Introducing the Electronics RESHAPED USA Program - Material Innovations in Printed Electronics
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Future of Electronics RESHAPED USA conference and exhibition (10 & 11 JUNE 2026, Mountain View) is set to be the most important event of the year in Silicon Valley focused on additive, hybrid, 3D, sustainable, wearable, soft and textile electronics. Hosted at the iconic Computer History Museum, this event serves as the global hub for the next generation of electronics.
This year the program features a world-class agenda with over 75 superb invited talks from around the world, 8 industry- or expert-led masterclasses, 2 tours, and over 75 onsite exhibitors.
In this article, we discuss and highlight various innovative talks at the event around the theme of Material Innovations in Printed Electronics. In previous articles we covered process advancements, R2R manufacturing, smart surfaces and sensing, printed photovoltaics and more.
Explore the full agenda now and join the global industry in Mountain View on 10 & 11 JUNE 2026. Let us RESHAPE the Future of Electronics together, making it Additive, Hybrid, 3D, R2R, Soft, Flexible, Wearable, Textile and Sustainable.
🚨Explore the Full Agenda and Register before 3 May when early bird rates expire
Tatsuta – Robert Wilson discusses silver-coated copper particle conductive pastes. Robert explores the critical challenge of copper oxidation, which severely impacts the reliability of low-cost interconnects when replacing expensive silver. By engineering silver-coated copper particles, Tatsuta combines the cost advantages of copper with the stability of silver. This work offers a scalable, eco-friendly solution for PCB and FPC manufacturing, reducing CO₂ emissions to 18% compared to traditional subtractive etching.
Copprint – Ofer Shochet discusses the structural shift from silver to copper inks. Ofer explores how the surge in demand from EVs and data centers has created a "Silver Tax," imposing a $24B+ burden that directly compresses margins for printed electronics manufacturers. The presentation maps the transition landscape, highlighting how high-performance copper inks now offer a viable substitute for silver. This solution provides an intelligent risk-management framework for manufacturers to reclaim margins through direct material substitution.
Electroninks – Mitchell Smith explores Silver MOD Inks as an advancement beyond particle pastes. Mitchell explores the chemical limitations of traditional particle-based pastes, which often require high-temperature curing and high metal loading. Metal-organic decomposition (MOD) inks achieve comparable conductivity using less metal and can be cured at much lower temperatures. This work offers a pathway for integrating high-performance electronics onto heat-sensitive plastic substrates that were previously incompatible with standard conductive pastes.
🚨Explore the Full Agenda and Register before 3 May when early bird rates expire
👉 iGii (Integrated Graphene) – Michelle Ntola highlights 3D carbon nanomaterials (Gii). Michelle explores the volatile pricing and supply chain risks associated with metal-heavy electrode formulations in microheaters and batteries. Gii is a proprietary 3D carbon platform that delivers robust thermal performance (up to 400 °C) and high surface quality without relying on silver. This technology offers a sustainable, drop-in alternative for roll-to-roll manufacturing, capable of producing up to 80 million parts per year.
👉 Arieca Inc. – Navid Kazem discusses liquid metal embedded elastomer (LMEE) composites for AI cooling. Navid explores the thermal bottleneck in next-generation high-performance computing, where power densities are projected to reach 4 W/mm², far exceeding the capabilities of current thermal interface materials (TIMs). LMEEs combine the high thermal conductivity of dispersed liquid metal microdroplets with the mechanical compliance of soft elastomers. This work offers a transformative TIM solution that reduces data center power consumption by effectively managing heat in large silicon dies with significant warpage.
Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre – Andrew Strudwick presents printed electronics based on graphene and 2D materials. Andrew explores the "tipping point" of graphene, moving from lab curiosity to real-world solutions for environmental monitoring and health sensors. The talk highlights how GEIC's pilot-scale printing equipment helps companies bridge the gap between material research and product launch. This solution offers partners a world-class facility to design, develop, and scale the next generation of energy-efficient heating elements and flexible devices.
🚨Explore the Full Agenda and Register before 3 May when early bird rates expire
Nagase ChemteX – Alan Brown discusses innovations in fine line conductive ink printing. Alan explores the complex interplay between ink chemistry, screen parameters, and substrate surface energy that often prevents reliable sub-micron printing features. The presentation examines how optimizing mesh count and emulsion profiles can improve line definition and electrical performance. This work offers a practical roadmap for manufacturers to achieve consistent, ultra-fine resolution across diverse advanced electronic applications.
Henkel – Julie Ferrigno explores materials and processes for printed antennas. Julie explores how high-frequency designs require low surface roughness and uniform thickness, which are difficult to achieve with standard silver pastes. The talk presents silver-filled and emerging silver-plated copper (SPC) inks that deliver comparable RF behavior at lower costs. This solution enables high-throughput manufacturing of 3D antenna structures via pad printing, facilitating the mass adoption of smart connectivity.
Heraeus Electronics highlights optimizing design principles for PTC heater circuits. The talk explores the common manufacturing challenges with printed carbon-based heaters, such as print consistency and resistance tolerance under accelerated processing. In collaboration with Boyd, Heraeus investigates how print formfactor and roll-to-roll conditions impact heat-up characteristics. This work offers a set of best practices to enhance both the performance and manufacturability of flexible heaters for automotive and personal devices.
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University of Southern California – Hangbo Zhao explores high-resolution liquid metal-based stretchable electronics. Hangbo explores the difficulty of achieving feature sizes below the standard limit for liquid metal patterns used in implantable biomedical devices. By integrating colloidal self-assembly and micro-transfer printing, patterns as small as 5 µm are realized. This work offers a method for creating cardiac mapping devices that maintain exceptional conductivity (2.4×10⁶ S/m) even under extreme 1200% strain.
Sunray Scientific – John Yundt discusses fine-pitch direct die attach with reduced cost and higher throughput. John explores the constraints of traditional bonding technologies like solder and silver-filled ECAs, which often suffer from brittle properties, low bond strength, or slow micro-dot dispensing. ZTACH® ACE utilizes magnetically aligned columns of ferromagnetic particles to create an anisotropic electrical interconnection. This work offers a pressure-less, low-temperature process that simplifies assembly to a single step while increasing bond strength by 5-10x.
ACI Materials – Richard Morris highlights materials for durable FHE and E-Textiles. Richard explores the issue of galvanic corrosion in electrically conductive adhesives (ECA) under damp heat, which limits the durability of wearables. The presentation introduces solderable printed conductors that enable higher-density circuits and smaller SMDs. This solution provides a cost-effective, additive pathway for manufacturing stretchable e-textiles that can withstand harsh environmental conditions.
Applied Nanotech Inc. – Richard Fink concludes with novel ink development for extreme environments. Richard explores the lack of functional inks capable of maintaining electrical integrity under the extreme temperatures and pressures found in aerospace and industrial monitoring. The presentation details the characterization and testing of specialized conductive formulations. This work offers a robust material set designed to ensure reliability where conventional printed electronics would fail.
🚨Explore the Full Agenda and Register before 3 May when early bird rates expire
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