Jul 30 2008
As printed electronics emerges as a force to be reckoned with, its future will be dependent on high-performance semiconductor inks. At present, most of the focus is on organic inks but these present serious mobility, stability and cost challenges. As a result, a few companies are on the verge of commercializing silicon inks based on nanocrystalline silicon or on other silicon compounds. At the same time, the semiconductor industry is looking for new materials as they increasingly face scaling issues.
It also investigating the potential for nanocrystalline silicon, especially in the memory area. With so much understood about the electronic properties and manufacturing of silicon devices, silicon-based materials have a natural advantage in all electronics markets. Firms that are now looking at these materials include Freescale, Innovalight, Micron, Samsung and Seiko Epson, to name but a few. There is also important work on silicon inks and nanomaterials being done in the lab, especially in Asia
This is the first report of its kind that analyzes and forecasts the market potential for silicon inks and nanocrystalline materials in electronics applications. The report examines, what firms are doing in this space today and how these important new silicon materials are likely to evolve commercially in the future. The report also includes a detailed discussion of how and when these materials will be used in applications such as photovoltaics, lighting, RFIDs, display backplanes and computer memory. It also discusses the technical issues around making nanocrystalline materials and inks and how these materials are likely fair in the marketplace in competition with other semiconductor materials.
For more information please click on: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/cdb84c/opportunities_for_nanocryst alline_silicon_and