Printed Electronics (PE): Tools for the Trade

Vince Cahill, VCE Solutions

Printing United, October 25, 10:00 AM

Agenda: PE Tools of the Trade

• Comparison of Conventional & Printed Electronics printing methods

• PE Applications & Examples : Force Sensing Resistor (FSR), Chipless& Chipped RFID Tags, Heaters, OPV

• Conductive Ink & Print Materials

• Key Players, Market & Technology Trends & Conclusions

Photolithographic vs Printed Electronics

Source: http://www.dic-global.com/en/csr/special/archive/2014/special05.html

Source: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons; citing:

Heiko Kempa - Institute of Print and Media Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology

PE: Printing Methods

Analog:

• Screen Printing

• Flexography

• Gravure

• Pad Printing

• Lithography

• Hot Stamping

• Hot Foil with Printed Adhesive

• Etching

• Nanoimprint lithography (NIL)

• Evaporation printing

• Embossing

Digital:

• Ink Jet

• Thermal Transfer

• Aerosol Jet

Comparison of Print Electronics Methods

Print Method Deposit Thickness

µm

Conductive

Material

Throughput Range

m/min

Finest Resolution

µm

Screen Print 3-30 Ag, Au, Cu, Ni, Pt 0.6-100 ~30 µm

Flexography 0.17-8 Ag, Cu, Ni, Pt 5-180 20 µm

Gravure 0.02-12 Ag, Cu, Ni, Pt 200 ~10 µm

Hot Stamp Al: 0.26, Cu: 0.35 Cu, Al, Ag 1-20 ~20 µm

Inkjet 0.01-0.5 Low visc. Ag, Au, Cu 0.02-5 ~15 µm

Thermal Transfer Al: 0.26, Cu: 0.35 Cu, Al, Ag 0.7-10 ~21 µm

Aerosol Jet >10 µm Ag, Pt, Pd, and Cu

& Polymerics

~50 m/sec (head

speed)

~10 µm

Screen Print Electronics

• Screen printing can produce a range of thin to thick layers precisely

• It prints paste-like materials including conductive, resistive, di-electric & organic layers.

• It can apply paste materials to create conductors dielectrics, capacitors, resistors, coils, antennas, diodes, transistors, electroluminescence devices, and bio sensors as embedded components in the multilayer circuits.

Image source: https://chromaline.com/printed-electronics/

Inkjet for Printed Electronics

• Inkjet printhead systems range from very fine low viscosity drop generators to large drop producers with viscosity up to 1000 cp, ranging from fine 1-3 pl from PIJ Fujifilm Samba heads to MicroFab’s Solder Jet® heads.

• Inkjet systems, such as the Kateeva YIELDjet® are beginning to print OLEDs successful, opening the door to growth for production inkjet of OLED. See also DuPont’s soluble system.

Fujifilm Dimatix DMP 2850

Kateeva YIELDjet® FLEX

MicroFab Solder Jet® on jetlab®

platform

Aerosol Jet

• Aerosol Jet Flex – Fine Feature Interconnects

• Aerosol Jet 5X – 3D Printed Electronics

• Aerosol Jet HD – High Density Printed Electronics

• Aerosol Jet Print Engine – High Volume Production

Applications: Printed Antennas, Semiconductor Packaging, IoT, Displays, Silicon Solar Cells

• + 1-500+ cp viscosity possible

• Inks in addition to Ag, Pt, Pd, and Cu, include diluted thick film pastes, thermosetting polymers, eg. UV-curable epoxies, & solvent-based polymers, eg. polyimide & polyurethane.

• Optomec also makes LENS systems using a high power laser (400W to 3kW) to fuse powdered metals into fully dense three-dimensional structures.

Aerosol Jet 5X

See also: https://www.optomec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Webinar_AJ-Printing-Flexible-Circuits_Redacted_3APRIL2014.pdf

Ink Jet vs.

