A term that is increasingly being heard these days is printed electronics. It is also a subject that a number of people are indicating may be the future, or even savior of the printing industry. For something that may be so significant for the future of the printing industry is amazing that one that is totally misunderstood by the industry, and second, if it is so important, why are so few printing companies taking an interest in it. I have just spent a couple of days at a conference called Printed Electronics presented by IDTechX at Churchill College Cambridge, England. Around 200 people attended this conference, but on checking the list of attendees the only attendees from the printing industry I could identify were two journalists, myself included. There was also the UK representative of Toppan Printing in Japan, one of the few printing companies in the world with an established position in this market. Either the printing industry is totally aware of this possible future market, or as is the more likely situation, unaware of any opportunities that may be there.

What I would like to cover in this article is what is printed electronics, and then what, if any are the opportunities for the printing industry in this new market. Printed electronics has been brought about by the development of new materials that can in certain situations replicate the functionality of silicon in electronics and computing. Some of these materials, such as organic polymers and nano-particles of certain metallic compounds can be carried within specific liquids to work like an ink, and printed using conventional or ink jet printing processes.

The application of printed electronics can be summarized as falling into three applications areas. The first of these is in displays where large area displays can be printed onto rigid or flexible substrates. There are a number of approaches here but the major one is in OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes). Here such technology is seen as challenging the current LED displays used in TVs and computer screens with a lower cost and less fragile technology. Today’s developments are almost all in the Far East where for example Samsung is showing a 40-inch single sheet OLED panel. Almost every Far Eastern electronics company is working in this area. In this ink jet printing deposits the light emitting compounds onto the flexible substrate. It is printing, but to quote Star Trek, “Not as We Know It.” There is no opportunity for the conventional printing industry in this market.