David Savastano, Editor12.08.10
Now that Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics USA 2010 is now concluded, it is a good time to take a look at what the conference shows in terms of the state of the PE industry.
On the one hand, there were plenty of interesting breakthroughs showcased, most notably work being done by Printechnologics, T-Ink and Thin Film Electronics. There were also plenty of end-user talks that focused on present and future opportunities for printed electronics in fields ranging from photovoltaics and displays to sensors, printed batteries and much more.
One telling sign was the growth of the conference in terms of attendance. Because of the economy, most trade shows have trended downward in recent years. PE & PV USA 2010 did quite the opposite; with more that 1,200 people coming to the conference, the show’s attendance jumped roughly 50 percent from last year, a strong indication that there is increasing interest in the PE field.
“We are very pleased with the event based on excellent feedback from exhibitors, sponsors and attendees that I have had,” said Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, the conference’s organizer. “Attendance in Santa Clara exceeded 1,200 attendees, and the free samples we gave and Demonstration Street seemed to be liked.
“There was much more talk of applications and many more demonstrators available than before,” Das added. “New announcements from Printechnologics, Soligie, PARC, Applied Nanotech, Thin Film Electronics, PST Sensors and others were exciting. The keynotes ranged from aerospace, media/advertising, toys/consumer goods, military, etc., which highlights the diverse applications of printed electronics and that many end users in these verticals are serious about using the technology. I think the next two years are going to be very exciting for printed electronics.”
Day 2 Highlights
On Thursday, Dec. 2, the conference broke up into four concurrent tracks. In Track 1, the focus was on a wide variety of topics, ranging from Textiles (Eeonyx, Stanford University and University of California); Stretchable Electronics (MC10); Printed RFID (Kovio, PolyIC and Sunchon National University); Carbon Nanotubes (Vorbeck Materials, Brewer Science, Contour Energy System and SouthWest NanoTechnologies); MetaMaterials (California Institute of Technology) and Printed Electronics EcoSystem (PARC, Soligie, VTT and IDTechEx).
Track 2 covered a range of end-use applications, including displays, healthcare, logic and memory and ITO replacement. The talks centered around Conformal/Flexible Displays (Cambridge Display Technology, Kent Displays, Liquavista and Sun Chemical); Healthcare (TagSense, Biomedical Diagnostics Institute and Information Mediary Corporation); Logic & Memory (Thin Film Electronics, 3M and Hewlett-Packard); and ITO Replacement (Heraeus Clevios, Agfa Materials and Eastman Kodak Company).
Track 3 covered photovoltaics and batteries. Presenters discussed Photovoltaic Markets (IDTechEx and Navigant Consulting); Inorganic Photovoltaics (IDTechEx, HelioVolt, Arizona State University, Stanford University, GE Global Research Center, Advanced Technology Group of Applied Materials and the Institute of Material Research and Engineering); and Laminar Batteries (The Paper Battery Company, Cymbet and Planar Energy Devices).
Track 4 covered Printing Electronics (Optomec, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Jeju National University, Daetwyler R&D, OTB USA, NovaCentrix, Aixtron AG, Cabot Superior MicroPowders, EP Printing Systems and Innophysics BV); Insight from Material Suppliers (Orthogonal and Polyera Corporation); and Printed Silicon (University of Cape Town and NanoGram).
Among the highlights of these sessions, Dr. Jamshid Avloni, president and CEO of Eeonyx, analyzed smart fabrics and the use of smart fabric heaters and fabric switches, which utilize thin film coatings.
Dr. Billy J. Stanbery, president and CEO of HelioVolt, announced during his talk that the company just reached 11.5 percent module efficiency on its CIGS cells, which are printed at high speed on metal foil using the company’s proprietary FASST process. Dr. Stanbery added that HelioVolt’s roadmap calls for 16 percent efficiency by 2014.
Dr. Rich Fletcher, research scientist for TagSense and MIT, discussed opportunities for medical applications, covering infants through the elderly.
“The biggest opportunity for wireless wearable sensors is long-term monitoring at home. These are traditionally expensive, but a lot less expensive with printable sensors. There is a need for storing data, longer memory life and conductivity,” Dr. Fletcher noted.
Dr. Wolfgang Clemens, head of applications for PolyIC, analyzed "Printed Electronics Applications from Transparent Conductive Films to Printed RFID." These include transparent conductive films and printed sensors, smart objects and components.
“Printed electronics has huge market potential,” Dr. Clemens concluded.
Dr. Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film Electronics, showcased his company’s advances in his talk, "From Stand-Alone Memory to Printed Systems." He noted that printed transistors will have numerous advantages, including being inexpensive, disposable, manufacturing at high volume, using very low power and being metal surface compatible.
“We believe that these transistors are now ready,” Dr. Sutija said.
Feedback from Exhibitors
Exhibitors noted that they saw strong interest in the field of printed electronics.
“I think the conference was good, and about what I expected,” said Roderik Hoppener, president of Haiku Tech. “We met with a number of good potential customers, and there seems to be increasing interest in the U.S. to invest, while start-up companies are looking to take the next step.”
“The show was quite successful,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH. “I would say that 30 to 40 percent of the visitors were people we haven’t seen before. It also seems that start-up activity is up.”
“We have some very high level prospects,” said Jim Boeder, director of sales and marketing for ImTech. “W are talking with the right people at the right companies. This has been a good venue for us.”
