After years of development,
the technology for making electronic circuits with organic materials,
non-vacuum processes, and flexible substrates is beginning to make significant
progress. Leading the way are OLED
displays where Merrill Lynch estimates the market will grow from US$ 4 billion
in 2011 to $20B in 2015 and as high as $35 billion in 2017. Samsung alone is expected to spend $5 billion
a year on OLED capex annually for the next several years. As the OLED display market develops, many of
the new manufacturing solutions, technologies and materials that emerge may be
applied to other flexible and organic electronic applications including OLED
lighting, thin film logic and memory, thin film batteries, and organic PV.
SEMI is responding to member needs in this area with
conferences and programs in most regions of the world. In February, SEMI acquired the Plastic Electronics Conference (held in
conjunction with SEMICON Europa) in Europe and has established a Plastic
Electronics Special Interest Group with prestigious members from leading
academic and industry organizations with active programs in organic, large area
and flexible electronics. A full-day of programs to OLED and printed
electronics will be held at SEMICON West
(Thursday, July 12), including a workshop on Metal Oxide TFT Devices and
Technology (presented by Flextech Alliance), and separate track on OLED displays and
roll-to-roll manufacturing displays has been developed for the Strategic Materials Conference on October 23-24, in San
Jose. SEMICON Japan will have technical programs on OLED displays and plastic
electronics in December.
OLED displays are the pacesetter in this new category of
microelectronics. Samsung Mobile Displays has started manufacturing active
matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays in a Gen 5.5 fab, and both Samsung and LG Display
have announced plans to build Gen 8 (2200X2500 mm) fabs, while several other
suppliers including AUO, CMI, IRICO, Tianma, and BOE are expected to expand
their manufacturing investments. Long-time Japanese rivals Sony and Panasonic
have just announced plans to jointly develop OLED TVs, targeting low-cost, mass
production next year.
OLED lighting shares many similarities with OLED displays,
but will not reach high-volume markets for a few years. However, significant investments are being
made in OLED lighting in the US, Europe, Japan and Korea. About 100 companies including OSRAM, Philips,
Konica-Minolta and GE are working on OLED lighting, supported by materials and
equipment from companies such as Aixtron, Dainippon Screen, BASF, DuPont, Dow,
Merck, Sumitomo, Toyko Electron, Toyo, and Ulvac.
In other
applications, companies such as Applied Materials are working on solid state
thin film batteries that have exciting technical and performance advantages
such as high cycle life, almost zero self-discharge rate, high power
capability, and very thin form factor.
These performance achievements have enabled the possibility of power
components that last the life of a system, conformal batteries that can be
integrated into product designs, and perpetual energy modules that combine
batteries with energy harvesters.
Technical developments have also been made in fully printed
non-volatile, rewritable memory for applications in toys & games,
logistics, sensor, and ID systems. In
organic PV, the German company Heliatek recently recorded a 9.8% cell
efficiency, and is rumored to announce 12% shortly.
These markets are in their early stages, but represent a
significant large-scale opportunities for high-volume manufacturing supported
by SEMI members. The Plastic Electronics
Conference, held in conjunction with SEMICON Europa, will concentrate on these
developing mega-markets with three symposia — OLED Lighting and Displays,
Flexible and Organic PV and Integrated Smart Systems. Last year, over 600 attendees participated in
conference dedicated to the large-scale, lab-to-fab potential in printed
electronics. We think this the world’s
premier event for taking plastics electronics from the “lab to the fab.”
Beyond, conferences and events, SEMI anticipates helping
these markets accelerate through international standards development. While still in their early stages, many
materials manufacturers are incurring high-costs through having to develop unique
test methods and characterization specifications for each customer. Technology roadmap activities, public funding
of critical R&D, technical education and promotion of new technologies are
other activities that SEMI will take on with member support and guidance.
For more information on how SEMI can help you explore opportunities
to expand into organic, flexible or printed electronics markets--or reduce your
costs in serving these markets through SEMI Standards—please contact me at tmorrow@semi.org
For more information, on upcoming SEMI events in plastic
electronics, please visit
July 11-SEMICON West--FlexTech Alliance Presents: Metal
Oxide TFT Devices and Technology http://www.semiconwest.org/SessionsEvents/PlasticElectronics
July 12- SEMICON West-- Practical Plastic Electronics:
Bringing Disruptive Flexible and Organic Materials into Volume Electronics
Manufacturing http://www.semiconwest.org/SessionsEvents/PlasticElectronics
October 9-11-Plastics Electronics Conference and Exhibition
(held in conjunction with SEMICON Europa), Dresden Germany. http://www.plastic-electronics.org/
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