Samsung’s announcement that it will go into production with flexible OLED displays in 2012 has rekindled an interest in flexible electronics and photovoltaics. The emergence of this kind of technology would have many implications in the marketplace, but not the least would be the implications for firms that make the flexible glass, plastic, metals, paper and textiles that serve as the substrates for flexible electronics and solar panels. 

This report analyzes and quantifies the market for these flexible substrates. Beginning with an analysis of what parts of the flexible electronics/PV story are likely to become reality in the next decade and which are fanciful, this report shows where the opportunities are emerging for substrate firms to generate new business revenues. It goes on to examine the strategies of the leading firms already active in this space and provides an eight-year forecast of the flexible substrate market broken out by applications and type of material used.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary
E.1 Evolution of flexibility in electronics and solar industry
E.2 Opportunities for materials firms
E.3 Implications of flexible substrate market analysis for electronics and solar panel firms
E.4 Firms to watch
E.5 Summary of eight-year forecasts

Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Background to this report
1.2 Goal and scope of this report
1.3 Methodology of this report
1.4 Plan of this report

Chapter Two:   Flexible Substrates Materials and Technologies
2.1 Types of flexibility: substrate requirements
2.1.1 Foldability
2.1.2 Conformability
2.1.3 1-dimensional flexibility (rollability)
2.1.4 2-dimensional flexibility
2.1.5 Stretchability
2.2 Flexible glass
2.3 Plastics
2.3.1 PET
2.3.2 Other plastic
2.3.3 Metals
2.3.4 Sheet metal
2.3.5 Metal foil
2.4 Paper
2.5 Textiles
2.6 Flexible silicon substrates

Chapter Three: Markets for Flexible Substrates
3.1 Levels of flexibility
3.1.1 Flexible substrates for R2R processing
3.1.2 Intrinsically flexible electronics/PV
3.2 Flexible displays
3.2.1 Market drivers and likely roadmap for flexible displays
3.2.2 Types of flexible substrates required
3.3 Flexible solar panels
3.3.1 Flexible solar panels for BIPV
3.3.2 Types of flexible substrates required
3.4 Smart packaging
3.4.1 Will there ever be large markets for smart packaging?
3.4 Types of flexible substrates required
3.5 Smart textiles
3.5.1 Plausible markets for smart textiles
3.5.2 Types of textiles used
3.6 Medical sensors and patches
3.6.1 Flexible diagnostic sensors and patches and the substrates that they use
3.6.2 Smart bandages and their substrates

Chapter Four: Markets for Flexible Substrates
4.1 Forecasting methodology
4.2 Eight-year forecast of flexible substrate market by application
4.3 Eight-year forecast of flexible substrate market by type of material
4.4 Alternative scenarios for flexible substrate markets