In 2026, certified perovskite-silicon tandem cell efficiencies surpassed 35%, extending the performance lead of tandem architectures beyond the theoretical 29% limit of silicon photovoltaics. This confirms what the research community has argued for a decade: stacking a perovskite top cell on silicon is the most practical route to the next big step in solar efficiency. Translating these laboratory results into commercially manufactured modules, however, requires more than continued gains in peak efficiency. In an industry that is bombarded by announcements about record breaking efficiencies and GW scale capacity plans, these are not realities that the industry operates under today. While Gigawatt-scale tandem lines are being built, they are running at a fraction of nameplate capacity or simply just running their pilot lines. The first commercial full-size tandem modules at industrial scale are expected to launch between 2028 and 2030 with efficiencies between 26% to 30%. For the leading manufacturers, the question is no longer whether perovskite-silicon tandems work; it is whether they can be made by the millions, at high yield, with lifetimes and stabilities that make the economics work for bankable projects. The answer largely depends on a few layers most people never see, some of them only a single molecule thick. The companies that can figure out which combination of materials and which process technologies achieve the best balance for stability and performance will have an advantage. This article looks at why those layers matter, what changes when their supply moves from the laboratory to the factory, and where the next round of performance gains is likely to come from. It is these very layers where Nano-C is a key supplier to the solar industry. Founded in 2001 from pioneering MIT research, Nano-C has been pushing device performance to new heights through the innovative use of materials while also building a tier 1 industrial supply chain. Today, the company combines vertically integrated production with application expertise in solar, batteries and semiconductor materials. As perovskite technologies move towards large-scale manufacturing, Nano-C supports manufacturers with an expanding portfolio of ETL, HTL and transparent conductor materials engineered for industrial deployment Lab Efficiency Has Seen Incredible Success; Now It’s Time to Make It A research lab and a factory measure success differently. A lab can fabricate twenty cells, report the best one and move on. A factory lives on the median of millions: every fraction of a percent of yield lost to a bad batch, a drifting process or a material that behaves differently from one delivery to the next comes straight off the bottom line. Reliability raises the bar further. Modules must pass damp-heat, thermal-cycling and light-soaking tests, and buyers and lenders expect performance warranties measured in decades. This changes how materials are judged. Properties that may not be immediately evident in a research setting, such as lot-to-lot variability, trace impurities and documentation, become sources of yield loss or reliability risk on a production line. There is also a timing effect that is easy to overlook. Once a material is qualified into a production process, replacing it usually means repeating reliability testing and requalifying the line, which innovation strategy can take many months. The materials chosen for today's pilot and first commercial lines are largely set, but now the leading companies are turning their gaze to multi-gigawatt-scale production. For tandem manufacturers, supplier selection is a long-term decision, and it is being made now. Where Perovskite Solar Cells Win or Lose Most perovskite-silicon tandems in development today use a p-i-n top cell (Figure 1). Light passes through a transparent electrode and an electron transport layer (ETL) before reaching the perovskite absorber, which sits on a hole transport layer (HTL) above the silicon bottom cell. The perovskite gets most of the attention, but the transport layers determine how efficiently charge gets out of it. Figure 1. Representative p-i-n perovskite-silicon tandem architecture. The ETL and HTL sit on either side of the perovskite absorber and control charge extraction, stability and long-term reliability. In leading devices the ETL is typically thermally evaporated C60 fullerene, a layer around 20 nanometres thick, thousands of times thinner than a human hair. The HTL comprises increasingly a self-assembled monolayer (SAM): a single layer of molecules that anchors to the underlying electrode, a metal oxide or interconnection layer (ICL) and presents a tailored surface to the perovskite. These interfaces are where much of the remaining voltage loss in today's best cells occurs. The perovskite/C60 interface in particular is widely recognized as a major site of non-radiative recombination, and it can also be a mechanical weak point, where poor adhesion contributes to delamination under stress. Nano-C’s next generation C60 materials are addressing this challenge. Because of this, the materials at these interfaces influence efficiency, yield and lifetime all at once. A small change in ETL purity or HTL coverage can shift open-circuit voltage, narrow a process window or change how a module ages in the field. By the Numbers: From Grams