Organic and Printed Electronics

A key enabling technology that is making a significant impact in consumer, commercial, medical and specialty electronics markets, printed electronics is coming of age at IPC APEX EXPO®, February 28–March 1, 2012, at the San Diego Convention Center. IPC APEX EXPO will feature a dedicated printed electronics area on the show floor, a printed electronics track in the technical conference, and historic standards development meetings where the first-ever industry requirements for the manufacture and assembly of printed electronics will be discussed and developed.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) technology advanced rapidly in 2011, a trend that will continue through this decade. OLED technology has progressed in areas including organic materials, color patterning, electronic driving methods, and encapsulation. OLED display revenues are estimated to exceed $4 billion in 2011 (approximately 4% of flat panel display revenues), and are forecast to reach more than $20 billion (approximately 16% of the total display industry by 2018. In addition, OLED lighting gained momentum in 2011, and is forecast to reach revenues of approximately $6 billion by 2018.

Global Organic Electronics market is forecast to reach US$32.8 billion by 2017, driven by increasing gamut of applications in conventional and niche end-use areas. Newer and expanding areas of application ranging from wide area displays and RFID Tags to Memory are pushing the growth frontiers. The technology, which had for long been mainly restricted to R&D labs, is now making an open, exciting foray into real-time commercial applications. In future, rapid technological advancements, expansion in end-use value chain, and low fabrication costs, will prompt higher demand and long-term success.

Sales growth of paper-thin displays was very healthy the past two years, and is expected to continue increasing at a rapid rate over the next five years, fueled by the heavy demand for portable electronic devices such as mobile phones.

The benefits offered by printed electronics technology such as low manufacturing cost incurred and ability to use wide variety of substrates are driving the global printed electronics market. Printed electronics is gaining wide momentum owing to the many benefits it offers over conventional electronics, such as low fabrication cost, long switching times, and simple fabrication. This technology has found use in a plethora of applications ranging from displays and lighting to RFID, sensors and batteries. The global printed electronics market is expected to grow from $2.8 billion in 2008 to $24.25 billion in 2015, at an estimated CAGR of 38.4% from 2010 to 2015.