David Savastano, Editor06.15.10
For printed electronics (PE) to continue to move forward, it will take further developments in terms of new applications and processes, and there is an impressive array of global research leaders working in various fields of PE.
In the UK, the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) is active in PE, having formed the Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC), a business unit of CPI, in Sedgefield.
Historically, the northeastern part of England is the home of significant materials and process industries such as chemicals, films and steel. The local regional development agency, One North East (ONE), along with the UK government, supported the creation of CPI in 2004 in order to develop new products and industries in the UK. CPI works to convert research and inventions into commercial process industries.
In turn, CPI formed PETEC in March 2009 with an eye toward the potential of PE. In addition to working in the PE market, CPI operates the national industrial biotechnology facility as well as providing innovation support to other sustainable processing, nanomaterials and process intensification.
Dr. Kevin McAloon, director of business development for PETEC, said that PE was a natural fit for CPI, as it already had expertise and important equipment in place.
“One of CPI's original process facilities is a state-of-the-art roll-to-roll (R2R) vacuum sputtering facility, which was designed and developed jointly with North East neighbor DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) some five years ago to realize some promising opportunities principally in the electronics industry,” Dr. McAloon said. “This facility is jointly owned between DTF and PETEC and continues to be an important contributor to the PETEC capability in PE through its work in the development of barrier films.”
Under its original design, the vacuum sputtering facility enabled the deposition of inorganic coatings, metal and metal oxide coatings onto flexible film substrates. Dr. McAloon said it was clear then that there was a strong pull from the market place for flex R2R products and processes, including flexible high performance barrier layers for a number of industries, including energy, packaging and electronics. Hence, the idea for creating PETEC was born.
“In developing the technology, it was clear most film products with superior barrier performance needed to be inorganic-organic layer hybrid coating structures, and so CPI's interest was awakened in seeing the potential for precision R2R deposition of organic coatings in several important opportunities with a strong focus on OE and PE,” Dr. McAloon said. “From that base, an opportunity was seen to establish a flagship centre for PE, namely, PETEC.
“In building the case for a new PETEC center, it became apparent that the potential for organic/plastic/printable electronics was considerable with many organizations throughout the world planning to explore the field and many needing support in developing and scaling up a variety of technologies, including important additive printing technologies,” he added. “Hence we perceived a strong need, and PETEC was therefore born to help interested collaborating partners meet their business and technology needs.”
PETEC brings tremendous experience to the PE market. PETEC Sedgefield is home to some of the world’s most advanced prototyping equipment and laboratories for developing printed electronics, including a 600 square meter class 1000 cleanroom (class 100 lithography area); currently work is in progress to essentially double this capacity by 2011.
PETEC Wilton houses the flexible electronics substrate facility, including a Class 1000 Clean Room housing the R2R vacuum sputter coater and facilities for testing the barrier properties of plastic substrates. Recent innovations at the Wilton Centre include tailored substrates for clients developing flexible PV cells, TFT displays and solid-state energy-efficient lighting.
This versatile equipment set is managed by expert technologists with a strong background in PE processes. PETEC has brought together a team of leading experts from the materials, semiconductor, displays, advanced lighting industries with solid expertise in formulated materials, process operations from lab to fab including pilot and full-scale manufacture of various display technologies.
As a result, PETEC is now being regarded as a UK national prototyping center and supports at a national and international scale a range of different industries and companies with a solid or an emerging interest in PE through publicly and commercially funded co-operations.
“PETEC not only supports these collaboration projects as an active participant but also acts as the catalyst for the initiation and coordination of a number of important public projects,” Dr. McAloon said. “An example of this is the Northern Way project which attempts to galvanize a supply chain in PE in the North of England. This involves both industrial and academic partners participating in various collaborating work groups in materials, processes and applications development in a range of industries (displays, lighting, packaging, etc) where PETEC with its partners attempts to demonstrate considerable benefits in realizing new improved products or processes in PE.”
PETEC has focused its initial efforts in displays mostly in collaboration with external partners such as Arizona State University’s (ASU) Flexible Display Center.
“We aim to help industrial and academic clients develop processes and bring products to market quickly, cost effectively and with minimal risk,” Dr. McAloon noted.