to Tonnes Thin does not mean small. At around 25% module efficiency, one gigawatt of tandem modules covers roughly four million square metres. A 20 nm C60 layer across that area adds up to about 130 kg of deposited fullerene into a solar cell, however, considerably more must be loaded into evaporators once material utilization is taken into account. A material that most researchers have historically bought by the gram is about to be needed by the tonne, every year, with every kilogram held to the same specification. What Volume Readiness Looks Like As tandem manufacturers move from pilot to volume production, they are asking materials suppliers the same questions they ask their equipment vendors. Can you deliver at scale? Is every batch the same? Can you trace a problem back to its source? And can you keep up as we grow? Answering those questions is what it takes to be a Tier 1 supplier, and it is the role Nano-C has built itself to play for perovskite-silicon tandem production. Scale. Founded in 2001 from research at MIT, Nano-C has spent more than two decades manufacturing fullerenes and other carbon-based materials for semiconductor, energy-storage and photovoltaic customers. Its proprietary continuous fullerene synthesis process was built for commercial procurement rather than research-scale sampling, with capacity that can expand as customers move from pilot lines to gigawatt-scale deployment. Nano-C is now scaling to multi-ton production. Purity. In an ETL, purity is a key performance parameter. Trace impurities can increase non-radiative recombination, and batch-to-batch variation can quietly erode yield. Nano-C supplies C60 in multiple grades, including a sublimed grade exceeding 99.95% purity, and work with industrial and research partners has shown improved batch repeatability compared with lower-purity alternatives. Control. Nano-C is the only fully vertically integrated manufacturer of fullerene, single-walled carbon nanotube and synthetic organic materials serving the photovoltaic sector. Synthesis, purification, separation, derivatization and formulation all happen under one roof, giving customers complete traceability and a single point of technical accountability. In May 2026, the company achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for the quality management systems that underpin this production. We are exhibiting at Perovskite Connect in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. The Second Clock: Research on the Next Generation Tandem commercialization runs on two clocks. The production clock is about making today's proven stack reliably and in volume. The research clock is about the materials that will push efficiency and lifetime further over the next five to ten years, and it is moving just as fast. Nano-C works on both, supplying volume materials to manufacturers while collaborating with leading corporate and academic research groups on next-generation devices. Several directions are attracting particular interest: Fixing the fullerene interface. Solution-processed fullerene derivatives bearing phosphonic acid or ammonium salts, such as Nano-C's mono- and bis-FAPA, are designed to bind more strongly at the interface, suppressing recombination and ion migration while addressing the adhesion weakness of a bare C60 layer. Nano-C also supplies C[60]PCBM and other functionalized fullerenes. Better hole contacts. SAM HTLs such as 0PATPA and Ph4PACz have been central to recent efficiency gains. Cross-linkable HTLs now in development by Nano-C aim to add processing robustness and stability, which matter as much on a production line as peak efficiency does. Looking beyond C60. C70 offers a different combination of optical and electronic properties from C60. Because the two are produced together, rising C60 demand is improving the economics of high-purity C70, making it practical for device developers to evaluate on technical merit in applications where even a marginal ETL gain improves system-level economics. Taking indium out of the stack. Tandem cells typically rely on indium-based transparent electrodes, and indium supply is a recognized concern as solar heads toward terawatt-scale deployment. While Nano-C's primary focus remains ETLs, HTLs and interface engineering materials, the company is also investing in transparent conductor technologies. Its Invisicon® platform utilizes single-walled carbon nanotube and nanowire technologies to provide an indium-free alternative to conventional transparent electrodes, offering compatibility with spray coating, inkjet printing and roll-to-roll manufacturing processes. The race to scale the foundational materials for near term and medium term are tied together. Fullerene derivatives are built from the same C60 and C70 that go into today's production ETLs, so a next-generation material developed in the lab can draw on a supply chain that is already running at commercial scale. That shortens the path from a promising result in a research paper to a material a manufacturer can qualify, and it is why Nano-C treats research partnership and volume manufacturing as a single strategy rather than two. Looking Ahead As perovskite technologies move towards large-scale deployment, attention is increasingly focused on stability, lifetime and manufacturing robustness. Nano-C's innovation strategy is centered