Printed and thin film transistor circuits will become a $3.5 billion market in 10 years, from just $2 million in 2012. They will drive lighting, displays, signage, electronic products, medical disposables, smart packaging, smart labels and much more besides. The chemical, plastics, printing, electronics and other industries are cooperating to make it happen. Already, over 500 organizations are developing printed transistors and memory, with first products being sold commercially in 2009.

 

The growth over the longer timescale, from 2012-2032, will be very similar to the early growth of the silicon chip market in the same interval. In other words, the twenty years from 1978 to 1998 saw a similar starting and finishing value of sales of silicon chips. History is repeating itself with the printed equivalent over the next twenty years, though not by taking much market share from silicon chips in the first fifteen years. Do not follow the herd into the well aired aspects of this subject. Gain advantage by understanding all the important aspects and opportunities.

This report addresses two types of reader. Industrialists, investors and researchers with scientific training can read the report in the order presented. For the first time, they will see the big picture of what is happening and about to happen across the whole world in this subject. This includes the profiles, activities and intentions of 150 leading organizations in this field. We analyze and compare what is happening in 16 countries. Such information is not gathered in any other document. The report also gives the rapidly evolving choices of materials, device designs, chemistry and manufacturing processes for these devices - again a unique analysis. However, this report will also be useful for those with only a rudimentary understanding of science and engineering who seek to understand how the printed electronics revolution will greatly benefit society while creating billion dollar businesses and when and where this will happen.

 

We start with some descriptions appropriate for the beginner, opening up the subject with as little complexity and jargon as possible.

The report assesses the market and opportunity in different ways, such as forecasts by material type (organic vs inorganic), application (Display driver, RFID etc), flexible, printed and much more. However, the immediately accessible markets for printed transistors are commonly described as being back plane drivers for displays and use in RFID but that is misleading. We give the big picture - something not previously available - and also look at the impediments to successful commercialization of these components, in an honest and balanced appraisal. Forecasts are given for the next ten years and beyond.

We cover the big picture - the full range of organic and inorganic chemistries that can be printed or thin film. Technical progress, companies and impediments are given, and their applications appraised. Detailed profiles of over 150 companies are given. Whether you intend to be a user, seller or researcher, consider the new InGaZnO semiconductors, the single layer geometry, the multi-function transistors, the printed silicon transistors and many other advances.

 

Understand the enormous amount of work going on in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the USA, Germany and the UK. See why no printing technology is ideal and what comes next. Although the press talks of transistors only working at the lower frequencies and modest memory capability in printed form, some of these devices work at terahertz frequency and some promise a gigabyte on a postage stamp for only a few cents and progress with ISO-capable printed RFID tags.

 

There is much more to printed electronics than commonly appears in press reports and research papers. This is a huge revolution impacting most aspects of human endeavor. Billion dollar suppliers will be created and even the smallest organizations involved are already signing deals with some of the largest - there is room for everyone.

 

Those thinking that this is all about organic electronics are boxing themselves into a corner. Those that think that printed transistors and memory are being developed by the few companies often mentioned in the press are missing the work at over 150 organizations, most of it very exciting indeed. The companies are distributed as follows.