“In displays, PETEC is developing organic TFT backplane technologies for both reflective and emissive displays. PETEC has projects helping materials companies maximize the performance of some of their organic semiconductors and peripheral materials in OTFT arrays, but also supports some FPD companies by prototyping and characterizing OTFT arrays, which are subsequently integrated into a display product. The collaboration with the FDC part of ASU is concerned with addressing the process, integration, and reliability requirements for OTFT backplanes used in a wide variety of flexible display platforms, such as E Paper and OLED.”
Dr. McAloon said that organic photovoltaics (OPV) and smart systems are areas of opportunity for PETEC in the future.
“In the medium term, as the team increases in size, plans are in hand to extend activities into OPV and Integrated Smart Systems,” he said. “In all areas, PETEC hopes to leverage its materials formulation, processing and prototyping expertise in helping advance these technologies.”
Dr. McAloon said that while he wonders about the forecasts being issued about PE’s sales, he sees great potential ahead for printed electronics.
“Some market commentators speak of how the total PE market can be valued at hundreds of billions over the next one to two decades, and even produce precise forecast revenue numbers for the market sub-segments,” Dr. McAloon said. “But I would ask how can they be so precise when the market is at the beginning with many opportunities still to be identified?
“I would contend that on the basis of accelerating PE activities of the hundreds of companies throughout the world, operating as materials, equipment, component and device manufacturing companies spread over a number of industries, all that can be said is that undoubtedly the emerging PE industry has huge potential but precisely how big it will become, and how it will be structured, no one really knows at this early stage,” McAloon added. “But for sure, it will be different to today’s view, and therefore exciting times lie ahead.”
Dr. McAloon said there are a myriad of unique projects and creative ideas using PE, some real today, such as examples of demo products including all printed PCBs, and Sony’s all printed flex OLED display which was shown at SID this year, as well as emerging high resolution printing techniques including microcontact, letterpress reverse and non-impact printing, to name but a few. The projects that lie ahead may be even more impressive.
“There are others still some way in the future, ranging from roll down flexible large area emissive displays, creative planar and 3D multicolored lighting concepts, high information content flex small area displays perhaps operated by OPV power sources which can be integrated onto textiles including apparel allowing the wearer on the move to be constantly informed about matters of specific importance to him or her,” Dr. McAloon concluded. “Who needs the inconvenience of carrying a laptop or a new Apple tablet when you can carry your personalized comms center as an attachment to your clothes? Perhaps the limit to uniqueness in the development and application of PE is our imagination.”
Historically, the northeastern part of England is the home of significant materials and process industries such as chemicals, films and steel. The local regional development agency, One North East (ONE), along with the UK government, supported the creation of CPI in 2004 in order to develop new products and industries in the UK. CPI works to convert research and inventions into commercial process industries.
In turn, CPI formed PETEC in March 2009 with an eye toward the potential of PE. In addition to working in the PE market, CPI operates the national industrial biotechnology facility as well as providing innovation support to other sustainable processing, nanomaterials and process intensification.
Dr. Kevin McAloon, director of business development for PETEC, said that PE was a natural fit for CPI, as it already had expertise and important equipment in place.
“One of CPI's original process facilities is a state-of-the-art roll-to-roll (R2R) vacuum sputtering facility, which was designed and developed jointly with North East neighbor DuPont Teijin Films (DTF) some five years ago to realize some promising opportunities principally in the electronics industry,” Dr. McAloon said. “This facility is jointly owned between DTF and PETEC and continues to be an important contributor to the PETEC capability in PE through its work in the development of barrier films.”
“In developing the technology, it was clear most film products with superior barrier performance needed to be inorganic-organic layer hybrid coating structures, and so CPI's interest was awakened in seeing the potential for precision R2R deposition of organic coatings in several important opportunities with a strong focus on OE and PE,” Dr. McAloon said. “From that base, an opportunity was seen to establish a flagship centre for PE, namely, PETEC.
“In building the case for a new PETEC center, it became apparent that the potential for organic/plastic/printable electronics was considerable with many organizations throughout the world planning to explore the field and many needing support in developing and scaling up a variety of technologies, including important additive printing technologies,” he added. “Hence we perceived a strong need, and PETEC was therefore born to help interested collaborating partners meet their business and technology needs.”