on high-value interfaces, where material selection can have a significant impact on device performance and reliability. The next few years will test perovskite-silicon tandems in ways that efficiency records cannot: through processing yields and field data. The manufacturers that succeed will treat their materials supply chain with the same rigour as their equipment and processes. And because so much of the remaining performance headroom sits at the interfaces, the next generation of records is likely to be won in those same few nanometres. To discuss Nano-C's perovskite solar materials, request technical information or arrange samples, visit booth P04 or contact Nano-C through Nano-C.com. We are presenting at Perovskite Connect in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and listen to our presentation. Join us in Berlin. The event will feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

After two days of ideas, technologies and industry discussions at TechBlick Berlin, continue the journey from process innovation to industrial manufacturing. On Friday, 23 October, GM Functionals invites you to a free Industry Day at our headquarters in Birkerød, just north of Copenhagen. Under the theme Scaling Printed Electronics and Functional Thin Films from Process Innovation to Industrial Manufacturing, the day brings together researchers, technology developers, materials specialists, process engineers and equipment experts. Experience the complete production process ​ See how the different stages of roll-to-roll manufacturing work together, from coating and drying to converting, inspection and automation. During the day, you can: See industrial roll-to-roll equipment in operation Explore coating, drying, curing and web handling Learn about converting, laser processing, inspection and automation Hear perspectives from our confirmed panel of industry and research experts Take part in practical workshops and technical discussions Exchange experiences with others working to scale functional materials and thin-film technologies The focus is on practical scale-up. ​What changes when a process moves beyond the laboratory? Which challenges appear at pilot and production scale? And how can materials, equipment and process knowledge be brought together more effectively? GM Functionals Industry Day Friday, 23 October 2026Birkerød, Denmark FREE participation, including catering Continue the conversation after TechBlick and experience the journey from process development to industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing. MEET A STRONG LINE-UP OF EXPERTS FROM ACROSS INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH: ​Markus Klein (SURAGUS), Morten Madsen (University of Southern Denmark), Hindrik de Vries (SALD), Douglas Gray (Agito), Anders Elfwing (Epishine), TSE Application Representative (TSE Troller), Gernot Oreski (PCCL), and Alan Brown (Nagase ChemteX America). From GM Functionals, Uffe Nielsen, CEO, will open the Industry Day; Johan Nehammer, CTO, will deliver the keynote; César Omar Ramírez Quiroz, CScO, will chair the programme; and Antoine Rieutord, CSO, will lead the industrial walkthrough, live demonstrations, and networking. REGISTER FOR INDUSTRY DAY: https://news.gmfinishing.com/gm-functionals-industry-day-2026 We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

Authors: Dr. Ing. Pieter Verding, Ing. Brent Verdonck, Dr. Rachith Shanivarasanthe Nithyananda Kumar, Prof. Dr. Wim Deferme IUMAT — Institute for Materials Research, Hasselt University and, Imec Diepenbeek Belgium Executive Summary A scalable solution-based route to homogeneous coatings below 15 nm Spray-on-Screen (SoS) is an innovative solution-based deposition technology developed at IUMAT (Hasselt University / Imec) that enables the reproducible deposition of ultra-thin functional coatings in the few-nanometre thickness range over centimetre scale areas. While established thin-film deposition methods can produce excellent coatings, they typically require trade-offs between thickness control, process complexity, material consumption, substrate compatibility and scalability. SoS offers a process window that delivers homogeneous functional layers in the few-nanometre range, deposited without vacuum processing and using standard solution-processable materials. It has been demonstrated with both aqueous and alcohol-based formulations, operates without vacuum infrastructure, and is architecturally compatible with continuous roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing. Scaling layer thickness down offers significant practical advantages beyond device performance. For costly functional materials, reducing film thickness down to 15nm substantially lowers material consumption. Furthermore, avoiding vacuum infrastructure and high-temperature processing unlocks new possibilities for flexible and temperature-sensitive substrates and for future continuous manufacturing. The process has been experimentally validated across diverse material systems, including PEDOT:PSS, PEIE, and ZnO–PEIE, demonstrating successful incorporation into functional OLED architectures. The technology is currently implemented via an automated laboratory-scale research platform accommodating substrates up to 7 x10 cm offering a streamlined path toward industrial scale-up. Figure 1. The StreamCoat automated research platform for Spray-on-Screen deposition. The system integrates an ultrasonic spray nozzle (top) for controlled microdroplet generation and a screen mesh (centre) that converts the microdroplets into a uniform liquid film through coalescence and forced dynamic wetting. The platform supports substrates up to 7 × 10 cm.