2.1. Importance of printed and potentially printed electronics

2.1.1. Awesome new capability creates new markets

2.1.2. This is the new printing before it is the new electronics

2.1.3. Importance of flexibility, light weight and low cost

2.1.4. Creating radically new products

2.1.5. Improving existing products

2.2. How printed electronics is being applied

2.3. Importance of printed and thin film transistors and memory

2.3.1. Vision for the future

2.3.2. Benefits of thin film transistors and memory

2.4. Transistor basics and value chain

2.4.1. How a transistor works

2.4.2. TFTC value chain

2.5. Transistor geometry and parameters

2.5.1. Conventional geometry - horizontal transistors

2.5.2. New vertical geometry - vertical VFETs

2.5.3. New geometry - single layer transistors PragmatIC

2.5.4. On off ratio and leakage current

2.5.5. Frequency, carrier mobility and channel length

2.6. Choice of materials for these transistors

2.6.1. The thin film transistors on the back of today's LCD TV - a dead end?

2.6.2. Organic vs inorganic materials

2.7. Choice of semiconductor

2.7.2. Organic semiconductors

2.7.3. Crystalline Silicon is a dead end?

2.7.4. Compound inorganic semiconductors

2.7.5. Breakthrough in printed inorganic performance in from Kovio

2.7.6. CMOS and the n type difficulty

2.7.7. Ambipolar semiconductors

2.7.8. Carbon nanotubes as thin film semiconductors

2.7.9. Importance of the dielectric layer

2.7.10. Importance of codeposition

2.7.11. Memory basics and value chain

2.8. Substrates

2.8.1. High temperature and protective substrates vs low cost flexible

2.8.2. Polymers

2.8.3. Paper

2.9. Printing processes

2.9.1. Requirements

2.9.2. Ink jet vs fast reel to reel printing

2.9.3. Transfer printing of single crystals

2.9.4. 3D printed silicon transistors, Japan

3.1. History and prospective benefits

3.2. RFID labels at Holst Centre

3.3. RFID labels from Poly IC

3.4. Lowest performance, lowest cost - ACREO

3.5. Organic dielectrics and ferroelectrics

3.6. High permittivity organic transistor gates by ionic drift

3.7. Summary

4.1. History and summary of potential benefits

4.2. Semiconductors

4.2.1. Zinc oxide based transistor semiconductors

4.2.2. Amorphous InGaZnO

4.2.3. Progress towards p-type metal oxide semiconductors

4.2.4. Transfer printing silicon, GaN and GaAs on film

4.2.5. Tin disulphide

4.3. Inorganic dielectrics in devices

4.3.1. Solution processed barium titanate nanocomposite

4.3.2. Hafnium oxide and HafSOx

4.3.3. Hybrid inorganic dielectrics - zirconia

4.3.4. Aluminium, lanthanum, tantalum and other oxides

4.3.5. Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center (FDC) and the University of Texas at Dallas

4.4. Chromium based technology

4.4.1. Printed oxide transistors at Oregon State University

4.5. Silicon nanoparticle ink

4.5.1. Kovio

4.6. Printing aSi reel to reel

4.7. High-Mobility Ambipolar Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Transistors

4.8. Research on molybdenmnite at EPFL Lausanne

4.9. Do organic transistors have a future?

4.10. Summary of latest work

4.10.1. Oxide Semiconductors

4.10.2. Carbon Nanotube

4.10.3. Others

5.1. Types of memory

5.2. Big difference in making small vs large memory

5.3. Strategy of various developers of thin film and printed memory

5.3.2. Thin Film Electronics TFE memory

6.1. Organic vs inorganic conductors

6.2. Organic conductors

6.3. Inorganic conductors

6.3.2. Comparison of metal options

6.3.3. Polymer - metal suspensions

6.3.4. Silver solution

6.4. Progress with new conductive ink chemistries and cure processes

6.4.2. Particle-free silver inks

6.4.3. Graphene hybrid technology

6.5. Pre-Deposit Images in Metal PDIM

6.6. Carbon nanotubes

6.7. Carbon Nanotubes and printed electronics

6.8. Developers of Carbon Nanotubes for Printed Electronics

7.1. Market Background

7.2. Forecasts 2012-2022

7.3. Options

7.4. Split between backplane, RFID and other applications to 2022

7.5. Size of relevant markets that are impacted

7.6. Potential for non-RFID electronic labels

7.7. Potential for RFID labels 2011-2021

7.8. Market for RFID

7.8.2. Ultimate potential for highest volume RFID

7.8.3. Penetration of chipless RFID

7.9. Impact on silicon

7.10. Forecasts for materials

7.11. Backplane transistor arrays hold up AMOLED market penetration

7.12. Impediments to the commercialisation of printed transistors and memory

8.1. Semiconductor, process, geometry, targets, challenges and objectives for 80 organisations in printed and thin film transistors and/ or memory

8.2. Profiles of 45 organisations in printed and thin film transistors and/ or memory

8.2.1. ACREO

8.2.2. AU Optoelectronics

8.2.3. BASF

8.2.4. Canon

8.2.5. CEA Liten

8.2.6. DaiNippon Printing

8.2.7. Dow Chemical

8.2.8. Ecole Superiure des Mines Saint Etienne

8.2.9. ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)

8.2.10. Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems

8.2.11. Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration

8.2.12. Fujitsu

8.2.13. Heraeus (formerly H.C.Starck)

8.2.14. Hewlett Packard

8.2.15. Hitachi

8.2.16. Impika

8.2.17. Industrial Technology Research Institute

8.2.18. Institute of Microelectronics

8.2.19. International University of Bremen

8.2.20. Japan Science and Technology Agency

8.2.21. Korea Electronics Technology Institute

8.2.22. Korea Institute of Science and Technology

8.2.23. Kovio

8.2.24. Kyung Hee University

8.2.25. Matsushita

8.2.26. Merck Chemicals

8.2.27. NHK

8.2.28. Oregon State University

8.2.29. Palo Alto Research Center

8.2.30. Paru

8.2.31. Plastic Logic

8.2.32. Poly IC

8.2.33. PragmatIC Printing

8.2.34. Samsung

8.2.35. Semiconductor Energy Laboratory

8.2.36. Sony

8.2.37. Sunchon National University

8.2.38. Thinfilm

8.2.39. Tohoku University

8.2.40. Tokyo Institute of Technology

8.2.41. Toppan Printing

8.2.42. University of California Los Angeles

8.2.43. University of Cambridge

8.2.44. University of Tokyo

8.2.45. Xerox