David Savastano, Editor02.12.14
Flexible electronics is developing new applications and reaching new markets, but has it reached the tipping point? That is the question that 2014FLEX, organized by FlexTech Alliance, focused on during its recent conference Feb. 4-6 in Phoenix, AZ.
2014FLEX drew more than 600 attendees, more than 110 presenters and an exhibition covering the supply chain. With the announcement that the Alliance has set up two new users groups - disposable electronics and wearable electronics - there are clearly opportunities in this field.
Heidi Hoffman of FlexTech Alliance said that 2014FLEX was a success.
“This has been our best conference ever,” Hoffman said. “We broke records in terms of attendance with more than 600 people here. The feedback on talks has been overwhelmingly positive, and our concept of reaching the tipping point has really resonated with our attendees.”
“In terms of attendance, we are at record levels,” added Keith Rollins of DuPont Teijin Films and chairman of the board of the FlexTech Alliance. “The mix of talks here at the conference has been very interesting, ranging from the supply chain to the end user base, and the launching of our two new end users groups is a very exciting development.
The conference began with three Short Courses: Materials, Processes & Tools for Roll-to-Roll Fabrication of Flexible Devices and Electronics; Design Characteristics and Considerations for Flexible Substrates; and Understanding Flexible AMOLED Technology and Market Opportunities.
The full conference began Tuesday, Feb. 4. Rollins offered introductory remarks, noting there were more than 110 presentations scheduled for 2014FLEX, and added that two new users groups - Disposable Electronics and Wearable Electronics - were introduced at the conference.
Cindy Giroux of Corning Inc. discussed “Flexible Glass, Enabling the Future of Electronics,” and the new Willow Glass, which is flexible and scalable to roll-to-roll processing. “Flexible glass plays a critical role in emerging opto-electronic applications,” Giroux added.
Michael McCreary of E Ink followed with “E Ink, Flexible and Printed Electronics, and the ‘Killer App.’” Noting that IHS predicts that the flexible display market will reach $68 billion by 2023, McCreary defined the “killer app” as a the “use of application for a new technology that is so popular (consumer) or useful it drives broad, high volume use of the technology.” He then illustrated how E Ink grew once it developed technologies for eReaders, but first controlled its growth and burn rate.
“Build a sustainable business, don’t try to grow too fast, and be prepared to take quick actions if you over extend,” McCreary said.
Michael Hack, Universal Display Corporation, analyzed “How Flexible OLED Displays Will Curve the Future,” showing opportunities in TVs, mobile phones and lighting, and highlighting the advantages of flexible OLED displays.
Sweta Dash of IHS closed Session 1 with “The Flexible Display Market and Technology: Is It Approaching a Tipping Point?”
“Flexible display is shifting from R&D to commercialization,” Dash noted. “OLED is emerging as the dominant technology for next generation flexible displays.”
Session 2 covered Volume Manufacturing. Thomas Kurfess, Georgia Institute of Technology discussed “Manufacturing, The Road to Success.” Anwar Mohammed, Flextronics International, analyzed “Manufacturing and Reliability Challenges in the Wearable Electronics (WE) Industry,” stressing the importance of partnerships as “win-win strategies for all.”
Rich Baker of SGIA/Integrity Industrial Ink Jet Integration, LLC, covered “Inkjet For Printed Electronics Manufacturing,” reporting that “The traditional inkjet community is very interested in the electronics market and can provide an invaluable source of experience. We will see inkjet used in industrial applications in significant numbers very soon.”
Alex Beavers of SRI offered his insights on “Innovation in 3D Conductors for Wearable Electronics and High Density Packaging.” Beavers covered Averatek Corporation, an SRI spin-off that focuses on catalytic precursor ink technology for printed circuits, medical sensors and wearable electronics.
After lunch, Session 3 discussed New Technologies, starting with Davor Sutija of ThinFilm Electronics, whose topic was “A Smarter Everyday Powered by Printed Electronics.” He noted, for example, that while a silicon sensor system may cost upwards of $11 each, a printed sensor can cost 30 cents to 50 cents. He added that Thin Film projects revenue of $1.5 billion by 2020.
“Thinfilm Memory enables the Internet of Everything,” Dr. Sutija said. “Printing electronics breaks the cost and scalability barriers.”
Kenneth Church, Structural & Printing Emerging Technologies Center, University of Texas at El Paso, discussed “Catalyzing the 3D Revolution,” a look at the state of 3D printing and the opportunities it offers. “When 3D printing (additive manufacturing) incorporates printed electronics, it will be worth a lot of money,” Church said.
