New growth phase for plastic electronics

Sara Ver-Bruggen - 21 Jan 2011

E-readers, smartphones, bags, medicine-compliance packaging - the products that use plastic electronics technology can be counted on one hand, but from 2012 new applications and launches are anticipated.

This makes 2011 a critical year for the industry and its manufacturing partners, as they prepare for the commercial launch of a second wave of applications that will use plastic electronic materials and processing technology.

Juergen Kreis in Aixtron's business development team comments: 'We are seeing efforts in the research of new applications gaining tremendous momentum.'

Many of the industry's near-term successes will be in the replacement of existing processes and materials, in photonics and electronics manufacturing.

Novel

'Some areas of intensive research where we see potential improvements through novel organics materials and production methods are flexible electronics applications, where functional organic films can serve as dielectric or conductive layers, as barriers, or can enable better surface engineering capabilities - for example as hydrophobic or hydrophilic surface treatments, or anti-sticking layers in MEMS.'

These developments may not grab the imagination like the aesthetic potential of an OLED light. Nevertheless they will be critical, providing materials and technology suppliers with much-needed revenues to reinvest in their businesses.

Aixtron, which supplies vacuum processing tools to the semiconductor industry, is seeing lots of demand for LED applications, reflecting the technology's maturity. But Kreis anticipates significant growth of organics applications in the next couple of years, in OLEDs for displays and lighting, and other applications.

Hybrids

He notes: 'We see significant potential in the combination of various materials and therefore also in hybrid structures combining, for instance; organic and inorganic materials; combinations of carbon nanotubes, graphene, polymers, small molecules, inorganic thin films and others.

'Materials could, in combination, yield the performance and properties ultimately necessary to address advanced applications.'

Projects such as the multi-material and multi-application ONE-P have indentified the limitations of current plastic electronics. Through fundamental research into materials, which are incorporated in different types of devices, the project's 28 partners are increasing the industry's chances of penetrating new applications and markets.

The next issue of +Plastic Electronics is a photonics special. A series of articles will investigate the interaction of the photonics and organic electronics, highlight trends for future convergence and assess the barriers to commercialisation.
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