Nanoprint Technologies

Market

Market Sectors

The PE Market has several major sectors. There are a number of market drivers that will impact each of these sectors. Some factors that are common to all market sectors include price, production capacity, flexibility, durability, and light weight.

Printed Electronics (PE) is a disruptive technology that is poised for exponential growth over the next two decades. Many companies have and will continue to invest in the development of the inks, designs, and printing technology required for the printing of PE.

The PE Market has several major sectors. There are a number of market drivers that will impact each of these sectors. Some factors that are common to all market sectors include price, production capacity, flexibility, durability, and light weight.

Driving factors for Printed Electronics

As companies learn about the possibilities with PE, many new products and applications will emerge that will take advantage of low cost, flexible, durable electronic components that were not possible with traditional silicon based electronics. In fact, it is estimated that over 50% of the PE market will be made up of electronic components and applications that currently do not exist.

PV (photovoltaic solar cells)

Oil Prices

Oil dependability - desire for energy independence from foreign oil

1/3 of the world is not connected to a power grid

Environmental concerns

Government programs and mandates world-wide

Low cost of production

Acceptance and funding of solar increasing sharply

U.S. energy grid potential target for terrorists -
Individuals desire independence from grid

Material for traditional photovoltaics is in short supply and costs are increasing

TCC (Transparent Conductive Coatings)

Printed solar cell demand will increase TCC demand

Flat Panel Displays demand will increase TCC demand

Cell phones, PDA’s, IPODs, Laptops; demand will increase TCC demand

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is predominate TCC today, it requires a slow and expensive process

ITO supply is down; cost is increasing at a fast rate

Durability of ITO is an issue; it is brittle and non-flexible

PE provides low cost, simple process, high production capacity

Integrated Circuits (ICs), RFIDs, Memories

Flexible, durable

Disposable

Price pressure

Raw materials for traditional production means are in short supply

PE provides low cost, simple process, high production capacity

(High performance computer chips are not threatened by PE)

Other PE Applications

PE opens the door for many new applications not possible or not thought of yet

Low cost, simple process, high production

Flexible, durable

Disposable

Other applications include: flexible displays, batteries, toys, smart labels, smart shelving, smart fabric, smart wall paper, smart lighting, many types of sensors, etc.

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Market Sector	Application advantages	Weakness
Photovoltaics, and Transparent Conductive Coatings	Lower cost of production. Rooftop solar "carpet"; portable battery chargers, smart fabrics, and novel applications	Power Conversion Efficiency, Longevity
RFIDs, Integrated Circuits, Memories, and sub 100 micron Traces	Traces Prices will get to a point where they will compete with barcodes on product labels and other disposable applications	Range of signal for RFID
OLED Displays (Organic Light Emitting Diode)	Flexible displays that have vibrant images and wide viewing angles	Longevity
Backplanes	Flexible displays will require organic TFT's (Thin Film Transistors) on flexible substrate
OLED Lighting	Flexible lighting, conforms to many shapes, durable, novel applications
Smart cards & Ticketing	Low cost, flexible, durable cards and tickets with security and other information encoded into them
Sensors	Low cost, flexible, durable sensors for smart packaging, and other applications
Toys & Novelties	Many applications where low cost and flexibility will be important

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Why is PE disruptive?

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