“This exhibition is better than past years,” said David Wald, IIMAK’s senior manager, business development. “There have been good questions, better traffic and it seems like we have more substantial leads.”
“It has been very productive,” said John Lettow, president of Vorbeck Materials. “We are catching up with past contacts as well as generating new interest.”
“We’re seeing printers here who are looking at ways they can enter the market,” said Michael Mastropietro, program manager for PChem Associates.
“We’ve had very good traffic,” said Louis Panico, CEO of Xenon Corporation. “It seems like there are a number of people here are getting a taste for printed electronics, and are feeling that they have got to get going before they are left behind.”
“The focus was good,” said Chris Walker, director of imaging and rotary technologies for Preco, Inc. “You could get right to the matter with the people who came to our booth.”
“The show has been good,” Geir Aase, vice president communications and IR, Thin Film Electronics, concluded. “We’ve had good traffic as well as great attendance at our talk. We have had a broad range of visitors to our booth, quite a few who are new to the field, which shows the interest in printed electronics and post-silicon electronics.”
One telling sign was the growth of the conference in terms of attendance. Because of the economy, most trade shows have trended downward in recent years. PE & PV USA 2010 did quite the opposite; with more that 1,200 people coming to the conference, the show’s attendance jumped roughly 50 percent from last year, a strong indication that there is increasing interest in the PE field.
“There was much more talk of applications and many more demonstrators available than before,” Das added. “New announcements from Printechnologics, Soligie, PARC, Applied Nanotech, Thin Film Electronics, PST Sensors and others were exciting. The keynotes ranged from aerospace, media/advertising, toys/consumer goods, military, etc., which highlights the diverse applications of printed electronics and that many end users in these verticals are serious about using the technology. I think the next two years are going to be very exciting for printed electronics.”
Day 2 Highlights
On Thursday, Dec. 2, the conference broke up into four concurrent tracks. In Track 1, the focus was on a wide variety of topics, ranging from Textiles (Eeonyx, Stanford University and University of California); Stretchable Electronics (MC10); Printed RFID (Kovio, PolyIC and Sunchon National University); Carbon Nanotubes (Vorbeck Materials, Brewer Science, Contour Energy System and SouthWest NanoTechnologies); MetaMaterials (California Institute of Technology) and Printed Electronics EcoSystem (PARC, Soligie, VTT and IDTechEx).
Track 3 covered photovoltaics and batteries. Presenters discussed Photovoltaic Markets (IDTechEx and Navigant Consulting); Inorganic Photovoltaics (IDTechEx, HelioVolt, Arizona State University, Stanford University, GE Global Research Center, Advanced Technology Group of Applied Materials and the Institute of Material Research and Engineering); and Laminar Batteries (The Paper Battery Company, Cymbet and Planar Energy Devices).
Among the highlights of these sessions, Dr. Jamshid Avloni, president and CEO of Eeonyx, analyzed smart fabrics and the use of smart fabric heaters and fabric switches, which utilize thin film coatings.
Dr. Billy J. Stanbery, president and CEO of HelioVolt, announced during his talk that the company just reached 11.5 percent module efficiency on its CIGS cells, which are printed at high speed on metal foil using the company’s proprietary FASST process. Dr. Stanbery added that HelioVolt’s roadmap calls for 16 percent efficiency by 2014.
“The biggest opportunity for wireless wearable sensors is long-term monitoring at home. These are traditionally expensive, but a lot less expensive with printable sensors. There is a need for storing data, longer memory life and conductivity,” Dr. Fletcher noted.
Dr. Wolfgang Clemens, head of applications for PolyIC, analyzed "Printed Electronics Applications from Transparent Conductive Films to Printed RFID." These include transparent conductive films and printed sensors, smart objects and components.
Dr. Davor Sutija, CEO of Thin Film Electronics, showcased his company’s advances in his talk, "From Stand-Alone Memory to Printed Systems." He noted that printed transistors will have numerous advantages, including being inexpensive, disposable, manufacturing at high volume, using very low power and being metal surface compatible.
“We believe that these transistors are now ready,” Dr. Sutija said.
Feedback from Exhibitors
Exhibitors noted that they saw strong interest in the field of printed electronics.
“The show was quite successful,” said Thomas Kolbusch, vice president of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH. “I would say that 30 to 40 percent of the visitors were people we haven’t seen before. It also seems that start-up activity is up.”
“We have some very high level prospects,” said Jim Boeder, director of sales and marketing for ImTech. “W are talking with the right people at the right companies. This has been a good venue for us.”
“It has been very productive,” said John Lettow, president of Vorbeck Materials. “We are catching up with past contacts as well as generating new interest.”
“We’re seeing printers here who are looking at ways they can enter the market,” said Michael Mastropietro, program manager for PChem Associates.
“We’ve had very good traffic,” said Louis Panico, CEO of Xenon Corporation. “It seems like there are a number of people here are getting a taste for printed electronics, and are feeling that they have got to get going before they are left behind.”
“The show has been good,” Geir Aase, vice president communications and IR, Thin Film Electronics, concluded. “We’ve had good traffic as well as great attendance at our talk. We have had a broad range of visitors to our booth, quite a few who are new to the field, which shows the interest in printed electronics and post-silicon electronics.”