators are becoming more powerful, capturing the interest of a wider audience, which will hopefully lead to more creative people thinking about the ‘right’ applications.”