µ Introduction The need for precise ultra-thin functional coatings Thin-film device performance relies heavily on controlling functional and interfacial layers within a narrow nanometre-scale thickness window. For instance, charge-transport layers measuring just a few nanometers are essential in organic electronics to optimize charge injection, transport, and interfacial energetics[1]. Similarly, ultra-thin interlayers in photovoltaics can suppress interfacial recombination and improve charge-selective contacts [2]. In thin-film sensors, coating thickness can strongly influence analyte transport, surface interaction and ultimately sensitivity [3]. In addition the device performance, reducing coating thickness significantly decreases costly material consumption, particularly when using specialty polymers, nanoparticles or other high-value formulations. At very low wet-film volumes, dewetting, evaporation-driven flow and incomplete surface coverage can rapidly compromise film uniformity, often forcing extensive reformulation of the ink or process. As device architectures demand tighter control over interfaces, while manufacturers seek to reduce material use and energy-intensive processing, reliable deposition in the nanometre regime becomes increasingly important. However, reliably producing continuous, homogeneous films in this thickness regime remains challenging for conventional wet-coating techniques. We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. How It Works The Spray-on-Screen process in detail The SoS deposition process consists of four sequential steps, each critical to achieving a homogeneous ultra-thin coating. Figure 2 provides a schematic cross-section overview of each step, while Figure 3 shows how strongly film quality depends on release timing: a difference of only a few seconds separates droplet formation from mesh imprinting under these processing conditions. Rather than depositing the final film directly droplet by droplet, SoS uses the screen as an intermediate liquid-handling interface where droplets first coalesce on the mesh before the liquid is transferred and thinned on the substrate. Step 1: Microdroplet generation and mesh wetting The ultrasonic spray coater generates microdroplets that deposit onto the screen mesh. Where they coalesce into milli-droplets that sit on, fill, and hang beneath the mesh openings, forming a continuous liquid reservoir. Step 2: Mesh contact and substrate wetting Upon pressing the wetted mesh against the substrate, the applied force causes the milli-droplets to spread, while attraction forces simultaneously draw the ink through the mesh onto the substrate surface. Together, these effects produce a homogeneous, uniform wetting of the entire substrate area. Step 3: Controlled drying through the mesh The mesh remains in contact with the substrate while the solvent evaporates homogeneously through the mesh openings. The mesh acts as a template that regulates evaporation uniformity across the coated area. Step 4: Timed mesh release Precise retraction of the mesh is critical to obtain a smooth, uniform coating. When retracting too early, the film is still too wet, so droplets form on the surface and the resulting flow instabilities produce an inhomogeneous coating. When retracting too late, the film has already dried onto the mesh, leaving a thickness imprint of the screen's relief pattern as alternating thick and thin zones. Only at the optimal moment, while the film is still slightly wet, does rapid and homogeneous evaporation yield a smooth, uniform layer. Figure 2: Schematic cross-section overview of the four sequential steps of the Spray-on-Screen (SoS) deposition process: (1) microdroplet generation by the nozzle and coalescence into milli-droplets on, (2) mesh contact with the substrate, driving lateral spreading of the liquid film through applied pressure, (3) controlled solvent evaporation through the mesh openings while the mesh remains in contact; and (4) timed mesh retraction leaving a homogeneous ultra-thin coating on the substrate. Figure 3: Optical microscopy images (Keyence) of PEDOT:PSS coatings deposited from aqueous solution, illustrating the effect of mesh release timing. (a) Too early : film still wet, causing droplet formation and inhomogeneous coating . (b) Too late : film fully dried against mesh, leaving a periodic thickness imprint of the screen relief. (c) Optimal timing: homogeneous, featureless coating (scale bar: 1000 µm). Demonstrated Performance Validated results SoS has been validated with several functional material systems, including PEDOT:PSS, PEIE and ZnO–PEIE, on both ITO and glass substrates. Minimum demonstrated film thicknesses range from approximately 5 to 16 nm, with RMS surface roughness values between 0.3 and 2.6 nm (Table 1). For PEIE, homogeneous coatings were demonstrated over areas up to 5 × 5 cm². Material Min. Thickness Roughness (RMS) Substrates Tested PEDOT:PSS (aqueous solution) 15.8 ± 0.6 nm 1.1 nm ITO glass, Super Yellow polymer, 