PHOENIX – Anoraks with printed heating elements. LEDs, non-emitting displays, photovoltaics on rigid substrates. Low-weight, high-rel military applications. These were just some of the uses of printed electronics displayed and discussed at
IDTechEx’s annual Printed Electronics USA in December. More than 300 delegates attended this year's event, which was characterized by demonstrations of market-ready products. Three U.S. military talks illustrated how this sector is still advancing faster than most. Here the objective of reducing the weight of a soldier’s pack by two-thirds was just as important as multipurpose items, such as the tent that doubles as an antenna and photovoltaic power supply. T-Ink demonstrated new applications of existing printed technology such as batteries, sensors, buttons and lights. Flexible OLEDs, as displays, signage or lighting, now look 10 years away, but electrophoretics are already here with flexible versions coming much sooner. Some pundits are forecasting printed flexible OLEDs at low volumes for the next few years, but flexible electrophoretics volumes are predicted to be much higher. Many forms of photovoltaics now look launchable in 2007. Printed thin film transistor circuits remain a year away, but many working samples were displayed. Most agree that a high percentage of printed electronics applications in the next few years will be from applications created from new markets. Some in printed conductors are considering developing semiconductors. Others hope to replace indium tin oxide semi-transparent electrodes in OLEDs, AC electroluminescent displays and so on. Here progress is slow, but
HC Starck is a leader. Conductive plastics with better than resistor-like performance are still elusive. However, these problems are all seen as commercial opportunities. Giants of the chemical, plastics, printing, packaging and electronics industries were all present to see how they could participate in this new industry, with its potential for hundreds of billions of dollars annually, dwarfing the success of the silicon chip.
