Refractive lenses are one of humanity's oldest and most ubiquitous technologies. They have developed to dizzying levels of sophistication in the last few hundred years, with today's tiny, high-quality lens assemblies found in smartphones often costing less than a dollar to produce.

Wednesday 3 July 2024 - Introduction to the broad family of conductive inks; Status and outlook for the dominant conductive ink type, silver flake-based ink, including an assessment of current demand and a ten-year forecast; Overview of emerging applications; Critical assessment of the outlook for non-silver inks such as stretchable/thermoformable inks and copper inks.

The mounting global plastic waste crisis has compelled scientists and engineers to seek novel solutions. Among the various technologies being explored, the pyrolysis of plastic waste has emerged as a significant contender.

The use of quantum dots in displays has made it to high-quality prototypes amongst established tech companies like Samsung, Sharp, and TCL. These semiconductor nanocrystals, the size of just 2-10 nanometres, can enable realistic and high-definition displays for TVs, monitors, and smart tablets.

Thursday 27 June 2024 - Comprehensive Overview of Thermal Interface Materials: Trends and Developments; An overview of thermal interface materials by TIM form; TIMs in EV battery packs: Trends of TIM's thermal conductivity and property trend; TIMs in EV power electronics: TIM1 (die-attach technologies) and TIM2 overview; TIMs in data centers: TIM opportunities with the transition to liquid cooling; TIMs in 5G TIMs in ADAS; TIMs in consumer electronics

Thursday 20 June 2024 - Exploring the Transformative Potential of Electromagnetic Metamaterials; A brief introduction to RF (radio frequency) and optical metamaterials, highlighting key market opportunities; Analysis of the emerging usage of metalenses, one of the most exciting applications of optical metamaterials, with important manufacturing processes potential challenges highlighted; Analysis of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS), the most promising applications of RF metamaterials, with discussion on players, technology roadmap, key case studies, etc; Adoption roadmaps for optical and RF metamaterials; Outlook for the electromagnetic metamaterials market

The conductive inks market will grow to exceed US$6.5 billion by 2034 but remains a highly segmented industry, underpinning both photovoltaics and the emerging field of printed electronics. Taking stock of the different outlooks for the myriad of conductive ink types and the various application areas is a complex task. IDTechEx has tackled this problem by assessing the market for different conductive ink types across 15 application areas and providing granular ten-year market forecasts.

Creating a circular economy is an essential sustainability target for numerous stakeholders in the supply chain: governments, brands, suppliers, and consumers. A key element of this is reducing plastic waste; the OECD estimated that over 350 million metric tonnes of plastic waste was generated globally in 2019

2024 has marked the 20th anniversary of the original isolation of graphene, first achieved at the University of Manchester in 2004, prior to the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. In the two decades since its isolation, graphene has been the subject of immense hype, labeled as a wonder material with superlative properties capable of enabling society-shifting technologies.

Material innovations underpin many of the exciting applications offered by emerging quantum technologies. IDTechEx's latest report, "Quantum Technology Market 2024-2034: Trends, Players, Forecasts", compares platforms based on superconductors, silicon photonics, alkali vapors, semiconductors, nanomaterials, and more. Each is seeking to enable solutions for quantum computing, sensing, and communications, with various advantages and disadvantages for each method.

Thermal management for EV power electronics has long posed significant challenges. The ongoing shift from Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET to potentially GaN HEMT in the future results in higher junction temperatures and increased demand for die-attach materials in EV power modules. In traditional Si IGBT power modules, die-attach materials like Pb95Sn5 and Pb92.5Sn5Ag2.5 struggle to meet reliability requirements for packaging power devices in high-temperature applications due to creep-fatigue concerns.

With 3D electronics, bulky PCBs can be replaced, resulting in sleek and integrated designs. The automotive industry is one of the largest sectors benefiting from this technology, as electronics can be printed in a thin layer onto surfaces or integrated within components, which can be particularly useful for human-machine interfaces (HMIs).

Thursday 13 June 2024 - Chemical Recycling: Navigating the Landscape of Innovative Technologies and Scaling Challenges; An overview of chemical recycling of plastic technologies; Challenges to adoption and scaling; The challenges faced by enzymatic depolymerization; Chain of custody approaches; IDTechEx's outlook and conclusions

Metamaterials use regular engineered patterns of subwavelength structures to interact with waves. Electromagnetic metamaterials promise to have transformative effects within the fields of optics and telecommunications. They could make biometric recognition cheaper and more accurate, make virtual reality more immersive and comfortable, and facilitate high-speed mobile internet with zero signal blackspots, yet adoption is in its infancy.

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are increasingly adopted, with the market size expected to exceed US$8 billion by 2034. Thermal fillers play a crucial role in TIMs as they directly affect properties such as thermal conductivity, viscosity, cost, abrasiveness, and several other factors.

According to IEA's 2023 update to its net zero roadmap, carbon capture technologies, more efficient space cooling equipment, and clean energy transitions are all cornerstones of achieving net zero by 2050 and limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Emerging technologies utilizing metal-organic framework (MOF) materials for carbon capture, refrigerant reclamation, direct lithium extraction, HVAC equipment, and various other chemical separations and purification processes can see the advent of disruptive next-generation technologies that are essential for industrial decarbonization.

The risk of missing out on the competitive advantage quantum computing offers is rising. Governments and private investors worldwide are placing multi-billion-dollar bets that the industry will produce huge long-term returns. Yet, for this to be realized, the theoretical advantage of quantum computers must be translated into real-world commercial value. In this article, IDTechEx explores which applications are being developed today across the materials, chemical, automotive, finance, and healthcare industries.

Antenna packaging methodologies have evolved significantly to counter the escalating signal attenuation in high-frequency communications like 5G mmWave and anticipated 6G networks. Previously, antennas were positioned on PCBs; now, there's a shift towards integrating antennas directly onto the same package as the RF chip.

IDTechEx, a trusted provider of independent market intelligence, have released a new market report, "Thermal Interface Materials 2024-2034: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts". The report forecasts the global TIM market size will reach around US$7bn by 2034.

In a world where fossil fuels are increasingly being avoided, and the mounting problem of plastic waste management intensifies, a new approach to plastic waste has attracted much attention. Advanced recycling technologies such as chemical recycling and the dissolution of plastic waste aim to increase the circularity of the plastics economy.