Optomec’sAerosol Jet

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/

Digital: Thermal Transfer

• Raster-based (not vector)• Ribbon construction• Back coat, Carrier, Top Coat(s)• Receiver • Paper, film, fabric, etc.• Thermal printhead

• Line of individually addressable heating elements

• Mechanism• Ink softens / melts• Ink sticks to receiver• Ink separates from carrier• Laser process can sharpen edge

Source: Dene H. Taylor, PhD, President, SPF-Inc & Dan Harrison, PhD,

Exec. VP, IIMAK

• Volume Resistivity............................ 3.00 μΩ∙cm

• Power Capacity................................ 2.50W

• Maximum Current Density............... 410 A/mm2

• Bend Test (ASTM F2750-09) \ % increase in resistivity

• after 100 Bends – Compression...... 0.65%

• after 100 Bends – Extension........... 0.50%

• Cross – Hatch Adhesion Test (ASTM F1842-09)....... 5

• Environmental Aging Test (ASTM F1996-06)

38ºC, 95%RH, 10 Days............. Pass

• Drying Time................ Immediate

• Sintering.................... Not Required

• Thickness.................... Al: 0.26 μm, Cu: 0.35 μmSource: SPF Inc. & IIMAK

Printed Metal Properties (based on OEM data)

Lines & gaps = 0.02”; 3-layer

• Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), Integrated Circuits (IC), Multilayered

• RFID & RAIN RFID Chipped & Chip-less & NFC Near Field Communication & RFID pressure & proximity sensors

• Anti-theft protection

• Force Sensing Resistors

• Electronic Logic & Memory

• Flexible Displays, & Touchscreens

• Electrophoretic, Electrochromic, Electroluminescent Displays

• Membrane Switch & Keypads

• E-Textiles

• Coils & Sensors

• In Mold Electronics (IME)

• Thin Film Transistors (active)

• Capacitors & Resistors (passive)

• Glucose Test Strips

• Batteries & Electronic Skin Patches

• OLED for Screens & Lighting

• Low Voltage Heaters

• Smart Labels

• PV/OPV Solar Cells: Perovskite,Thin Film

• Cellphone, toy & smart appliance parts

Applications for Printed Electronics

PragmatIC’s Planar Nano Transistor

• PragmatIC of Cambridge, UK developed a

very low cost flexible integrated circuits

(FlexICs) that are thinner than a human

hair & embeddable into everyday

objects.

• Its FlexLogIC® fab-in-a-box system is a

fraction of the cost of silicon based ICs

• It supports functionality including RFID

and NFC.

• It enables smart packaging, smart labels

and smart objects that can engage with

consumers and their environments.

• FlexLogIC greatly reduces capital & production costs & cycle time. It provides a highly scalable distribution model.

Image Source: www.electronicsweekly.com/news/research-news/materials-rd/greetings-card-gets-plastic-electronics-2011-07/Source: https://www.pragmatic.tech/technology

PE App: Force Sensing Resistor (FSR)

• A Force Sensing Resistor FSR is a variable resistor, constructed of several thin flexible layers, that varies in resistance as pressure is applied and released.

• An FSR’s measures the force then relays that information via output electronics. All FSRs use high-resistance, carbon-based inks which, along with other design factors, can be re-formulated to alter the functionality.

Image source: https://www.elprocus.com/force-sensing-resistor-technology/

Grenoble INP – Valence LCIS: Chip-less RFID

• Etienne Perret, Arnaud Vena, Small Tedjini & team

• Using Inkjet & Thermal Transfer to create RFID antennas

• “Chipless RFID based on RF Encoding Particle”

• Significant cost advantage over UHF RFID with IC chip

• Chipless RFID use RF energy to communicate data, but don't store a serial number in a silicon microchip in the transponder.