Malcolm Thompson, Nano-Bio Medical Consortium (NBMC), offered his insights on “Physiological Monitoring with Printed Devices,” and the present work being conducted by NBMC. John Batey, FlexTech Alliance, closed Feb. 4’s talks with “Launching User’s Groups in Flexible, Printed Electronics (FPE).”
The conference broke into 12 sessions on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Session 4: Flexible Display Manufacturing, included talks by Shinbok Lee, LG Display; Reynaldo Garcia, USSOCOM; Neil Morrison, Applied Materials; Bob Senior, Canatu; and Scott Lauer, Advantech US.
“Flexible is one of keyword for new markets, and the most effective and ultimate candidate of future displays,” Lee said. “R2R is one of candidate technologies for the process of display backplanes.”
Session 5: CNT Technology, was covered by Robert Praino, Chasm Technologies; Sian Fogden, Linde Nanomaterials; Farzam Sajed, Aneeve Nanotechnologies; J. Patrick Frantz, Cambridge Graphene Platform Ltd. and Christopher Landorf, Brewer Science, Inc.
Session 6: Production of Bio-Molecules & Sensors for Bio-Marker Detection, featured presentations by Karl Sandford, DuPont Industrial Biosciences; Michael McAlpine, Princeton University; Rajesh Naik, Air Force Research Lab; and Wu-Sheng Shih, Brewer Science, Inc.
Session 7: TFTS, was covered by Mike Cowin, SmartKem; Michael Strecker, University of Stuttgart/Institute for Large Area Microelectronics; Tomas Backlund Merck Chemicals; Forough Mahmoudabadi, Display Research Lab, Lehigh University; and Venkat Selvamanickam, University of Houston.
“OTFTs offer the most complete technology solution for flexible AMOLED production,” Cowin said. “SmartKem p-FLEX technology platform offers OTFT with full flexibility, excellent stability and performance at short channel lengths. Low temperature solution processed OTFTs will disrupt the display market on cost, new product applications and sustainability.”
Session 8: Process Technology, offered talks by Lorenza Moro, Samsung Cheil Industries, Inc.; Dustin Simon, University of Texas at Dallas; Tim van Lammeren, Holst Centre/TNO; Michelle Stevens, MOCON; and Stephen Hynes, Henkel.
Session 9: Flex Hybrid Electroncis for Monitoring Human Performance, had presentatiosn from Laura Rea, Air Force Research Lab; Azar Alizadeh, GE Global Research; Jeffrey Stuart, Lockheed Martin; and Rich Chaney, American Semiconductor.
Session 10: Breaking News and Late Papers, featured talks by Jiabril Gigli, SAES Getters S.p.A; John Olenick, ENrG Inc,; and Nomikos Spyridon, TEI of Athens.
Session 11: Inspection, started with Mark Bohan, Printing Industries of America; Erik Novak, 4D Technology; Mark Wegner, Northfield Automation Systems; Timothy Potts, Dark Field Technologies, Inc.; and Vijay Patel and Bruce Kahn, Quality Vision Intl.
Session 12: Printing Technology was analyzed Adam Giang, MicroChem Corp; Margaret Joyce, Western Michigan University; Ping Mei, PARC, a Xerox Company; Colleen Twomey, Cal Poly State University; and Xiaoying Rong, Cal Poly State University.
Session 13: Sensors featured talks by Harry Zervos, IDTechEx; Michael Marrs, Flexible Display Center, ASU; Howard Katz, Johns Hopkins University; Vijaya Kayastha, Brewer Science, Inc.; and Ed Brachocki, Kionix & MEMS Industry Group.
Session 14: Printing Systems had discussions led by Thomas Kolbusch, Coatema Coating Machinery; Liam O’Hara, Clemson University; Bruce Kahn, Clemson University; Larissa Nietner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Joe DeBartolo, nLIGHT Corp.
Session 15: Conductive Materials offered presentations by Michele Ricks, EMD Millipore Corporation; Allan Beaudry, University of Alberta; David Schultz, Seashell Technology, LLC; Bianca Rita Pistillo, Centre de Recherche Public - Gabriel Lippmann; and Henda Basti, Ecole des Mines St Etienne.
Session 16: Hybrid Flexible Technology featured talks by Eugene Chow, PARC, a Xerox Company; Doug Hackler, American Semiconductor Inc.; John Heitzinger, Soligie, Inc.; Gregory Whiting, PARC, a Xerox Company; and Murat Okandan, Sandia National Laboratories.
