Kateeva grasps Korea opportunity for Yieldjet

Kateeva has purchased Seoul-based OLED Plus to expand its capacity to deliver mass produced printed OLEDs using its Yieldjet technology right into the heart of the critical Korean market. The company reports that commercial sales of what is being hailed as the first high volume, production-worthy OLED manufacturing technology are imminent.

Yieldjet was successfully demonstrated as a system for non-vacuum inkjet production of OLEDs in late 2013. It has the potential to drastically reduce the cost of plastic electronics components. Throughout its evolution the US developers worked at the local manufacturing facilities of several Korean companies. Now that the viability of Kateeva's technology has been demonstrated, there was a clear priority to access one the world's leading regions for OLED production as quickly as possible.

Plus points
OLED Plus, the new acquisition, will now be renamed Kateeva Korea and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Kateeva. As an existing player in local the OLED production equipment field, it will give an immediate presence and established contacts to allow Yieldjet to penetrate this vital market. The new parent company has had a relationship with OLED Plus since 2011, when it started using it to increase its access and profile with Korea producers.

Alain Harrus, CEO of Kateeva, says: 'Companies like Kateeva are stepping up with production equipment innovations that are transforming the manufacturing economics. Korea is home to consumer electronics leaders known for consistently pushing technology boundaries to create dazzling products. Today, their most ambitious products are made possible by OLED technology. Now, with commercial shipments imminent, we have established a firm foothold in the region and forged strong relationships with key players.'

Technical advantages to yield sales
The precision inkjet deposition provided by Yieldjet is suited to both the more established rigid OLED screen and the burgeoning flexible display markets. The company is in the process of scaling up the process to allow printing of Gen 8 (2,300mm x 2,500mm) sheets. The system has a number of innovations to minimise the intrusion of foreign particles into the printed material, these radically reduces the number of faults caused by the particles in the finished OLED sheet. Yieldjet also works in a nitrogen atmosphere, eliminating many of the problems and long maintenance cycles associated with alternative vacuum-based methods, thus cutting costs.

A strategic move into Korea is now even more vital as Yieldjet could be an ideal technology to help produce the next generation of cheaper OLED televisions. The new TVs would be developed over the next two to three years from the first such displays demonstrated in by LG and Samsung 2013. The marketability of these was handicapped by high failure rates in production materials that were reflected in hefty price tags.

Kyung Bin Bae, general manager at OLED Plus who will retain the same role under the new ownership, says: 'Kateeva and OLED Plus make an excellent match. Customers are excited about inkjet printing for OLED mass production. The Yieldjet technology is impressive, long considered the ideal technique for OLED, there is keen interest in Kateeva's solution which is the industry's first production-worthy approach. We are happy to join the team that is bringing this game-changing production technology to Korea.'

An exclusive interview with Harrus and Kateeva president Conor Madigan is available in the Plus Plastic Electronics subscriber area now. Not yet a subscriber? Why not find out more about how to subscribe and gain access to this and other exclusive content.

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Smart glasses to take $2 billion of $3 billion wearable electronics market in 2014

A projection from market analysts at Deloitte has suggested that smart glasses will account for two thirds of wearable electronics sales in 2014, in what is set to be the burgeoning market's breakthrough year. It is estimated that the smart glasses products, like the high profile Google Glass, will sell 4 million units at an average price of $500 (€360) this year.

It is predicted that the early purchasers in 2014 will be a niche private technology enthusiasts who will use them for non-professional, leisure activities. Professional applications will develop in the second half of the decade and might for example include the displaying of schematics or instruction manuals for workers in high risk industries like petrochemicals.

In its Technology, Media & Telecommunications Predictions 2014 Deloitte identifies several key barriers for smart glasses to overcome. First will be the establishment of a foundational base of apps to promote functionality, and secondly evolving lightweight batteries to permit them to be worn comfortably for prolonged periods. Another grey area is likely to be future regulation of use, with for example road traffic authorities unlikely to be keen on their use.

