Organic and Printed Electronics

After years of rapid growth, the flat-panel display (FPDs) industry is slowing down.  This is due to sluggish economies worldwide, in part.  But another force is at work too; market saturation.  When LCDs first reached the market at affordable prices – some 15 years ago or so now – there was a huge installed base of CRT monitors and televisions just ripe for the picking.

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of printed and flexible sensors will be 22.1% over the next ten years. In the main, printed and flexible sensors are creating new markets using their unique advantages of flexibility, area and functionality. They also offer cost improvements over some conventional sensors, although that is not the main selling point. This report studies the technologies and the current and emerging markets, providing detailed ten year forecasts for biomedical, temperature, gas, strain, pressure, imaging and other types of sensors.

According to a new technical market research repor, the global market for printed electronics was valued at nearly $3.5 billion in 2011 and is expected to increase to $12.6 billion in 2016, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.4%. The market for printed electronics can be broken down into five segments: optoelectronics, energy, sensors, radio frequency, and other. The optoelectronics segment accounted for nearly $2.3 billion in 2011 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 31.6% to reach $8.9 billion in 2016. The energy segment accounted for $525 million in 2011 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 22.8% to reach nearly $1.5 billion in 2016.

According to this report, the market for printed and potentially printed electronics in 2012 will be $9.4 Billion. This includes devices not yet printed today but which are moving towards being printed. Of this market, 30% of the devices studied are made predominately by printing, and 6% are on a non-rigid substrate.

Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic®, a lightweight, flexible organic solar film that converts light to electricity, announced that Konarka’s next generation organic solar cells are the world’s first organic photovoltaic (OPV) to be certified in compliance with IEC 61646. The certification work was done by TÜV Rheinland, an international test center based in Cologne, Germany. TÜV Rheinland’s Solar Energy Assessment Center performed the testing. These recent advances are based upon Konarka’s inverted cell architecture, the company’s proprietary intellectual property protected under issued patents.

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.