“Practical considerations have led us to a hybrid approach for manufacturing,” Heitzinger said. “Continued advances in flexible silicon and attach processes are beginning to bear fruit.”
The conference’s final seven sessions were held Thursday, Feb. 6.
Session 17: Fabrication on Plastic Substrates, inclded talks by Bill MacDonald, DuPont Teijin Films; P. Marc Carter, IPC; Hylke Akkerman, Holst Centre/TNO; Mike Banach, Plastic Logic; and Richard Price, Pragmatic Printing Ltd.
“Moderate complexity applications are viable now for commercial roll-out,” said Price. “Moderate volume production capability exists now for both imprinted logic circuits and integration.”
Session 18: Systems and Circuits offered presentations by Janos Veres, PARC, a Xerox Company; Neil Graddage, National Research Council Canada; U(Balu) Balachandran, Argonne National Laboratory; James Wang, Powergold; and Ralph Liedert and Terho Kololuoma, VTT- Tech. Research Centre of Finland.
Session 19: Transparent Conductors was led by Thomas Chang, Cima NanoTech; Jeff Parker, Henkel Electronic Materials LLC; Paul Mansky, Cambrios Technologies; Nizamidin Jappar, Kimoto Tech Inc.; and Vishal Shrotriya, Carestream Advanced Materials.
Session 20: Printed Devices offered presentations by Vivek Subramanian, UC Berkeley; Torbjörn Eriksson, Thin Film Electronics; TseNga Ng, PARC, a Xerox Company; Wudyalew Wondmagegn, Frostburg State University; and Jeff Parker, Henkel Electronic Materials LLC.
Session 21: Biomedical Devices included talks from Ioannis Kymissis, Columbia University; David Arreaga-Salas, University of Texas at Dallas; Adrian Avendano-Bolivar, Univ. of Texas at Dallas; and John Conley and Xiaosong Du, Oregon State Univ.
Session 22: Manufacturing included Mark Fowles, Frontier Industrial; Neil Morrison, Applied Materials; Cristian Porneala, IPG Photonics; Thomas Todd, Toddco General, Inc.; and Tim Luong, Ceradrop MGI Group.
Session 23: Printing Technology and Displays, was led by Tony Donato, Harper Corporation of America; Boris Kobrin, Rolith, Inc.; Ahmed Busnaina, Northeastern University; Charles Hendee, Tactonic Technologies, LLC; and Barry O’Brien, Flexible Display Center, ASU.
2014FLEX drew more than 600 attendees, more than 110 presenters and an exhibition covering the supply chain. With the announcement that the Alliance has set up two new users groups - disposable electronics and wearable electronics - there are clearly opportunities in this field.
Heidi Hoffman of FlexTech Alliance said that 2014FLEX was a success.
“This has been our best conference ever,” Hoffman said. “We broke records in terms of attendance with more than 600 people here. The feedback on talks has been overwhelmingly positive, and our concept of reaching the tipping point has really resonated with our attendees.”
“In terms of attendance, we are at record levels,” added Keith Rollins of DuPont Teijin Films and chairman of the board of the FlexTech Alliance. “The mix of talks here at the conference has been very interesting, ranging from the supply chain to the end user base, and the launching of our two new end users groups is a very exciting development.
The conference began with three Short Courses: Materials, Processes & Tools for Roll-to-Roll Fabrication of Flexible Devices and Electronics; Design Characteristics and Considerations for Flexible Substrates; and Understanding Flexible AMOLED Technology and Market Opportunities.
The full conference began Tuesday, Feb. 4. Rollins offered introductory remarks, noting there were more than 110 presentations scheduled for 2014FLEX, and added that two new users groups - Disposable Electronics and Wearable Electronics - were introduced at the conference.
Cindy Giroux of Corning Inc. discussed “Flexible Glass, Enabling the Future of Electronics,” and the new Willow Glass, which is flexible and scalable to roll-to-roll processing. “Flexible glass plays a critical role in emerging opto-electronic applications,” Giroux added.
Michael McCreary of E Ink followed with “E Ink, Flexible and Printed Electronics, and the ‘Killer App.’” Noting that IHS predicts that the flexible display market will reach $68 billion by 2023, McCreary defined the “killer app” as a the “use of application for a new technology that is so popular (consumer) or useful it drives broad, high volume use of the technology.” He then illustrated how E Ink grew once it developed technologies for eReaders, but first controlled its growth and burn rate.
“Build a sustainable business, don’t try to grow too fast, and be prepared to take quick actions if you over extend,” McCreary said.