Other significant products in the wearables sector in 2014 will be smart fitness bands, 4 million of which Deloitte expect to see sold at an average of $140 each, and smart watches which have estimate sales of 2 million at a mean price of $200. Overall it is estimated that the volume of wearable electronic devices sold increase tenfold over the next six years, from 10 million sales in 2014 to 100 million in 2020.

The consultants' report also suggests that 2014 could see a peak in sales of consumer media devices like smartphones, consoles and tablets at $750 billion. Starting in 2015 this is forecast to diminish as users increasingly use existing devices for an array of functions, cutting the need for multiple devices. 

Solvay in pole position to takeover struggling Plextronics

Electronic inks firm Plextronics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US on 16 January, following the failure of a move to secure extra investment in late 2013. Global chemicals firm Solvay, which led the original consortium which financed the setting up of the company, has emerged as the leading candidate to buy it out.

The bankruptcy notification estimates that Plextronics currently has liabilities of $10-50 million (€7-36 million) including debts to plastic electronic development partners like Holst Centre. In October, Plextronics sought to guarantee its short-term future by raising an extra $5 million through debt-based securities, but was able to raise less than a fifth of this figure.

The company was founded in 2007 and has developed a series of conductive inks intended for use in OLED screens, lighting and solar power applications under the Plexcore brand.

Solvay America has now come forward as a stalking horse bidder, who will make an initial bid to buy out all of Plextronics assets in a deal that would likely be completed by 1 April 2014. Richard McCullough, chairman of Plextronics says: 'The Board and management team have conducted a rigorous assessment of all of our strategic options and concluded that this process represents the best possible solution for Plextronics to help unlock the value of Plexcore inks.'

Plexcore and the company's other products will still be available as it continues to trade pending a decision on the eventual sale, which is being overseen in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. 

Analysis shows OLED screens to drive booming market for plastic electronics

Screen technology will play a pivotal role in kick-starting a boom global demand for plastic electronics technology in the second half of this decade according to two separate reports from independent market researchers. OLED and AMOLED displays are the first products to reach consumers, and will drive improvements in production, that will then cross-fertilise other applications in areas such as security, medicine and photovoltaics.

OLED sales helping to ripen market
The first report Unmet needs in Plastic Electronics: Market and Technology Forecasts to 2018 from Smithers Apex, suggests that a lot of the necessary technical groundwork has already been done for an explosion in the plastic electronics market in years to come. Worth €6.2 billion in 2012, this is estimated to reach €47 billion in 2018. However with over 1,000 companies now involved in plastic electronics, commercial supply chains as they develop will be complex and have not yet stabilised.

OLEDs, and especially the market for touchscreens used in smartphones, will be standard bearers and remain the most profitable sectors in the short term. Large OLED displays offer great potential and the market will boom rapidly after a few years. Smithers identifies that production technology will have to be refined so as to produce OLEDs and other printed electronics at a competitive price, a flaw which hamstrung volume sales of the first large consumer OLED TVs in 2013. Once this is achieved, the technology will cascade down, cutting the price of OLEDs in new and existing applications and for other plastic electronic components too.

A substitute for indium
Smithers see another key barrier directly affecting two core predicted markets, solar panels and displays, as the need to develop alternative transparent electronic materials to substitute for indium tin oxide (ITO). A study released in November 2013 from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) listed the supply of indium to the EU as a 'medium to high risk' in the long term.

Several replacements for ITO using conductive inks are now approaching the market. German firm Henkel is marketing its new range of ECI 5000 inks towards this application, and AGFA is making its Si-P1000x nanosilver ink, which has already been demonstrated as an effective substitute for ITO in screen backplanes, available for sale in large volumes in 2014.