For latest chipless developments see:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6695767/

Image source: www.researchgate.net

Comparison of Classical RFID, Chipless RFID, & Barcode

RFID UHF Chipless RFID Barcode

Reliability Very Good Good Very Good

Multiread Possible Difficult Impossible

Read Range 10 m 50 cm 50 cm

Discretion Sight Non-line-of-sight Non-line-of-sight Line-of-sight

Cost $0.4 $0.004 <$0.0001

Rewritable Possible Possible Impossible

Sensor Possible Possible Impossible

Gesture Recognition Impossible Possible Impossible

Source: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/7484265

The world

market CAGR for

Chipless RFID

through 2023 is

projected at

>27%, reaching

over $2 billion in

value by 2023

ILO - Cremieu, France

• Kohler distributed PE heating film demister-heater for bathroom mirrors

• PE heater for rear view auto mirrors

• Heated exam table covers

• PE heater films for buildings, trains, autos, ships,medical, agriculture, & industry

• Uses primarily screen, also thermal transfer

Images Source: ILO

Printable Conductive Inks

• Silver (Ag) nano-particles & precursors inks offer highest conductivity, oxidation resistance but high cost

• Copper (Cu) offers conductivity but requires photonic annealing and is subject without a topcoat to oxidation

• Conductive polymers offer modest conductivity for a low cost, but are limited for chemical and thermal stability

• Graphene & carbon nanotube ink for inkjet and gravure electronic printing offer stability & conductivity with thermal annealing

• Other metal-based inks include Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), nickel (Ni), gold (Au) and platinum (Pt)-based

Source: www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/technology-spotlights/graphene-inks-for-printed-electronics.html

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The Market for Conductive Inks

• The current market for electronic and conductive inks is estimated at about $2 billion (US) in annual sales.

• Printed Electronics Now estimates that by 2022, the market will reach more than $2.5 billion.

• Grand View Research predicts the market to reach $4.37 billion by 2024.

Source: http://www.printedelectronicink.com/

PE Substrates

• Paper

• Fabrics

• Glass

• Metal

• Polycarbonate (PC)

• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

• Polyethylene Naphthalene (PEN)

• Polyarylethersulfone (PES)

• Polyethylene (PE)

• Polyamideimide (PAI)

• Polyimide (PI)

Key PE Supplier Players

• Samsung

• LG

• Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)

• Agfa-Gevaert

• Molex

• Nissha USA

• Dupont

• BASF

• Novacentrix,

• E Ink Holdings

• Soligie Inc.

• Thinfilm Electronics

• Sharp (FOXXCON)

• PragmatIC

• Heliatek

• Blue Spark

• PolyIC

• Kovio

• IIMAK

• Creative Materials Inc.

• Genesink

Source: IDTechEx

Other Market Projections for PE

• MarketersMedia projects that the global Printed Electronics Market will grow from $6.24 billion in 2018 to $11.50 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 13.0%.

• According to a MarketsandMarkets’ report* the printed electronics market is estimated to reach $13.6 billion by 2023 from $6.8 billion in 2018 in 2018, at a CAGR of 14.92% during 2018–2023.

• Consumer electronics, healthcare, automotive, aerospace and defense, retail and consumer goods

• Automotive industry is the largest contributor in the printed electronics market with use cases, such as sensors, lighting panels, and displays. Autonomous vehicles

* Printed Electronics Market by Material (Inks and Substrates), Technology (Inkjet, Screen, Gravure, and Flexographic), Device (Sensors, Displays, Batteries,

RFID tags, Lighting solutions/panels, and PV Cells), Industry, and Geography-Global Forecast to 2023

The Path for Cost Effective PE

Quantity

IC cost

Millions

$100+

Computers Smart objects

Trillions

~1¢

Billions

$1–10

Smart devices

>>$10Bn opportunityfor PragmatIC

Source: PragmatIC

Where is PE Going?

• OPV: Windows become electric generators

• Pressure sensors control hand held tools

• Low voltage & thin form heaters for apparel etc.

• Robots with Electro Active Polymers for finger tip sensing

• Flexible & stretchable electronics point to products that fit users

• Printed Electronics built into In-mold cast & 3D built functional products

• Smart Packaging: RFID & NFC connects objects to inventory scanning, shopping cart scanning rapid check out, & theft prevention. ~ $0.01 tags

• PE smart textile for personal & medical health monitoring & diagnosis

• Lower cost solutions

• Hybrids for the best of both or more