Michael Hack, Universal Display Corporation, analyzed “How Flexible OLED Displays Will Curve the Future,” showing opportunities in TVs, mobile phones and lighting, and highlighting the advantages of flexible OLED displays.
Sweta Dash of IHS closed Session 1 with “The Flexible Display Market and Technology: Is It Approaching a Tipping Point?”
“Flexible display is shifting from R&D to commercialization,” Dash noted. “OLED is emerging as the dominant technology for next generation flexible displays.”
Session 2 covered Volume Manufacturing. Thomas Kurfess, Georgia Institute of Technology discussed “Manufacturing, The Road to Success.” Anwar Mohammed, Flextronics International, analyzed “Manufacturing and Reliability Challenges in the Wearable Electronics (WE) Industry,” stressing the importance of partnerships as “win-win strategies for all.”
Rich Baker of SGIA/Integrity Industrial Ink Jet Integration, LLC, covered “Inkjet For Printed Electronics Manufacturing,” reporting that “The traditional inkjet community is very interested in the electronics market and can provide an invaluable source of experience. We will see inkjet used in industrial applications in significant numbers very soon.”
Alex Beavers of SRI offered his insights on “Innovation in 3D Conductors for Wearable Electronics and High Density Packaging.” Beavers covered Averatek Corporation, an SRI spin-off that focuses on catalytic precursor ink technology for printed circuits, medical sensors and wearable electronics.
After lunch, Session 3 discussed New Technologies, starting with Davor Sutija of ThinFilm Electronics, whose topic was “A Smarter Everyday Powered by Printed Electronics.” He noted, for example, that while a silicon sensor system may cost upwards of $11 each, a printed sensor can cost 30 cents to 50 cents. He added that Thin Film projects revenue of $1.5 billion by 2020.
“Thinfilm Memory enables the Internet of Everything,” Dr. Sutija said. “Printing electronics breaks the cost and scalability barriers.”
Kenneth Church, Structural & Printing Emerging Technologies Center, University of Texas at El Paso, discussed “Catalyzing the 3D Revolution,” a look at the state of 3D printing and the opportunities it offers. “When 3D printing (additive manufacturing) incorporates printed electronics, it will be worth a lot of money,” Church said.
Malcolm Thompson, Nano-Bio Medical Consortium (NBMC), offered his insights on “Physiological Monitoring with Printed Devices,” and the present work being conducted by NBMC. John Batey, FlexTech Alliance, closed Feb. 4’s talks with “Launching User’s Groups in Flexible, Printed Electronics (FPE).”
The conference broke into 12 sessions on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Session 4: Flexible Display Manufacturing, included talks by Shinbok Lee, LG Display; Reynaldo Garcia, USSOCOM; Neil Morrison, Applied Materials; Bob Senior, Canatu; and Scott Lauer, Advantech US.
“Flexible is one of keyword for new markets, and the most effective and ultimate candidate of future displays,” Lee said. “R2R is one of candidate technologies for the process of display backplanes.”
Session 5: CNT Technology, was covered by Robert Praino, Chasm Technologies; Sian Fogden, Linde Nanomaterials; Farzam Sajed, Aneeve Nanotechnologies; J. Patrick Frantz, Cambridge Graphene Platform Ltd. and Christopher Landorf, Brewer Science, Inc.
Session 6: Production of Bio-Molecules & Sensors for Bio-Marker Detection, featured presentations by Karl Sandford, DuPont Industrial Biosciences; Michael McAlpine, Princeton University; Rajesh Naik, Air Force Research Lab; and Wu-Sheng Shih, Brewer Science, Inc.
Session 7: TFTS, was covered by Mike Cowin, SmartKem; Michael Strecker, University of Stuttgart/Institute for Large Area Microelectronics; Tomas Backlund Merck Chemicals; Forough Mahmoudabadi, Display Research Lab, Lehigh University; and Venkat Selvamanickam, University of Houston.
“OTFTs offer the most complete technology solution for flexible AMOLED production,” Cowin said. “SmartKem p-FLEX technology platform offers OTFT with full flexibility, excellent stability and performance at short channel lengths. Low temperature solution processed OTFTs will disrupt the display market on cost, new product applications and sustainability.”
Session 8: Process Technology, offered talks by Lorenza Moro, Samsung Cheil Industries, Inc.; Dustin Simon, University of Texas at Dallas; Tim van Lammeren, Holst Centre/TNO; Michelle Stevens, MOCON; and Stephen Hynes, Henkel.
