Investor confidence in the market for passive barrier films for plastic electronics is increasing with several developers attracting funding to ready their technologies for commercial demand in the next few years.
Kisco has made an investment in a critical, early-stage 'Series A' investment funding round for Tera-Barrier Films (TBF), a spin-out from the Singaporean Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE).
Kisco will also become an exclusive distributor of TBF's products in Asia. Advanced materials specialist Kisco, incorporated in Singapore, has been a partner of the TBF team during the barrier's early development at IMRE.
Samples
Funding will be used to prepare the company to deliver samples of the film to clients for testing and establish production capacity for commercial volumes, in time for demand anticipated in a 3-5 year timeframe.
In Finland technology company Beneq has garnered €9 million from Finnish Industry Investment and private investors to commercialise its nanomaterial thin-films, which include a clear high-barrier film for protecting organic electronics. Other applications for Beneq's technology include optical filters and transparent electrodes to replace indium tin oxide.
Solar
In the UK Innovia Films is supporting a project at the University of Oxford to develop a roll-to-roll vacuum deposition process for depositing organic-inorganic barrier layers for printed and flexible electronics and solar cells.
Barrier or encapsulation layers in plastic electronics devices, such as solar cells, are critical for protecting active components from vapour degradation and extending device lifetimes, enabling them to compete with commercial technologies.
Plastic electronics represent a growing application for moisture-barrier films. According to Pira International the global market for moisture barrier films could be worth $6.08 billion (€4.47 billion) by 2014.
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Tera-Barrier Films
Website for the spin-out from the Singaporean Institute of Materials Research and Engineering
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