In-mold electronics (IME) are becoming an excellent opportunity for flexible and printed electronics, with automotive and white goods appliances offering particularly good potential.

IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das said that in-mold electronics interest is growing, in wide-ranging use cases from wearables to white goods appliance and automotive.

“Automotive in particular is showing the most interest and we think will be the biggest opportunity for IME over the next 10 years,” Das added. “We forecast IME to become a $1.1 billion business by 2029.”

Canatu CEO Juha Kokkonen said that more and more companies are including IME in their technology development roadmap.

“At Canatu, we can see it by the number of projects expanding every year,” Kokkonen added. “In the automotive sector, three years ago only a few companies started to investigate this technology. Today, all big automotive players over the world are aware of it and initiate development projects with this technology. Canatu is focusing currently on the automotive sector. However, there are many possible future applications, also for example in consumer electronics.”

Dave Rice, TactoTek SVP of marketing, said that TactoTek is seeing lots of interest in its IMSE (injection-molded structural electronics) systems.

“TactoTek is witnessing dramatic growth in in-mold electronics both on the demand side and the supply side,” said Rice. “On the demand side, the number of projects is showing a non-linear accelerate (aka a ‘hockey stick’) as customers who started with one project are expanding to many projects running in parallel, while at the same time new customers from a range of industries are getting started with their first in-mold electronics projects. Of course, OEMs and brands aren’t adopting in-mold electronics because it’s new, cool technology. They are doing so to deliver high value, differentiated user experiences that drive customer value, economically.”

Christophe Cazes, group innovation director for Novares, said his company is “definitively” seeing growth in interest in in-mold electronics. “With the fast-growing development of 3D smart surfaces, the need for IME is becoming more obvious every day,” Cazes added.

“The development of smart surfaces is mainly driven by a revolution in the interior of the vehicles: Digitalization, intuitive user interfaces, multi-modal interactions (touch, force-touch, haptic feedback, light…) and new user experiences such as shared mobility which leads to new constraints (intense use…),” Cazes observed.

“We see a clear increase in the use of in-mold electronics,” said OE-A managing director Klaus Hecker. “The key markets are automotive, white goods and consumer electronics, as all are looking for new and integrated HMIs (human-machine interfaces).”

“Certainly, there are a wide range of markets where in-mold electronics will offer advantages, but early adopters will likely be in the automotive market followed closely by the white goods space,” said John Hannafin, global product manager, Sun Chemical Advanced Materials. “There is also a lot of interest already in portable consumer markets where items such as remote controls and instrumentation and certain medical devices lend themselves as ideal candidates. This will be especially valuable with touch technology.”

“Automotive continues to dominate demand for our IMSE solutions,” said Rice. “That is, in part, because of our early focus on automotive, and that market attracted our focus with a strong pull. We have many automotive projects now that are scheduled for SOP in the next two to four years and a few possibilities for earlier production. We’re now proactively engaging markets outside of automotive, and those opportunities are developing quickly; they also have a much faster path from concept to production than the automotive market. In fact, we start production on an industrial IoT part in December.

Building automation, appliances, Internet of Things (IoT) and a few high-end wearables are reflected in our pipeline.”

Rice noted that TactoTek’s primary business model is licensing its technology.

“On the supply side, TactoTek now has three licensees of its IMSE technology: Faurecia, Nanogate and LS Automotive Technologies, each of whom is selling IMSE solutions to their customers,” Rice added. “Many more manufacturers are engaged in active contract negotiations to license TactoTek IMSE technology.

“At TactoTek we continue to work directly with OEMs and brands in many industries to get them started with IMSE by working with their engineers and designers to develop in-mold electronics solutions,” Rice noted. “In automotive, our licensees are the mass production supply chain; in other markets, one of our licensees, or TactoTek itself in some cases, will mass-produce parts. Our pipeline of qualified projects has more than doubled in the last year, in spite of our qualification process being more rigorous.”

Major Advantages for In-Mold Electronics

There are numerous advantages of in-mold electronics. Tom Bianchi, VP of Eastprint Incorporated, said that lower cost, better capacitive switch performance, durability and design freedom are key advantages of in-mold electronics.

Cazes pointed to weight reduction, reduction of time of assembly, design freedom and robustness, while Das noted light-weighting, space-saving, faster turnaround of different designs by using printing rather than masks or multiple component assemblies, and the ability to offer 3D or structural electronics.

“IME is compact, needs only a little space, is lightweight and opens up new design opportunities by integrating not only touch but also lighting by integrating LEDs,” Hecker noted.

“User interface, unique design elements and weight reduction will be some key advantages that in-mold electronics will offer end-users,” said Hannafin. “The consumer experience in utilizing the growing touch technology will also make in-mold electronics very attractive to OEMs.

“Cost through simplified manufacturing and a dramatic increase in the use of print technology vs. assembly will be very beneficial to driving the adoption of IME,” Hannafin added. “Equally as important, IME can offer improvements to the environment through a reduced carbon footprint via energy savings during manufacturing as well as better options for recycling at end of life.”

Kokkonen said that the electronic becomes part of the 3D shape structure itself, leading to many advantages.

“With in-molded electronics in automotive, one can replace mechanical dials and knobs with Canatu’s 3D touch surfaces,” Kokkonen observed. “In manufacturing, the number of parts and time used for the assembly is decreasing; the electronic circuit is integrated while the final product is molded. Then, it removes post-process assembly steps saving production time and material. Also, the in-molding makes surfaces robust and in one piece avoiding dirt and dust to be trapped in mechanical buttons.

“Molding integration reduces drastically volume and weights of the parts,” Kokkonen added. “IME gives new design freedom and product rethinking. No need anymore to find room to hide bulky electronic, as it becomes part of the product itself. With a smart 3D thin surface, IME enables electronics to be extended in new areas where it was not possible with traditional electronics.”

