The field of printed electronics continues to make news, with new applications emerging and mergers and acquisitions on the rise. Against that backdrop, Printed Electronics USA 2011, co-located with Photovoltaics USA 2011, will be held from Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA.

Organized by IDTechEx, Printed Electronics USA features more than 100 speakers, covering the gamut of printed electronics products, equipment and materials, and applications.

Presentations cover fields as diverse as photovoltaics, displays, healthcare, RFID, sensors, lighting, textiles, eReaders and many more end-uses, as well as the materials, equipment and cutting-edge research behind these new technologies, with speakers including leaders at Procter & Gamble, MWV Packaging, the U.S. Army, Boeing, Stora Enso Packaging Boards, E Ink and OSRAM Sylvania, among many others.

“Highlights for this year include presentations from end-user companies such as P&G and Boeing, highlighting their needs and requirements but also internal research efforts in developing printed electronics applications,” said Dr. Harry Zervos, technology analyst at IDTechEx. “On the technology front we will be hearing from OLEDs companies, but also inorganic LED ones, OSRAM Sylvania and Nth Degree giving insight in similarities and differences between the two.

“There is a lot of interest in graphene and carbon nanotubes, nano-particle inks and developments, not just in materials but also manufacturing,” Dr. Zervos added. “Devices developed ranging from interactive packaging from MWV all the way to E Ink’s e-readers are also taking front stage.”

Printed Electronics USA and its sister show, Printed Electronics Europe, have enjoyed growth in recent years, and Dr. Zervos expects that trend to continue in 2011.

“We already have 80 exhibitors confirmed and are expecting to hit 100 by the time of the conference,” Dr. Zervos said. “We also are expecting more than 1,200 delegates. Excitement and anticipation is obvious in the field of printed electronics, there’s been several successful applications already and we’re only expecting more to come as more and more devices are realized.

“We are also making sure we give attendees samples of printed electronics again this year,” he added. “We have already confirmed two different types of devices that conference visitors can take away with them. The samples are only one of the features of this year’s event, along with Demonstration Street, now in its second year, showcasing functioning printed electronics devices, we are making sure that people involved with this industry are fully aware that components and devices are already in place that make the new electronics not just ‘drawing on a piece of paper any more.’

Keynote Talks and Day 1

Dr. Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx, will open the conference with his overview, “Printed Electronics State of Play: 2012-2022.” Dr. Harrop will be followed by Dr. Kenneth McGuire, principal scientist, Procter & Gamble, who will cover “Consumer Electronics Applications.”

Michael Londo, director of open innovation at MWV Packaging, will then discuss “When Technology and Market Need Match.” Warren Kronberger, R&D director, The Marketing Store, will analyze “The Promotional Marketing Landscape & Printed Electronics,” followed by Dr. Brian Fuchs, mechanical engineer with the U.S. Army, whose presentation is on “Overview of Materials Printing Capabilities and Prototype Development for U.S. Army Applications.”

After the break, Jeff Duce, design engineer at Boeing, discusses “Applications, Needs, and Requirements for Printed Electronics in Aerospace.” He will be followed by Dr. Juha Maijala, manager, intelligent solutions, Stora Enso Packaging Boards, whose topic is “Wireless Healthcare Solution Using Printed and Conventional Electronics.”

Sriram Peruvemba, chief marketing officer for E Ink Holdings, will speak on “My eReader Ate the Library,” followed by Dr. David Hamby of OSRAM Sylvania, whose topic is “Challenges and Opportunities for Printed Electronics in the Lighting Industry.”

After lunch, the conference breaks into three tracks. Track 1 begins with Brand Enhancements for Consumer Goods, which features presentations from the University of California, Berkeley; Decathlon SA; T-Ink; DHL; and plastic electronic GmbH. Sensor Functionality Integration covers the final talks, given by leaders from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Cape Town.