5×5 cm² PEIE (IPA) 4.8 ± 0.1 nm 0.3 nm ITO glass, Super Yellow, 5×5 cm² ZnO–PEIE nanocomposite (IPA) 15.3 ± 0.6 nm 2.6 nm ITO glass, Super Yellow polymer, 5×5 cm² Table 1: Overview of material systems deposited by SoS, with minimum achieved thickness, surface roughness (RMS), and substrate compatibility[4]. Figure 4: Optical microscopy, AFM and SEM characterisation of SoS-deposited PEDOT:PSS, PEIE and ZnO–PEIE coatings on ITO and polymer substrates, demonstrating uniform film formation and nanometre-scale thickness control. Adapted from [4]. OLED Application Proof Point The quality of the deposited films was also validated at device level. SoS-deposited PEDOT:PSS and ZnO–PEIE layers were integrated into organic light-emitting diodes. Devices reached an external quantum efficiency of 5.6%, comparable to spin-coated reference devices, while a luminous efficacy of approximately 24 lm/W was obtained compared with approximately 20 lm/W for devices using a vacuum-evaporated calcium electron-injection layer. The process was also demonstrated in 5 × 5 cm² OLEDs showing homogeneous large-area emission [4]. The Platform StreamCoat: an automated research platform for Spray-on-Sceen StreamCoat translates the Spray-on-Screen process into a compact, automated research platform designed for reproducible process development. The system supports substrates up to 7 × 10 cm, operates between 20 and 100 °C and is compatible with glovebox environments. No vacuum infrastructure is required. Its modular architecture also provides a platform for investigating future scale-up of the SoS deposition principle. Specification Detail Maximum substrate size Up to 7 × 10 cm Coating thickness range 5–30 nm (sub-nm regime in development) Substrate temperature 20–100 °C — compatible with heat-sensitive polymers Vacuum required None Glovebox compatible Yes — compact tabletop footprint Scale-up pathway Deposition principle inherently R2R-compatible Applications Where SoS creates value So far, SoS has been successfully demonstrated with functional layers relevant to organic electronics, including charge injection and transport layers for OLED devices. This unique capability, to control solution-processed films in the few-nanometre regime, holds strong potential for other thin-film technologies requiring precisely controlled interfaces, such as photovoltaics, sensors and emerging energy devices. Future work will focus on extending the material set and validating these application-specific process windows. We are presenting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and listen to our presentation. Technology Status And IP Patented. Validated. Ready to collaborate. Spray-on-Screen originates from research at IUMAT, and has since been developed into the StreamCoat research platform through continued process and application validation. The technology is protected by granted European and US patents, including EP4184601B1. Current development focuses on expanding the compatible material set, validating additional applications and exploring pathways toward larger-area and continuous processing. IUMAT is open to collaborative research agreements, joint development projects, licensing discussions and contract research engagements. We are actively seeking industrial partners to co-develop application-specific process parameters and explore scale-up pathways. Prof. Dr. Ir. Wim Deferme, Principal investigator, wim.deferme@uhasselt.be Dr. Ing. Pieter Verding, Researcher, pieter.verding@uhasselt.be Ing. Brent Verdonck, Researcher, brent.verdonck@uhasselt.be Help Shape The Future Of Printed Electronics Hasselt University (UHasselt) is exploring the development of professional education and training opportunities in Printed Electronics. As the field continues to evolve across sectors such as healthcare, energy, smart packaging, wearables and advanced manufacturing, industry input is essential to ensure that future training programmes address real needs. We want to ensure our programs match your real-world needs. Take 5 minutes to share your insights on priority topics, formats, and skills gaps. FILL IN THE SURVEY Contact Prof. Dr. Ir. Wim Deferme Dr. Ing. Pieter Verding Ing. Brent Verdonck Principal investigator researcher researcher wim.deferme@uhasselt.be pieter.verding@uhasselt.be brent.verdonck@uhasselt.be Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. References [1] L. Yan, Y. X. Song, Y. Zhou, B. Song, and Y. F. Li, "Effect of PEI cathode interlayer on work function and interface resistance of ITO electrode in the inverted polymer solar cells," Organic Electronics, vol. 17, pp. 94-101, Feb 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.orgel.2014.11.023. [2] K. L. Chopra, P. D. Paulson, and V. Dutta, "Thin-film solar cells: An overview," Progress in Photovoltaics, vol. 12, no. 2-3, pp. 69-92, Mar-May 2004, doi: 10.1002/pip.541. [3] V. Postica et al., "Improved Long-Term Stability and Reduced Humidity Effect in Gas Sensing: SiO2 Ultra-Thin Layered ZnO Columnar Films," Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 6, no. 5, May 2021, Art no. 2001137, doi: 10.1002/admt.202001137. [4] R. S. N. Kumar et al., "Deposition of ultra-thin coatings by a nature-inspired Spray-on-Screen technology," Communications Engineering, vol. 2, no. 1, Jun 22 2023, Art no. 42, doi: 10.1038/s44172-023-00093-0.

