The search for thinner and more flexible electronics drives innovative research. Scientists and engineers race to develop components necessary to keep pace with the new wave of smaller electronic applications. One particularly promising technology is reshaping the way we think about components and circuits: printed electronics.
What is Printed Electronics?
Traditionally, electronics manufacturers create circuits by etching or depositing thin conductive materials onto circuit boards or silicon. These rigid substrates provide little flexibility. Designers and developers are constrained by size and weight limitations imposed by these inflexible materials, too.
“Printed electronics” refers to circuits printed on flexible substrates such as fabrics, plastics, and even paper. Though the concept of printed electrical circuits may seem scientifically advanced or complicated, the printing methods employed to create these innovative circuits are not. Traditional commercial printing methods such as screen printing, spin-coating, offset printing, and inkjet printing support printed electronics production.
The benefits of printing electronic components extend to a wide variety of industries. Applications that leverage printed electronic technology can be found in the aerospace, medical, and even automotive industries. From lightweight displays and microsensors to energy storage, printed electronic applications offer more flexible and lightweight construction than traditional circuits afford. Printed electronics also offer an economic advantage over traditional electronics. The flexible substrates used to create printed circuits often cost far less than typical circuit board construction or silicone.
Benefits of Printing Electronic Components Drives Market Growth
Interest in printed electronics and the growing number of applications that utilize printed circuits, sensors, and RFIDs, skyrocketed in the last decade. While the market for printed electronics in 2011 accounted for over 2 billion dollars, the global market for printed electronics in 2021 increased to 45 billion dollars.
What’s behind this impressive market expansion? Printed electronics offer several critical benefits that not only improve the production process, but these benefits also promise to improve the products and applications consumers rely on.
Printed Electronics Technology Benefits Manufacturers and Consumers
Printing electronics emerged first as an alternative approach to silicon-based electronics. Simpler production processes that waste less material in less time quickly highlighted opportunities to incorporate printed electronic technologies to manufacture low-cost components for high-volume segments of the competitive electronics market.
- Cost-effective Production Techniques: Printing techniques that produce printed electronics are more cost-effective than traditional electronics manufacturing processes. The range of available inks and substrates includes many low-cost options. The printing equipment necessary for production also costs far less than the setup necessary for manufacturing traditional electronics.
- Greater Flexibility: The combination of functional inks and flexible substrates means printable electronic technology offers greater flexibility in the design process for electrical components. The ability to print circuits on a wider variety of materials allows for circuits in various shapes and sizes. With the ability to customize circuit construction, printed electronics improve applications for wearable devices, smart product labeling, and innovative medical sensors.
- Sustainability: Printed electronics are a more eco-friendly alternative to traditional electronics for several reasons. Substrates and inks used to produce these novel electronics include water-based inks, and paper-based substrates, and utilize fewer toxic materials than traditional electronics manufacturing.
- Enhanced performance: Researchers continue to refine conductive ink technology to deliver products capable of improved conductivity. Advancements in this field also continue to improve the durability and lifespan of both inks and substrates, resulting in specialized products capable of reliable performance even in challenging environmental conditions.
- Reduced Supply Chain Challenges: The ability to print electrical circuits and components on demand provides electronics manufacturers some relief from challenging supply chain issues. Printing techniques allow for more localized production, reducing transportation costs and lead times as manufacturers invest in on-site printed electronics technology.
The Key to Printing Electronical Components? The Ink
The key to successful printed electronic production lies in the ink.
To create small, lightweight printed circuits, manufacturers utilize conductive inks. Conductive inks contain substances that conduct electricity, such as carbon, graphene, and silver.
Companies such as BASF and DuPont lead research and development efforts to create new, more conductive inks for printed electronics manufacturing. These companies offer a variety of inks and pastes, partnering with printed electronic manufacturers to develop new ink products for specialized applications. Application-specific ink development has widened the playing field for developers and engineers. New inks feature characteristics such as a high level of abrasion resistance, high breakdown voltage, and enhanced spread to minimize ink consumption.
In addition to ink and substrate development, leaders in the field continue to refine aspects of printed electronic production processes. NovaCentrix, a US-based company, specializes in a unique manufacturing printed electronic process called “pulse-thermal processing.” This process harnesses high-intensity pulsed light to cure and dry printed pastes.
Current Applications for Printed Electronics
While printing electrical circuits on flexible materials may seem complicated and out of reach, you may use products and applications powered by printed electronics today.
As printed electronic technology becomes more mainstream, manufacturers increasingly turn to printed electronics for a competitive edge in the mass production of high-demand products.
Examples of printed electronics found in consumer products include:
- Flexible displays for personal electronics
- Sensors within medical devices
- Sensors for environmental monitoring
- Smart food and beverage package labeling
- Supercapacitors powering energy storage for wearable technology
- OLED television displays
- solar energy storage
Electrical component printing technologies significantly improve advances in a related field of materials science, organic electronics. Printed electronic functionality, especially when paired with 3D printing technology, is driving innovative new research, such as graphene-based wearable medical sensors with the potential to speed wound healing. Check out Mectronic’s recent post on organic electronics to learn more.
Powering Innovative Applications One Print Job At a Time
As manufacturers work to keep pace with technological advances, several companies stand out for their implementation of printed electronic technologies.
One such company is Thin Film Electronics. Thin Film is a Norwegian company that leverages printed electronics technologies in a wide range of product applications. Thin Film developed “printed memory,” a proprietary technology they use to manufacture disposable electronic circuits.
Printing technologies for electronics are innovative and cost-effective. This technology offers the potential to revolutionize the way we manufacture and use electronic circuits and devices.
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