When the idea of printed electronics was first being developed, a few entrepreneurial printers looked at what they could do, and how it could be adapted to the new applications. Today, these companies are growing along with the flexible and printed electronics field.

Jaye Tyler, president and CEO of Si-Cal Technologies Inc., A Nissha Company, said the company continues to see its PE business grow year over year.

“In 2015 compared to 2014, our PE business more than doubled in 2015, and we are projecting similar growth in 2016,” Tyler said. “Our growth is coming from a broad number of varying markets and from the US and Europe. There is a buzz around smart textiles and printed electronics on garments. We are working on some early stage prototypes, with a couple different construction approaches, to meet the required washing cycles and mechanical requirements of the end garment.”

Pete Knaub, director of technical services for Topflight Corporation, said that Topflight’s experience in printing and converting made entering the printed electronics market a good opportunity.

“We saw opportunity to combine our technical capabilities with our printing and converting experience to differentiate ourselves in the market,” Knaub added. “That model has evolved over the years with building a strong technical team with skills and experience unlike what you would find in most printing companies. Topflight manufactures products for customers in the medical, durable goods, cosmetics and the electronics markets. The production of electronics products have been primarily in the areas of the medical and electronics markets.”

Knaub said that growing interest in wearable technology seems to account for the majority of inquiries.

“People are looking to incorporate electronics into constructions that are not necessarily compatible with the PE conductives and printing processes,” Knaub added. “Much of what we’ve seen is still fairly early in the research phase.”

In 2015, Molex entered the printed electronics market by acquiring certain assets of Soligie, Inc. Mark Litecky, printed electronics marketing manager at Molex, said he continues to see increasing interest in flexible hybrid electronics utilizing printed substrates.

“Our customers are requesting sensor system solutions on thin, flexible, printed substrates to address applications in medical, security and logistics, wearables, military, and consumer market segments,” Litecky added. “Printing is used as a manufacturing approach for a variety of products, including our tamper destructible RFID tag, medical electrodes, medical markers, pressure sensors and ‘base’ circuits for many different applications. Printing is often complemented with assembly and converting steps to produce more complex products.”

PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG entered the printed electronics market in 2003 with printed active electronics, focusing on printed RFID. Dr. Wolfgang Clemens, head of product management PolyTC, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, noted that the company now has a clear focus on transparent conductive films, mainly for touch sensor applications, utilizing roll-to-roll printing processes.

Dr. Clemens said that PolyIC is seeing gains in the area of flexible and printed electronics, “especially in the field of ‘passive’ devices like touch sensors.”

Printing Electronics

There are a wide variety of printing processes, many of which are currently being used to manufacture flexible and printed electronics. Screenprinting is one of the more prominent processes being utilized in the field.

Si-Cal Technologies Inc., A Nissha Company, is a roll-to-roll screenprinting specialist, with additional production platforms through its parent company, Nissha Printing of Japan. Tyler said that he initially wanted to diversify from Si-Cal’s legacy graphic product into areas that leverage the company’s existing printing assets.

“PE fit the bill very well,” Tyler added. “We are currently active in RFID, sensors, displays, wearables and miscellaneous conductive components for various industries.”

Topflight utilizes screen and flexo printing for printed electronics. Some of the products it has printed are antennas, medical diagnostic device components, a security device embedded in product packing and electrode/sensor components, to name a few.

“We print using screen and flexo printing technologies, processing roll materials into the customer’s desired format, whether that is rolls or sheets,” said Knaub. “We’re able to print multiple layers of graphic and functional inks in a single press pass in addition to reinserting a printed web for additional registered printing.

“Our capabilities however are not limited to printing,” he added. “We have converting capabilities that allow us to perform some of the more complex printing and converting processes all within the same location.”

Litecky reported that Molex offers screen, flexo, inkjet and aerosol jet capabilities. “In addition to flatbed screen capabilities that Molex already offers, solutions from Soligie bring rotary screen printing and flexographic printing utilizing roll-to-roll processes,” said Litecky.

Challenges with Printing

For printers, flexible and printed electronics offers challenges.

“I would say that scale-up of functional printing has presented some challenges that we’ve worked to overcome,” Knaub observed. “The approach and solutions to these challenges are much different from what we would do for non-functional graphic printing.”

Tyler noted that one of the largest challenges are the very demanding tight tolerance printing that is required as devices become smaller and with increased functionality.

“We are also continually challenged by engineering the device and the material set required to meet customer requirements,” Tyler added. “We continue the learning curve to understand the films and inks as well as the processes after printing such as die cutting, lamination and assembly. Each layer in printed electronics interacts with the layer above and below. Understanding and controlling these interactions for every device we make in high volume is essential.”

Outlook Ahead for Printing Electronics

As their companies make further advances in producing electronics, these printers are gearing up for new opportunities.  “One of the most significant challenges we see is being able to create devices with unique ink performance requirements on materials that are typically not tolerant of the printing process,” Knaub said. “We think that collaboration shows the most promise in overcoming challenges like this.”

“It appears as though devices continue to be smaller, which exacts great demands on our printing platforms,” Tyler noted. “We continue to invest in all areas of screenprinting equipment and screenprinting associated tooling and ink systems. Fortunately we are able to leverage our parent company, Nissha, who has extensive experiences in several printing platforms, screen making and ink systems.”