Track 2 covers a variety of topics, beginning with talks on Product Enhancement for Consumer Electronics, presented by Artificial Muscle, Plastic Logic GmbH and Polymer Vision. Track 2 then heads over to Touchscreens, with talks planned by Peratech Ltd. and PolyIC GmbH & Co. Inorganic Thin Film Transistors is the topic of the final two talks, to be given by the University of Cambridge and Hewlett-Packard.

Track 3 begins with the topic of NFC & RFID, with a talk from Sunchon National University. Printed Electronics in Asia is the next area, with talks planned by Hitachi Chemical and Polyera. Breakthrough With Printed Logic features a series of promising talks, led off by PragmatIC Printing; PARC, a Xerox company; and NanoGram. The topic of Lighting is then covered by Nth Degree Technologies.

Day 2 Schedule

The second day of Printed Electronics USA breaks into four concurrent tracks. Track 1 focuses primarily on display technology and materials. Track 1 begins with a series of talks on the topic of OLED Display Breakthrough, covered by speakers from Heraeus PM, Conductive Polymers Division; Panasonic Electric Works Co. Ltd.; University of Toronto; Plextronics; and Blue Nano. Two talks on the subject of Quantum Display will follow, given by Opalux and QD Vision.

Graphene & Carbon Nanotubes is the focus of the rest of Track 1, with talks slated from UCLA, Brewer Science, Vorbeck Materials, Chasm Technologies, Applied Nanotech Ink, Northern Illinois University, The Paper Battery Company, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and Enfucell.

Track 2 begins with a talk by Raghu Das, IDTechEx CEO, on “Printing Electric Vehicles.” Track 2 then examines Healthcare with a talk from University of Illinois, and Creating New Products, presented by leaders from GSI Technologies, Soligie and Thin Film Electronics.

Track 2 then heads into the area of Paper Electronics, with talks planned by De La Rue Group R&D and MIT. The topic of Printing Invisibility is the focus of talks by officials from Cornell University and the City University of Hong Kong.

After lunch, Track 2 focuses on Land, Sea, Air Mobility, featuring talks from Planar Energy Devices and PolyPlus Battery Company. Track 2 then concludes with Solid-State, Thin & Rechargeable Batteries, led by talks from Infinite Power Solutions, Stanford University and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Track 3 focuses on the growing opportunities for PV, beginning with The Analyst View, featuring talks from IDTechEx and Navigant Consulting. This is followed by the topic of Concentrator PV, with speakers from Boeing Spectrolab and Skyline Solar presenting. Inorganic PV

Inorganic PV is the next area of discussion, featuring presenters from Vitriflex and Solexant Corp. The field of DSSC/OPV features leaders from Dyesol and Solarmer Energy.

After lunch, Manufacturing PV is the focus with talks from CSIRO and PixDro. Barriers & Substrates closes Track 3, with presentations from Tera-Barrier Films Pte. Ltd., Henkel and Evonik Degussa GmbH.

Track 4 begins with three talks on Fine Patterning for Transparent Conductors: Replacing ITO?, with talks from KAIST, Toppan Forms and UCLA. Speakers from Nano Forge, NovaCentrix, Ohio Gravure Technologies, Northfield Automation Systems and Aixtron SE will talk on the topic of Printing as Part of a Volume Manufacturing Process.

After lunch, Track 4 turns to the topic of NanoMetal Ink Advancements, with talks from Intrinsiq Materials and Tokusen USA Inc. Track 4 will next cover the topic of 3D Printing, with presentations from Optomec Inc. and COPE, Georgia Institute of Technology. Track 4 then concludes with an End User Forum, a new feature for this year’s conference.

“We are holding an ‘End User Forum,’ where adopters, potential adopters and technology providers will discuss and brainstorm on new collaborations, experiences, challenges that need to be faced; this kind of direct interaction will potentially lead to fruitful collaborations initiated,” Dr. Zervos concluded.