LTPS LCD to surpass AMOLED smartphone screens
The second report from NPD Display Research on flat panel displays [], confirms the pioneering role of smartphone displays as a medium for putting consumers in touch with AMOLED technology. AMOLED screens will account for 36% of the global revenue for these products in 2014. In the longer term however AMOLEDs will lose market share (down to 30% by the end of the decade) to low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) thin film transistor (TFT) LCD technology. Ultimately the latter will be the growth screen technology up to 2020, when it is predicted to account for 51% of the total worldwide smartphone screen market.

Significantly Samsung has chosen to fit Sharp's LTPS TFT LCD technology for the Galaxy Tab Pro, because current AMOLED production techniques will not be able to meet projected demand. The NPD authors note that the projected boom for LTPS TFT LCD is built upon a decade of research in evolving the manufacturing capacity and its low power consumption. It is now steadily displacing amphorous silicon, which is predicted to lose around a third of its 2013 market share in 2014. 

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UK pledges £5 million to research the future of electronics manufacturing

The UK's plastic electronics industry could receive a boost in research funding under the Technology Strategy Board's new Manufacturing for Electronic Systems of Future programme. The initiative has a total of £4.75 million (€5.8 million) to pass on to UK companies, academic or research organisations and consortia for various types of project to run over the next two years.

The principal focus of the TSB programme is to explore novel manufacturing processes to promote early exploitation and effective scaling up of production to safeguard the future of the British electronics industry, which at £78 billion per annum accounts for 5% of the country's GDP.

Among the priority topics the TSB has identified to steer research towards are several that either directly or indirectly concern plastic electronics. These include, methods to manufacture complex flexible substrates for high-density electronics, integrating printed and conventional electronics, and new ways of embedding sensors or high-tolerance components into materials, like substrates.

The main focus of the programme is to establish collaborative business-led R&D studies; companies of coalitions working on these could choose to be supported by an outside team of designers at the initial stage. R&D projects are expected to last no more than two years and have maximum costs of £500,000. Organisations will be required to secure 50% of the funding for these themselves, for small or medium size enterprises (SMEs) the board's contribution may rise to 60%.

The process for accessing the funds for R&D work opened on 17 February, a briefing day will be held on 26 February. Initial applications must be submitted by 26 March, there will then be a second phase for projects chosen to move forward which will close on 29 May. Applications for the preliminary supported design phase have closed already.

The TSB says it will give particular interest to ideas which enhance lifecycle efficiency or end-of-life processing and are providing access to Horizons, a free sustainability assessment tool, to allow these benefits to be recorded.

For the feasibility studies £750,000 is being set aside, again on a matched funding basis. The studies should run for nine months and cost no more than £75,000; industry can receive 65% of this from the TSB allocation or 75% if they are SMEs. The final application deadline for these is on 2 April 2014. 

Will SI-P1000x nanosilver ink drive flake inks off the market?

With high production volumes and improved technical characteristics, a new nanoink from Agfa could quadruple the efficiency of silver conductive inks.

Agfa has developed a nanosilver ink SI-P1000x whose superior performance will allow users to cut their materials cost and drive miniaturisation in many key applications. Besides outperforming silver flake inks it has already been demonstrated as an effective replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO) in displays. It will be available for large-volume orders in 2014.

The Belgian developer has moved beyond the laboratory stage with the new technology and is speaking with product manufacturers about contracts for the ink, which it is preparing to supply at the 10's of kilograms per month scale in 2014. Combining nanosilver's peerless electrical performance in tiny printed circuits with relatively high manufacturing volumes could see Agfa secure a large early slice of this nascent market.

Flake out?
Peter Willaert, product manager for printed electronics at Agfa Materials, hopes the performance of his new ink will see it displace silver flake inks in many applications.

He explains: 'The competitive advantage lies mainly in the high conductivity. If you have a target resistance for you application, you can obtain that target resistance with either a much thinner layer - 1-2µ versus 10-20µ, by using a finer printing mesh - or by reducing the dimensions of the printed traces, or a combination of both.

