Topics Covered
Plastic
Electronics
Novel Materials
Properties
Manufacturing Economies
Consequences of Plastic
Electronics
Lower Cost of
Entry
New Industry Boundaries
Plastic
Electronics
NanoMarkets believes that “plastic” electronics, based on
thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated using organic films, offers some
radically new directions for electronics including the creation of a range of
entirely new products that could not be manufactured using conventional CMOS
approaches. There are two fundamental reasons why plastic electronics is
special:
- Novel Materials Properties
- Manufacturing Economies
Novel Materials Properties
The flexibility of thin-films themselves suggest new product directions,
including roll-up displays, very low cost RFIDs, and flexible sensor and
photovoltaic arrays. Plastic electronics also generates very little heat
and uses small amounts of power, alleviating major problems that dog
conventional electronics. We believe that the approaches to plastic
electronics with the greatest commercial prospects are the ones that emphasize
these advantages to the fullest that is, the ones offering lowest manufacturing
costs while achieving flexible substrates and ability to cover large areas.
Manufacturing Economies
The manufacturing processes that will ultimately be adopted for building
plastic electronics products remain in flux. However, it seems likely that
the economics of plastic electronics will be much more attractive than
state-of-the-art CMOS manufacturing. There is no need to build fabs
costing billions of dollars. Instead, a new paradigm is being created in
which electronic circuits are printed using ink-jet technologies, stamping or
some other similar process. This means that plastic electronics products
could be produced economically in relatively short runs and even customized to
the needs to low-volume customers.
Consequences of Plastic
Electronics
One consequence of these dramatic differences from conventional electronics
is that plastic electronics has the ability to change the industry
structure:
- Lower Cost of Entry
- New Industry Boundaries
Lower Cost of Entry
Some of the new production methods lower the cost of entry into the
electronics business. If electronic circuitry can be created with
something akin to an inkjet printer, semiconductor firms can start producing
their own circuitry at relatively low capital costs. This could impact the
trend towards fabless firms, whose business models are based on the fact that
smaller firms simply cannot afford to get into the manufacturing of chips.
New Industry Boundaries
If the new plastic electronics is all about printing with organic inks onto
flexible substrates, it opens up the business to firms such as Xerox and
Hewlett-Packard, which have long histories in the non-impact printing
business. More importantly, some materials firms with a background in
organic chemicals are likely to see plastic electronics as an emerging
opportunity.
Source: NanoMarkets
For more information on this source please visit Nanomarkets.