The printed electronics (pe) market will have a 58% CAGR growth over 2010-2016 with peLighting accounting for the major part of the market. But the printed electronics industry will need more “killer applications” (as there is not one today) and “manufacture-able prototypes” to have a real kick-start of the different markets.

There are however numerous companies involved in pe developments. The number of companies has been estimated to be~ 1,100-1,400. Asian companies tend to be huge compared to North America and Europe and are centered on OLED displays while North America is heavily focused on peSolar with massive VC investments and then lesser amounts going to peLMS (Logic, Memory & Sensors) as well. In Europe, UK and Germany are leading the way.

Printed Electronics manufacturing technologies are not selected yet

Printed electronics is radically different from the semiconductor fields. It consists of four main “technology building blocks”, each of them having its own market dynamics:

• Inks and chemicals - organic and inorganic (make up the transistors and wires)
• Substrates
• Printing techniques
• Thin-film transistors (TFT) & other device structures

The industry is still highly fragmented and needs to coalesce around 1-2 manufacturing techniques in each application or the efficiencies of scale in the industry will not lower prices for equipment and material supply channels to make many applications economical.

Printed Electronics is also the integration of very diverse technologies from very different areas. Today, there is no clear supply chain as exists for the CMOS industry. Many manufacturing techniques can be used for different applications (printed electronics transistors can be printed by various means: Inkjet, Gravure, Roll-to-roll, Flexography, Nano-imprint, Screen printing, Spin coating). Much manufacturing equipment is custom designed for each company’s products and testing, industry standards, interoperability, lifetime issues, environmental issues yet to be determined. This report aims at giving insights about which technologies will be suited to which application.

Most vendors are left to their own to develop the infrastructure, materials, manufacturing equipment, and test equipment, etc. Analysts have identified a total amount of US $1.35B raised by 21 companies worldwide (Dow Jones Venture Source). But today, only 1% of the raised amount has led to profitability.

A complex field!

Today, the printed electronics market is still in its infancy with a lot of expectations but more often a lot of confusion as well. This market is highly fragmented and a big problem in trying to analyze the “printed electronics” market potential is separating out the components that make printed electronics unique and different.

Thus definitions are not precise and have many interpretations and overlaps. Moreover, the confusion often lies in the specific terms: organic, printed, flexible, and electronic. This report covers only “electronic” type applications and technologies involving some kind of electron-hole semiconductor effect. Moreover, manufacturing must include a type of printing technology in the product construction; materials may be organic or inorganic or both in nature and on flexible or rigid substrates (analysts exclude any kind of vacuum or vapor deposition processing technology as these are not generally considered “printing” methods). So this report does not address printed batteries, printed super capacitors, printed wires, semiconductors (CMOS silicon) and thin Film Photovoltaics or OLED displays using vacuum processing (CIGS, DSSC).

Key features of the report

This report aims at giving an introduction to the printed electronics markets, technologies and players. Because this field is moving fast, analyst aim at highlighting what the technical (equipment, chemicals), supply chain and market hurdles are.

The report also includes a financial analysis that shows the latest VC funds and alliances in this field.

The report includes:

• What is printed electronics?
• An overview of the 4 major applications:

       - peDisplays
        -peLighting
        -peSolar
       - peLMS (Logic, Memory & Sensors)

• What the challenges are on the supply chain side
• What the challenges are on the applications side
• What the challenges are on the technologies side
• Printed electronics forecast by applications 2010-2015
• Why should semiconductor executives care in PE?
• Industry structure & companies involved in printed electronics
• Manufacturing challenges
• Printing techniques overview

Who should buy this report ?

• Systems makers

        Understand the potential of the printed electronics market
        Understand the technical challenges

• Devices makers

        Identify and evaluate printed electronics markets with market size & growth
        Analyze the threats and opportunities
        Monitor and benchmark your competitor’s advancements

• Chemical & tools companies

        Identify the technical hurdles for printed electronics
        Analyze the threats and opportunities

• Financial & Strategic investors

        Understand the main market dynamics and main technology trends
        Get the list of the key players


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Coverage
Executive Summary

    What is Printed Electronics? Scope
    Printed Electronics « at a glance »: the supply chain side
    Printed Electronics « at a glance »: the applications side
    Printed Electronics « at a glance »: the technologies side
    Printed electronics technologies vs. applications
    peDisplays, peLighting & peLMS: a close connection
    Main issues to be solved
    Printed Electronics Applications
    Printed Electronics Forecast by Applications
    PE applications trends
    PE market overview
    Printed Electronics Will & Will Not …
    Printed Electronics Main Advantages & Disadvantages
    Why Should Semiconductor Executives Care in PE?
     Words of Caution to Semiconductor Executives Considering Entering PE

Market forecasts

    Forecast Comments
    Global Printed Electronics Markets Forecasts
    Printed Electronics Forecast by Applications
    peApplications as % of Total Printed Revenues

Financial analysis

    Ranking of the companies
    Country ranking
    Specialty & application breakdown
    Progress status

PE Supply Chain Challenges

    Supply chain issues
    peDisplays issues
    peLighting issues
    peSolar issues
    PeLogic, Memory & Sensors issues

Industry Structure

    Main equipment suppliers map for PE
    Main material suppliers map for PE
    Main devices/systems suppliers map for PE
    Printed Electronics Geographical breakdown

Manufacturing challenges

    Printed Organic vs Semiconductor Electronics
    Generic processes for printed electronics
    Manufacturing Techniques
    Main technical challenges
    Printing Techniques
    Example: IJ Printing
    Example: Roll to Roll
    Performance for the different printing processes
    Substrates
    Example: peDisplay substrates
    Organic Thin Film Transistors: a key component!
    Conductive and Emissive Inks for peDisplays

peDisplays: OLEDS & ePapers

    What is peDisplay

OLEDs

    Technical challenges
    peDisplay conclusions

ePapers

    Technical challenges
    peDisplay conclusions

peLighting

    What is peLighting?
    Technical challenges
    peLighting conclusions

peSolar

    What is peSolar?
    Technical challenges
    peSolar conclusions

PeLMS (Logic, Memory & Sensors)

    What is peLMS?
    Technical challenges
    peLMS conclusions

Conclusions
Appendix