'In all cases, the coverage obtained with the ink [the conductive area per kilogram of ink] will be much higher when compared to traditional flake inks. We estimate 60-80m²/kg, compared to 15-20m²/kg for traditional inks. As a bonus, it is possible to print much finer lines and spaces, so this ink supports the ongoing trends for miniaturisation. As an example, one customer has designed and printed a circuit with 150µ lines and spaces, which was previously not possible with standard inks.'

Nanosilver screen
One of the spurs for developing SI-P1000x was the desire to improve Agfa's existing products, based around the Orgacon PEDOT:PSS conductive polymer. This is used to form a transparent antistatic layer used in the manufacturing of LCDs. Beyond that application, PEDOT:PSS finds applications in flexible transparent electrodes, for which the incumbent technology based on ITO is less than ideal.

Willaert explains: 'ITO has limitations in conductivity when applied on polymer (film) substrates, due to the requirement to be annealed at high temperature during manufacturing, and its brittleness.'

The new ink has been used to produce a conductive grid for screens that is so fine it is practically invisible and delivers increased overall conductivity. Research has predicted that by finding niches like a replacement for ITO, demand for new copper and silver conductive inks could be €538 million by 2018, around 22% of the total conductive ink market.

Other opportunities
Replacing ITO in displays has previously been identified as a future application for conductive inks, but Agfa is pursuing other opportunities too.

Willaert says: 'We have seen interest from companies that are active in the membrane keyboard market, but that are looking to deploy their expertise in new markets geared towards printed electronics. This is especially true of products where the conductive ink forms a big part of the bill of materials cost. People are looking to reduce the amount of ink they need.'

Electronic product code (EPC) companies have also responded to SI-P1000x as a means to integrate RFID antennas into products.

Printing options
Agfa has developed a screen printing technique for applying SI-P1000x and, although it requires temperatures of 130°C and above to sinter it onto the substrate, this is comparable with standard mechanisms for applying silver flake inks. The company is actively pursuing developing inkjet, flexo, and other application methods for SI-P1000x to increase the choice for customers.

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Growing activity in OLED lighting design represented in Japan

The growing body of lighting designers aiming to break OLEDs into the market presented some of their best product designs and concepts at Lighting Japan in January 2014.

A highlight of the event was Bridge, which consisted of a selection of artistic design pieces from the likes of Zaha Hadid. Included among the lighting designs was an OLED chandelier from French firm Blackbody.

There were also firms displaying more standardised product designs based on OLEDs. Panasonic and Philips exhibited a range of OLED lighting products on their stands, while Lumiotec took an extensive stand space to present a wide range of uses for OLED.

The 2014 edition of Lighting Japan incorporated the 6th LED/OLED Lighting Technology Expo, as well as the 4th LED/OLED Light Expo. The addition of Design Lighting Tokyo to the expo's co-located shows has helped introduce OLEDs, with inventive designs grabbing the attention of important companies and organisations in the lighting value chain.

Growth
The event aims to build its representation of the OLED community in the coming years. With a substantial amount of OLED lighting activity taking place in Europe, organiser Reed Exhibitions is keen to reach over to firms in the supply chain based in Europe.

Hajime Suzuki, overseas director at Reed Exhibitions, comments: 'Our goal is to make the event truly international. Lots of lighting designers are outside of Japan, and we want to attract a greater number of designers from countries like Germany and the US to the event.'

One possibility for future editions of the event is to host the international meetings for relevant organisations, co-locating the group meetings with the event in Tokyo.

Organisation meetings
A similar approach has been taken with other associations and consortia in the printed and organic electronics industry. The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC's) Technical Committee 119 (IEC-TC 119) for standards in printed electronics will host its next meeting alongside the Manufacturing for Printed Electronics Conference in Cambridge, UK, in March 2014.

In January 2014, the Organic Electronics Association held a working group meeting, organised in partnership with the Japan Advanced Printed Electronics Technology Research Association at the Printable Electronics 2014 event in Tokyo.

Lighting Japan 2015 will be held on 14-16 January 2015 at Tokyo Big Sight.

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