Rice said that for most uses, prominent IMSE benefits include the thin, conformal 3D structure, as IMSE parts are typically 2-4mm thick and can be molded into complex shapes for easy integration. Fast, inexpensive product updates are also possible, as cosmetic and electronic functions can be updated with printing processes while using the same tooling.

Minimized assembly is also a plus. “Our overhead control panel technology demonstrator replaces a 64 part assembly with one molded part and a small external PCB,” Rice pointed out.

“There are many other benefits depending on the specific use case: durability, because electronics are encapsulated in plastics; lightweight, as typically an IMSE part is 50-80% lighter than a traditional electronics assembly; for some the value of a lifetime without the squeaks and rattles of an assembly is quite high; and the list goes on,” Rice concluded. “Also significant is that IMSE manufacturing is a clean, additive process, and most of the weight reduction reflects reducing the volume of plastics in a part.”

Examples of In-Mold Electronics

Industry leaders noted that consumers would recognize some in-mold electronics applications.

“The first products with integrated touch sensors are used in white goods like washing machines and coffee machines as HMI,” Hecker noted.

“Early adaptations of the technology are now appearing in heater circuits for defrosting of LED head-lights and signal lamps in autos,” Hannafin reported. “Shortly you will see in-mold incorporated into functional interior switches and illumination on consoles and door panels.”

“We are currently developing with Quad Industries, a company in which we’ve invested through Novares Venture Capital, disruptive applications using in-mold electronics applications,” said Cazes.

“There is a heated LED headlamp available in the market today,” Bianchi noted.

“It is available as a car headlamp heater,” Das said. “Modern cars use LED headlamps, which do not get so hot so ice does not melt. IME is used for 3D heating elements to melt the ice.”

“The in-molded electronics are not yet in the cars you can find on the markets, but will be within the next two years,” Kokkonen said, adding that Canatu has done some demonstrators and concepts with the automotive sector and has recently won the first mass development cases. “Consumers would recognize it today through user-friendly cockpit in prototype cars and demonstrators.”

“Most of our customers’ use cases are in man-machine interface parts,” said Rice. “Some of those are very simple designs replacing existing mechanical functions and traditional electronics structures.

However, TactoTek’s technology demonstrator, BatRay, shows how a traditional use case, an overhead control panel, can be reinterpreted using IMSE. That part with multiple styles of illumination, capacitive buttons and a multi-mode slider, and Bluetooth connectivity has inspired very different designs in automotive, industrial IoT, appliances, and other markets.

“What is most exciting is that we’re now seeing designers embrace IMSE and create solutions that build on the strengths of the technology,” Rice added. “For instance, we’re seeing very creative integration of controls with new styles of illumination to convey meaning, and to do so within the context of a design vision to support natural, intuitive interaction rather than trying to consolidate functions on a touch screen.”

Outlook for In-Mold Electronics

Companies are optimistic about in-mold electronics applications in the marketplace in the next few years.

“As IME is a cornerstone of smart surfaces for the interior of the future, we think that technology will support that development,” said Cazes.

“We are optimistic that once we demonstrate the viability and advantages that IME offers, early adopters will accelerate the use of in-mold electronics and drive significant growth,” Hannafin concluded.

“I believe there will be a few non-HMI, user interface applications in production in 2020-2021,” Bianchi observed. “HMI/user interface applications will most likely be three to five years out.”

“We expect automotive applications to dominate going forward,” Das noted.

“We expect IME to grow in various areas,” Hecker said. “First, we expect it to come with relatively simple functions like touch sensors and in higher-end products, whether it is cars, white goods or consumer electronics. Over time – as usually – this will migrate also to lower price segments and numbers will further increase, and more and more function (light, logic,…) will be integrated.

“IME becomes more challenging as more components are integrated, like a decoration foil on top or additional electronic components like LEDs or chips besides a touch function,” Hecker pointed out.

“Additional process development is needed to get higher yields for the full device. Also, thermal management has to be treated carefully if power consuming devices like LED or chips are embedded in plastics.”

“Today more OEMs, brands and designers are looking to in-mold electronics as a technology that can create high value differentiating user experiences,” Rice observed. “We’re seeing some amazing designs from OEMs and brands that can be realized with the current state of IMSE technology. This is to their credit: we just educate them about what’s possible.

“Meanwhile, in-mold electronics technology is advancing quickly, enabling more complex shapes and more sophisticated electronic functions,” Rice continued. “For example, conductive inks are becoming more elastic and more conductive so they are more formable and carry more current. That translates to innovative shapes and more electronic functionality. In parallel, some IC manufacturers are designing components specifically for surface mounting on IME film substrates and with packaging designed for injection molding pressures and temperatures.

“Today’s in-mold electronics are typically hybrid structures—printed electronics, and in the case of TactoTek IMSE designs, in-mold LEDs and some passive components, and external system electronics on a small traditional PCB,” Rice added. “That will continue to be a preferred implementation for many uses.

“Meanwhile, we see the growth of distributed computing systems inside of vehicles, in smart buildings and many other IoT domains for which integrating intelligence within the parts themselves has many benefits,” he noted. “Very soon we expect to see the next generation of smart molded structures that include in-mold system electronics. That type of solution will increase electronic functionality, simplify connectivity and further enhance durability.”

“Speaking about automotive market where we have more experience and so visibility, today and tomorrow are full of proof of concept and development projects,” Kokkonen said. “We have already won the first mass development cases. The market in the next few years is real, automotive industry players are building knowledge and experience foundations to be ready to launch in-mold electronics products with success. Once it’s in use in the first cars it will spread, and no one knows yet how far it can go.”