Progress in Materials and Processes for Printed Electronics

The interest in printed electronics has exploded over the last decade owing to its potential for creating impactful large-area, lightweight, flexible, and ultra-low-cost electronics. To realize this technology vision, manufacture of semiconductor devices by high-throughput roll-to-roll printing, instead of slow batch-wise photolithographic processes, would be paramount. Printed electronics offers a low-cost and eco-friendlier manufacturing approach to a wide range of semiconductor devices including next-gen displays, ultra-low-cost RFIDs, smart labels/packaging, sensors and images, etc. Foremost among critical enablers to propel this paradigm shift in manufacturing is a performance-fulfilling materials suite and compatible processes for fabricating functionally-capable transistors – the fundamental building blocks of modern microelectronics. This presentation discusses the issues, challenges, and recent advances in critical materials and processes for printed electronics and the outlook for this emerging technology moving forward. It aims to shed light on whether printed electronics is all fantasy and hype or innovation and opportunities of impactful commercial values for our times and beyond.