Session 9: Flex Hybrid Electroncis for Monitoring Human Performance, had presentatiosn from Laura Rea, Air Force Research Lab; Azar Alizadeh, GE Global Research; Jeffrey Stuart, Lockheed Martin; and Rich Chaney, American Semiconductor.
Session 10: Breaking News and Late Papers, featured talks by Jiabril Gigli, SAES Getters S.p.A; John Olenick, ENrG Inc,; and Nomikos Spyridon, TEI of Athens.
Session 11: Inspection, started with Mark Bohan, Printing Industries of America; Erik Novak, 4D Technology; Mark Wegner, Northfield Automation Systems; Timothy Potts, Dark Field Technologies, Inc.; and Vijay Patel and Bruce Kahn, Quality Vision Intl.
Session 12: Printing Technology was analyzed Adam Giang, MicroChem Corp; Margaret Joyce, Western Michigan University; Ping Mei, PARC, a Xerox Company; Colleen Twomey, Cal Poly State University; and Xiaoying Rong, Cal Poly State University.
Session 13: Sensors featured talks by Harry Zervos, IDTechEx; Michael Marrs, Flexible Display Center, ASU; Howard Katz, Johns Hopkins University; Vijaya Kayastha, Brewer Science, Inc.; and Ed Brachocki, Kionix & MEMS Industry Group.
Session 14: Printing Systems had discussions led by Thomas Kolbusch, Coatema Coating Machinery; Liam O’Hara, Clemson University; Bruce Kahn, Clemson University; Larissa Nietner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Joe DeBartolo, nLIGHT Corp.
Session 15: Conductive Materials offered presentations by Michele Ricks, EMD Millipore Corporation; Allan Beaudry, University of Alberta; David Schultz, Seashell Technology, LLC; Bianca Rita Pistillo, Centre de Recherche Public - Gabriel Lippmann; and Henda Basti, Ecole des Mines St Etienne.
Session 16: Hybrid Flexible Technology featured talks by Eugene Chow, PARC, a Xerox Company; Doug Hackler, American Semiconductor Inc.; John Heitzinger, Soligie, Inc.; Gregory Whiting, PARC, a Xerox Company; and Murat Okandan, Sandia National Laboratories.
“Practical considerations have led us to a hybrid approach for manufacturing,” Heitzinger said. “Continued advances in flexible silicon and attach processes are beginning to bear fruit.”
The conference’s final seven sessions were held Thursday, Feb. 6.
Session 17: Fabrication on Plastic Substrates, inclded talks by Bill MacDonald, DuPont Teijin Films; P. Marc Carter, IPC; Hylke Akkerman, Holst Centre/TNO; Mike Banach, Plastic Logic; and Richard Price, Pragmatic Printing Ltd.
“Moderate complexity applications are viable now for commercial roll-out,” said Price. “Moderate volume production capability exists now for both imprinted logic circuits and integration.”
Session 18: Systems and Circuits offered presentations by Janos Veres, PARC, a Xerox Company; Neil Graddage, National Research Council Canada; U(Balu) Balachandran, Argonne National Laboratory; James Wang, Powergold; and Ralph Liedert and Terho Kololuoma, VTT- Tech. Research Centre of Finland.
Session 19: Transparent Conductors was led by Thomas Chang, Cima NanoTech; Jeff Parker, Henkel Electronic Materials LLC; Paul Mansky, Cambrios Technologies; Nizamidin Jappar, Kimoto Tech Inc.; and Vishal Shrotriya, Carestream Advanced Materials.
Session 20: Printed Devices offered presentations by Vivek Subramanian, UC Berkeley; Torbjörn Eriksson, Thin Film Electronics; TseNga Ng, PARC, a Xerox Company; Wudyalew Wondmagegn, Frostburg State University; and Jeff Parker, Henkel Electronic Materials LLC.
Session 21: Biomedical Devices included talks from Ioannis Kymissis, Columbia University; David Arreaga-Salas, University of Texas at Dallas; Adrian Avendano-Bolivar, Univ. of Texas at Dallas; and John Conley and Xiaosong Du, Oregon State Univ.
Session 22: Manufacturing included Mark Fowles, Frontier Industrial; Neil Morrison, Applied Materials; Cristian Porneala, IPG Photonics; Thomas Todd, Toddco General, Inc.; and Tim Luong, Ceradrop MGI Group.
Session 23: Printing Technology and Displays, was led by Tony Donato, Harper Corporation of America; Boris Kobrin, Rolith, Inc.; Ahmed Busnaina, Northeastern University; Charles Hendee, Tactonic Technologies, LLC; and Barry O’Brien, Flexible Display Center, ASU.