Jul 21 2009
While some involved in OLEDs and OTFTs and moving out of the business of printed and potentially printed electronics, work on inorganic materials and compounds is increasing, and is at least half of the effort on the topic as a whole and will continue to be so. That is why the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo on Sept 30 - Oct 1 gives this balanced view, with 40 speakers from 13 countries.
Covering the recent surge in activity in zinc oxide transistors, Dr Flora Li from the University of Cambridge, UK, presents on the fabrication and stability of Indium Zinc Oxide deposited at low temperature. Zinc Oxide is transparent and offers higher mobility compared to that of aSi or organic TFTs, and is therefore of great focus to display companies as a backplane technology, particularly for OLEDs. In contrast, Professor Elvira Fortunato presents on transistors on paper, where the paper substrate also doubles as the transistor dielectric. The Tokyo Institute of Technology also present on inorganic transistor developments.
Japan's largest printing and packaging companies, Dai Nippon Printing and Toppan Printing, with revenues of approximately $16 billion each, will be presenting on their latest printed transistor work, as will the $80 billion consumer electronics giant Sony. Indeed, attendees joining the hosted company visits have the opportunity to visit these companies, including Toppan Forms and Hodogaya Chemical.
Reinventing organic electronics
While a shakeout in organic TFT developers continues, there is increased interest in the higher performance organic carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Earlier this year Fujitsu, Japan, demonstrated carbon nanotube and graphene transistors, the later with a mobility of 2000cm2/Vs. NEC, Japan, has successfully printed CNTs onto plastic film at low temperature (below 200°C). In a different tack, US based Vorbeck Materials is developing printable graphene to be used as a viable alternative to expensive silver flake conductors. All these companies will be presenting their latest work at the event. In addition, the new IDTechEx report "Carbon Nanotubes & Graphene" covers the latest progress from 78 organizations around the world www.IDTechEx.com/nano.
Who is winning the race for the best barrier layer
The event features companies from US, Europe and Asia comparing the latest and best in transparent, flexible barrier layers. Prof Beng Ong of A*STAR Singapore will reveal the closely held details of their impressive specifications, while Alcan packaging and Vitex give the latest work from the West.
Colour E-readers, flexible displays and RFID
One cannot miss the e-reader tipping-point that has been reached, thanks to successes at Sony, Amazon and many others. Now the next target is colour e-readers, and technology from Liquavista and Bridgestone are exposed at the event. Progress with displays from Samsung and Kodak are also covered, as are stretchable displays from the University of Tokyo. The $100+ billion Marubeni Corporation discusses RFID developments in Japan and Sunchon University, Korea, presents its progress with roll to roll RFID printing.
End use applications
As usual, this IDTechEx event also focuses on printed electronics applications and products. US based T-ink cover new applications involved printed conductors where they create new products and markets. In healthcare, Dr Tina Ng of PARC USA covers flexible printed sensor tape for diagnostics of mild traumatic brain injury; Imperial College UK looks at using printed lighting and photo detectors for medical diagnostics, and Power Paper Israel covers the success of printed batteries in the skin patch market, delivering cosmetics and ultimately drugs by iontophoresis.
Photovoltaics
Japan is one of the leaders in photovoltaic production, and after Germany, it has the largest PV install base in the World. We cover global photovoltaic developments including the new world record in OPV efficiency from US based Solarmer, at 6.77%, to CIGs. IDTechEx analyst Dr Harry Zervos analyses all the latest PV trends and technologies, giving ten year forecasts and the market reach of each technology.
Why attend Printed Electronics Asia
This event, unlike others, is not "more of the same". It brings an international line up of leading academics and companies together with Asia's leading exhibition on the topic. Many presentations are World firsts. The event sessions are simultaneously translated in Japanese and English. Over 300 attendees are expected based on 238 attending last year.
For more information see www.IDTechEx.com/peAsia. Attendees receive for free the IDTechEx report "Printed & Organic Electronics in East Asia", profiling 196 organizations in the region, worth $2500. If you want to learn what is going on in the territory and meet the leading companies in the field, attend Printed Electronics Asia, hosted by the leading global analyst on the topic, IDTechEx.