Disposable Electronics: The First Wave for Printed and Organic Electronics

GLEN ALLEN, Va.—Two interesting trends in electronics are beginning to come together in a way that NanoMarkets believes will create major new business opportunities in the next few years. One of these is the rise of Thin-film, Organic and Printable (TOP) electronics. The other is the trend towards endowing objects with as much electronic intelligence as possible with the goal of creating environments that enhance comfort, productivity and entertainment value.

The second of these trends has as its end goal a vision that is known by many different names, including “everyware,” “ambient intelligence,” “pervasive computing,” “ubiquitous computing,” “intelligent computing,” and the “Internet of Things.” The exact term used somewhat depends on where you are in the stack. “Everyware” is obviously a software term. “The Internet of Things” is obviously a hardware term and hence probably the most relevant in the context of this report.

There are also differences in the terminology that the different computing, consumer electronics and semiconductor firms use for this trend. But all the rather futuristic sounding names cover up the fact that there is nothing really new about enhancing objects electronically. Simple, inexpensive electronics have been used for decades in such applications as magnetic strips on credit cards and tickets, lights and audio effects for inexpensive toys and novelties; and certain security tags.

What the latest developments in TOP electronics do is to enable embedded electronics of this kind to move to the next level of complexity. Thanks to TOP electronics, that magnetically striped credit card can be transfigured into a low-cost battery operated smartcard with its own display and an onboard printed processor, for example. And that smartcard would still be easily thin enough to fit in a wallet.

At present such transformations stop well short of the more extravagant visions of the “Internet of Things” that are to be found in the literature. But the new wave of electronically embedded products is creating important new opportunities. At the same time, they are also pointing the way to the future. The kinds of products that can be created with the technology discussed in this report may be a long way from “Everyware,” but they are also much closer to “The Internet of Things than we have seen before.

One of the major implications of the intelligence being everywhere is that it be in objects that have very little intrinsic value and which can be discarded with few consequences. Such products are often made from inexpensive materials that do not - and are not intended to - last very long. And they are unlikely to be treated with tender loving care by users. These specs are not the ones that developers of complex electronics usually have to cope with; consider how circuit boards are treated.

The economics of such products is also always very tight. Typically, there are very strict requirements about costs per unit, although adding electronic functionality may create enough value to loosen up these requirements a bit. A credit card with electronically enhanced security features may be worth a little bit more than a card without such features. However, the general point about cost sensitivity still stands to a large extent.

The kind of product that fits the characterization given in the two paragraphs above is what we mean in this report by “disposable electronics.” It is not so much that these products are actually disposed of quickly after purchase, although they might be, as smart packaging. It is more the fact that they hold so little essential value that disposing of them is not an issue in itself. You may keep your credit card for several years, but cutting it up when it expires is not a big deal.

To summarize then, disposable electronics is characterized by (1) high cost sensitivity to materials, fabrication and components, and (2) the need to create electronic functionality in products that are not especially durable; such products might be made of paper or thin plastic, for example. Products that fit this definition include smart packaging/RFID tags, smart shelves/point-of-presence displays, smartcards and tickets, smart textiles, certain medical disposables, and a plethora of games toys and novelties.

The latest developments in TOP electronics address (1) and (2) in a number of ways. They allow the creation of moderately complex electronics using printing/solution processing. Such fabrication processes are orders of magnitude less expensive than the conventional deposition and patterning technologies typically used in the semiconductor industry. In addition, the whole direction of the new TOP electronics is towards fabrication on inexpensive flexible substrates; especially paper and plastic.

Such substrates will facilitate the use of R2R fabrication, which again can lower of costs. It also addresses the issues listed under (2); the need to create electronics on paper/plastic substrates. TOP electronics and disposable electronics therefore go well together. TOP electronics goals are broader than disposable electronics. They include large rollable television displays and other products that are definitely not disposable.

But some see disposable electronics as the low-hanging fruit for TOP electronics; the place where it can generate early revenues at its current level of technological development. Several firms have taken specifically focused their sights on the low-end. These are discussed in detail in the main body of this report, but a few examples are Add-Vision (very inexpensive OLEDs), Aveso (electrochromic displays for smartcards,) Cypak (sensors/processors for smart packaging,) PolyIC (low-end electronic ID tags,) printed systems (games and printing electronics on board and paper generally) and Kovion (printed silicon for RFID and smartcards.) Opportunities and Challenges

While TOP electronics could prove a key enabler for disposable electronics it also presents some important challenges. Creating electronics on plastic and paper has yet to be perfected, for one thing. The printing technologies - screen and inkjet - that are most widely used today for printed electronics may not be easily scalable to high volume production. Some of the materials used for printed and organic electronics may be quite expensive; silver is widely used and gold is common in R&D.

Other materials - mostly the organic semiconductors -- are not completely stable in atmospheric conditions that are high or low temperature or in which there is a lot of water vapor. However, these are problems for the whole of TOP electronics and are actually less of a challenge to the applications with which we are concerned in this report; those where TOP electronics can add value to disposable products. These are summarized below. It is these opportunities that form the main topic of this report.

Product Segment: RFID
Opportunities: Printed electronics could reduce item level tags to just a few pennies making wide-scale tagging possible. Potential volume opportunities are huge.
Challenges: Registration and resolution in high-speed printing may not be good enough. Optimal materials yet to be determined. In-line printing along with graphics not established. Result of competition with conventional chips created in depreciated fabs yet to be determined.

Product Segment: Other smart packaging
Opportunities: Addition of sensors and possibly displays to show condition of products in package, how often the package has been opened, etc. Brand enhancement and advertising using electronic features are also possible
Challenges: Value is primarily limited to niche applications such as pharmaceutical packaging, cosmetics, and large cartons of chemicals where value can be clearly established/ enhancement budget is available. Volume opportunity may be limited

Product Segment: Point-of-presence displays
Opportunities: Low-cost updateable pricing labels based on e-paper technology. These can improve retail business efficiency and operated under low power which may come from thin-film or flexible batteries. Volume potential is large
Challenges: Concept is not yet well established. May not need printed/thin-film batteries, which are currently relatively expensive. E-paper does not offer color, although it soon will.

Product Segment: Smartcards
Opportunities: Electrochromic/e-paper displays can be added for additional security and other features. Printable transistors and memories may ultimately prove less costly than conventional chips.Small form factor of printable/thin-film batteries may make this kind of battery highly suitable in this application. Very large volume opportunity
Challenges: Not many TOP electronics companies focusing on this opportunity at present and organic/printed chips vs. conventional silicon issue even less of a settled issue than in RFID. Powered chips are only just beginning to appear. While smartcards are already printed integrated electronics/graphics printing technology is not fully established and the high-temperature lamination used with cards may damage delicate organic transistors.

Product Segment: Smart textiles
Opportunities: Fashion enhancements. Practical enhancements for specialized clothing for medical, military, security and other workers. Military is supplying significant funding for smart uniforms.
Challenges: Not yet a focus of many TOP manufacturers, mostly low volume applications and often subject to fashions and fads, almost by definition.

Product Segment: Games, toys and other novelties
Opportunities: Adding features to existing products or creating new games/toys
Challenges: Games and toys are notoriously subject to market failures. Volumes may be quite small

Product Segment: Medical products
Opportunities: Considerable potential for electronic enhancement of medical products through innovations such as smart bandages, low-cost diagnostic products and patches.
Challenges: Product approval process is much more difficult than in any of the other areas described above. Few TOP electronics firms are looking at this area yet.