Materials for Printable Electronics to Reach $1.9 Billion
- Published: January 10, 2006, By pffc-online.com
PRESS RELEASE
GLEN ALLEN, VA—The market for inks, substrates, and other materials used in printable electronics (PE) is expected to reach $1.9 billion by 2010, rising to $8.9 billion in 2013, according to a new report from NanoMarkets. "Materials and Substrates for Printable Electronics: Opportunities and Markets" is based on interviews with firms throughout the entire value chain, including materials, manufacturing equipment, printable electronic device, and finished products companies.
The report includes an analysis of how materials for PE technology are likely to evolve over the coming decade; forecasts through 2013 of all major material types, including breakouts by application and chemistry; and a guide to which companies are active in this space now and what they're doing.
The next few years represent a key period for the PE business of a whole. The study's findings include:
- Applications make the materials. For example, flexible displays require flexible substrates and inks that do not easily crack when dry. Printed RFIDs will be created on high-speed printing machinery with strict requirements on ink viscosity.
- New directions for inks. New inks with better performance and suitability to specific applications will be developed, including those based on oligomers, small molecules, and a variety of traditional metals and semiconductors. By 2010, the ink segment of the PE materials market alone will be worth over $700 million, according to NanoMarkets.
- Plastic substrates to dominate. Revenues from plastic substrates are expected to reach $735 million by 2010. Business will go to those demonstrating the best performances in flexibility, smoothness, and antistatic properties.
- Electronics on paper. This will be required as PE finds its way to smart packaging, greeting cards, and other novelties. PE on a paper substrate may even be the ultimate in electronic paper. To make this happen, however, paper manufacturers will have to come up with special coated papers suitable for taking electronic inks.