PETEC brings tremendous experience to the PE market. PETEC Sedgefield is home to some of the world’s most advanced prototyping equipment and laboratories for developing printed electronics, including a 600 square meter class 1000 cleanroom (class 100 lithography area); currently work is in progress to essentially double this capacity by 2011.
PETEC Wilton houses the flexible electronics substrate facility, including a Class 1000 Clean Room housing the R2R vacuum sputter coater and facilities for testing the barrier properties of plastic substrates. Recent innovations at the Wilton Centre include tailored substrates for clients developing flexible PV cells, TFT displays and solid-state energy-efficient lighting.
This versatile equipment set is managed by expert technologists with a strong background in PE processes. PETEC has brought together a team of leading experts from the materials, semiconductor, displays, advanced lighting industries with solid expertise in formulated materials, process operations from lab to fab including pilot and full-scale manufacture of various display technologies.
As a result, PETEC is now being regarded as a UK national prototyping center and supports at a national and international scale a range of different industries and companies with a solid or an emerging interest in PE through publicly and commercially funded co-operations.
“PETEC not only supports these collaboration projects as an active participant but also acts as the catalyst for the initiation and coordination of a number of important public projects,” Dr. McAloon said. “An example of this is the Northern Way project which attempts to galvanize a supply chain in PE in the North of England. This involves both industrial and academic partners participating in various collaborating work groups in materials, processes and applications development in a range of industries (displays, lighting, packaging, etc) where PETEC with its partners attempts to demonstrate considerable benefits in realizing new improved products or processes in PE.”
PETEC has focused its initial efforts in displays mostly in collaboration with external partners such as Arizona State University’s (ASU) Flexible Display Center.
“We aim to help industrial and academic clients develop processes and bring products to market quickly, cost effectively and with minimal risk,” Dr. McAloon noted.
“In displays, PETEC is developing organic TFT backplane technologies for both reflective and emissive displays. PETEC has projects helping materials companies maximize the performance of some of their organic semiconductors and peripheral materials in OTFT arrays, but also supports some FPD companies by prototyping and characterizing OTFT arrays, which are subsequently integrated into a display product. The collaboration with the FDC part of ASU is concerned with addressing the process, integration, and reliability requirements for OTFT backplanes used in a wide variety of flexible display platforms, such as E Paper and OLED.”
Dr. McAloon said that organic photovoltaics (OPV) and smart systems are areas of opportunity for PETEC in the future.
“In the medium term, as the team increases in size, plans are in hand to extend activities into OPV and Integrated Smart Systems,” he said. “In all areas, PETEC hopes to leverage its materials formulation, processing and prototyping expertise in helping advance these technologies.”
Dr. McAloon said that while he wonders about the forecasts being issued about PE’s sales, he sees great potential ahead for printed electronics.
“Some market commentators speak of how the total PE market can be valued at hundreds of billions over the next one to two decades, and even produce precise forecast revenue numbers for the market sub-segments,” Dr. McAloon said. “But I would ask how can they be so precise when the market is at the beginning with many opportunities still to be identified?
“I would contend that on the basis of accelerating PE activities of the hundreds of companies throughout the world, operating as materials, equipment, component and device manufacturing companies spread over a number of industries, all that can be said is that undoubtedly the emerging PE industry has huge potential but precisely how big it will become, and how it will be structured, no one really knows at this early stage,” McAloon added. “But for sure, it will be different to today’s view, and therefore exciting times lie ahead.”
Dr. McAloon said there are a myriad of unique projects and creative ideas using PE, some real today, such as examples of demo products including all printed PCBs, and Sony’s all printed flex OLED display which was shown at SID this year, as well as emerging high resolution printing techniques including microcontact, letterpress reverse and non-impact printing, to name but a few. The projects that lie ahead may be even more impressive.
“There are others still some way in the future, ranging from roll down flexible large area emissive displays, creative planar and 3D multicolored lighting concepts, high information content flex small area displays perhaps operated by OPV power sources which can be integrated onto textiles including apparel allowing the wearer on the move to be constantly informed about matters of specific importance to him or her,” Dr. McAloon concluded. “Who needs the inconvenience of carrying a laptop or a new Apple tablet when you can carry your personalized comms center as an attachment to your clothes? Perhaps the limit to uniqueness in the development and application of PE is our imagination.”