There are a lot of projects being developed in the field of flexible and printed electronics, and plenty of opportunities and markets ahead. One challenge is producing the fine lines and circuits needed for these projects in the lab.
 
Komori America and Seria Corporation believe they have a solution with the Pepio F6, a gravure offset printing press designed for R&D applications. Komori Corporation has exhibited at Pepio F6 press to NextFlex, the consortium that was formed in 2015 by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and FlexTech Alliance to advance US manufacturing of flexible hybrid electronics (FHE). 
 
Douglas Schardt, director of product management, Komori America and Seria, said that Komori is solely focused on printing, and printed electronics is an ideal fit.
 
“Komori Corporation is and has been solely focused on manufacturing the finest printing equipment possible throughout the company’s history,” Schardt said. “Armed with almost 100 years of printing experience and expertise, the field of printed electronics is a natural channel for our development.
 
“In creating the Komori/Seria line of PE equipment, we leveraged our knowledge of the full range of printing techniques such as offset, inkjet, gravure offset, intaglio, flexography, screen, etc.,” he added. “The Pepio F6 as shown at NextFlex is the result.”
 
Flexible hybrid electronics requires a process and machine that is both highly accurate and consistently reliable. Schardt pointed out that the machine also had to push past conventional design and manufacturing envelopes – in this case achieving extreme fine line printing, while being very easy to use – and gravure is an ideal selection.
 
“It had to allow for different types and properties of the employed materials such as inks and substrates,” he added. “And we needed a process that could transition from R&D to mass production while maintaining an extremely attractive cost curve. Ultimately, we chose to utilize gravure offset printing as the ideal method for PE. Of course, the gravure process, in this case, is specialized for the unique needs of PE, but the core design is gravure. This technology encompasses all our development objectives while retaining the flexibility to adapt to the changing nature of PE materials and design as the world moves forward into this exciting field.”
 
Schardt sees R&D-driven organizations as being a strong target market for the Pepio F6.
 
“Our equipment can produce some amazingly fine conductive lines, finer than what circuit designers might have been comfortable working with in the past,” Schardt noted. “Our equipment is not limited to fine lines but circuits that are smaller, thinner and more flexible, and will be changing the world in which we live. While we have equipment suitable for mass production, our ideal target market includes companies and organizations willing to try something new, to design what has not been possible before, to be on the cutting edge of development. Companies with aggressive R&D goals can benefit the most from the Pepio F6 machine we are exhibiting at NextFlex and these will be the companies reaping the benefits of being there first.”
 
Schardt said that designing a machine to print reliable conductive circuits at single digit micron widths and making it easy to do did have some challenges.
 
“Many had to do with techniques to deal with the quickly changing rheology of conductive silver ink while keeping circuit reliability high,” he noted. “Others had to do with resistance at those micron levels and still others had to do with reliably mounting chips and components with correct alignment on flexible substrates, which have a tendency to deform under heat.
 
“To address this last issue, we have formed a partnership with Connectec Japan, another NextFlex exhibitor, to add a unique solution to this challenge,” added Schardt. “We are very pleased to report we have successfully overcome these manufacturing challenges and are ready to assist in the yet unknown design challenges we expect will come after seeing all the creative ideas presented at NextFlex.”
 
The Pepio F6 is capable of light production, but it is targeted for R&D.
 
“Depending on output needs, the Pepio F6 is certainly capable of light production, but its sweet spot is really R&D,” Schardt noted. “Use it to develop new ideas and new products, then when mass production is required, we have larger, faster machines available. Gravure offset has a very low cost of production when engaged in mass production so using the same technology for the R&D portion only makes sense. In addition, we readily accept customization requests to firmly align machine capabilities with production needs for particular applications.”
 
In addition to exhibiting the Pepio F6 at NextFlex, Komori has been a member of NextFlex for FHE collaborations, and will provide printed electronics solutions based on its gravure offset technologies to the institute in the future. Schardt said that NextFlex is an important partner for building up the FHE manufacturing ecosystem.
 
“Without question, NextFlex has been an excellent partner and channel to bring together experts from all aspects of PE,” Schardt observed. “From suppliers and manufacturers to users and explorers, it’s an excellent venue to gain knowledge and form partnerships, while still maintaining a platform for telling individual stories of our own role in this exciting industry. NextFlex offers the opportunity to build key relationships in a few weeks that might otherwise have taken years. And best of all, the NextFlex team is highly skilled and extremely helpful throughout all our interactions with them. Can’t say enough good things about this organization.”
 
Komori America and Seria see excellent opportunities ahead for the Pepio F6.  
 
“We have yet to come to the end of the list of commercial opportunities for the products that can be produced with our equipment,” Schardt said. “Companies involved in medical, security, communications, aerospace, warfare, education, and many, many more can all potentially benefit from what our equipment can produce.
 
“Up to this point, technology of anything using electronics is limited by what was both possible and practical,” he continued. “Because our equipment now makes possible what previously wasn’t, design teams from all industries can explore new approaches to everything. Some of those approaches will improve operability, some will allow electronic interaction where none was possible before, some will reduce cost and weight and the list goes on. We are currently ready for commercialization of both R&D machines as well as mass production so there will be no delay for those companies willing to try.”