UK Chemical Sector Initiative - part one

On 1st July, The UK Trade & Investment Chemical Sector Initiative on Printed Electronics hosted a Masterclass at Haydock Park Racecourse in North West England. It was attended by 40 delegates from 20 companies in the chemical sector, interested in printed electronics as a new outlet for their skills and products. The training consists of that event and, on 7-10 October 2008, a UK Trade Delegation to the IDTechEx Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo, Japan with its many visits to local centres of excellence in printed electronics. In Tokyo, the UK delegates will also have the support of the British Embassy.

 

The Masterclass consisted of 2.5 hours education on the basic printed electronics technologies, applications and markets from a chemical viewpoint, given by Dr Peter Harrop of IDTechEx. In the afternoon, this was followed by the UK Displays and Lighting Knowledge Transfer Network and the Organic Materials Innovation Centre OMIC giving more on those aspects.

 

Some participants are shown above, namely L-R: Eifion Jewell, UKD&LKTN,; Ilesh Bidd, FujiFilm Imaging Colorants; Peter Harrop: Tricia Francis, UKTI; Simon Read, Innovia Films; Professor Mike Turner, OMIC; Dave Reeves, Syntor Fine Chemicals; Professor Steve Yeates, OMIC.

 

 

Opening the event, UK Trade & Investment pointed out that the UK has a world leading Science and Technology position in Printed Electronics underwritten by the development of innovative materials, low cost deposition, high precision patterning and additive printing.

 

Whilst viewed as a high risk/high reward business for the UK the supply chain starts with the design, synthesis, manufacture and formulation of high value added organic and inorganic chemicals. We want to ensure that, in this fast moving technology sector, the UK builds on its strengths and capitalises on all available opportunities. UK Trade & Investment are funding a chemical sector initiative on Printed Electronics to ensure UK chemical sector companies are aware of where they fit in the supply chain, the opportunities in the global market and how to move forward and stay at the cutting edge.

 

UK Trade & Investment explained that the 2-stage initiative started with this Printed Electronics Masterclass for the UK Chemical Sector with headline speakers from IDTechEx - globally acknowledged experts in printed electronics for consultancy, published research and conferences - and other organisations who can assist in keeping your knowledge and R&D requirements up to date.

 

Phase 2 is the UKTI supported trade delegation to Printed Electronics Asia, Tokyo, East Asia's largest event dedicated to Printed Electronics and a further opportunity to access additional focussed workshops and high-level networking. UKTI has negotiated an excellent "full package" delegate rate plus travel grants for eligible UK Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs.

 

 

Reflecting the balance of the emerging market for chemicals in this sector, Peter Harrop covered both inorganic and organic opportunities with rather more emphasis on inorganic. This was because most of the materials used in printed electronics today are inorganic and because the afternoon was largely dedicated to organic options, thus giving a balanced view. In future, the split of organic and inorganic chemical usage in this new sector will be about 50:50 inorganic/ organic, much of it being composites.

 

The global market for Printed Electronics was estimated by IDTechEx to have been at $1.18 billion in 2007, and it is forecasting a rise to $48 billion in 2017 and an astounding $300 billion by 2027.

Dr Peter Harrop noted that chemical companies are dashing into printed electronics. Companies making the materials include Nissan Chemical, Cabot, Mitsubishi Chemical, Solvay, Merck Chemical, Akzo Nobel, Hitachi Chemical, Henkel, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Dow Chemical and LG Chem and some chemical giants are even making both materials and devices, through their investments, such as Sumitomo Chemical and BASF. Citing the largest chemical company in the world, BASF, doing deals for printable transistor semiconductors and dielectrics with two of the smallest players Polyera and Rieke Metals, he noted that there is potential for all sizes of chemical company in this new industry.

 

 

 

He noted that the market for printed and potentially printed electronics, including organics, inorganics and composites is 64% mature electronics today, including conductive inks for membrane keyboards, Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) that really are printed, flex connectors, RFID antennas, membrane keyboards, heated clothing etc, sensors (e.g. disposable glucose sensors for those with diabetes) and Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) on glass substrates that are not printed as yet. The number of organisations involved has doubled in the last few years, priorities including:

and where many different types of performance and therefore technology are needed

he said that materials expenditure between organic and inorganic will be roughly 50:50 for the next ten years but there will be an increasing number of composite materials

 

He gave comprehensive market forecasts and trends by type of device and noted that the main centres of excellence and priorities in printed electronics are:

He noted that, particularly in East Asia, the giant corporations are investing heavily in this subject with a recent surge in patents from Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Canon, Ricoh, Asahi Kasei, Pioneer, Samsung, Sumitomo, Sony, Toshiba, and other giants. Lighting is being pursued by GE, Siemens, Konica Minolta etc. He gave many examples of applicational thinking "outside the box" including plastic film as a disposable scanner, the self cleaning, morphing phone, reprogrammable Braille, ubiquitous sensor networks and cloaking by printed metamaterials. However, he warned that too many players are just trying to improve existing products using printed electronics.

 

 

He illustrated the complexity of the chemistry of the different parts of the various printed electronic components with some examples from printed transistors:

 

Conductors -

Semiconductors -

Gate dielectrics with high permittivity

 

 

For more attend Printed Electronics Asia 2008 and Printed Electronics USA 2008.

 

Also read Inorganic Printed and Thin Film Electronics and Printed and Thin Film Transistors and Memory 2008-2028.