This is the most important conference and exhibition of the year on additive electronics, printed electronics, sustainable electronics, and electronic textiles. You can find the full program here https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped Day 1 - Wednesday 21 October 2026 09:00 · Track 2 Naxnova | Salil Musale | Forging a multi-national printed electronics powerhouse from India 09:00 · Track 3 Oxford Photovoltaics | Edward Crossland | The Era of Perovskite-on-Silicon: Bringing Tandem Solar to Market 09:20 · Track 2 CEA- Liten | Lina Kadura | From Subtractive to Additive: Transforming PCB Production for Sustainable Electronics 09:20 · Track 3 CubicPV | Adam Lorenz | Establishing Perovskite Bankability with Accelerated Testing and Energy Yield Analysis 09:40 · Track 2 GEIC | Andrew Strudwick | Graphene at Twenty: From Scientific Discovery to Commercial Reality 09:40 · Track 3 Kunshan GCL Optoelectronic Material Co.,Ltd | Dr. Bin Fan | Four Terminal Tandem Strategy for Perovskite 10:00 · Track 2 TracXon | Corne Rentrop | Scaling Roll-to-Roll Flexible Hybrid Electronics: From Patented VIA Fabrication to Mainstream Manufacturing 10:00 · Track 3 Microquanta | Yang Chen | Outlook for Four-Terminal Perovskite Tandem Technology 11:10 · Track 1 Energy Materials Corporation | Thomas Tombs | Realizing the full potential of Perovskite PV with High-Speed Roll-to-Roll Production 11:10 · Track 2 Konica Minolta | Kenji Mawatari | High Viscosity Fluid Jetting Technology for industrial applications with Konica Minolta Printheads 11:10 · Track 3 Satosen | Ryota Shimizu | From Lab to Mass Production: Stretchable PCBs Enabled by Liquid Metal Wiring 11:10 · Track 4 Infineon Technologies | Moritz Schlagmann | Towards Circular Electronics: Strategies for Reducing E-Waste Across the Electronics Lifecycle 11:30 · Track 1 Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin | Florian Mathies | Turning Perovskite Innovation into Impact: The Solar TAP Approach 11:30 · Track 2 EPSON | Enrico Sowade | EPSON's activity/roadmap for "Printing Beyond the color" 11:30 · Track 3 Covestro | Klas-Moritz Kossel | Tailored TPU Films for Flexible and Stretchable Printing Substrates in Printed Electronics Applications 11:30 · Track 4 AilArian | James Claypole | The future of smart sustainable packaging for luxury products 11:50 · Track 1 Hust/WonderSolar | Deyi Zhang | Topologically interpenetrating 3D charge injection-separation mechanism: enables preparation of high-performance PV modules via all-wet process 11:50 · Track 2 Seiko Instruments | Fabio Tallarico | Breaking the Inkjet Viscosity Barrier for Printed Electronics 11:50 · Track 3 Policrom | Olena Makhotkina | TPU designed for specific applications 11:50 · Track 4 Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt | Gordon Elger | Additive manufacturing of Circular Flexible Electronics: Cu Particle-free Inks on Recyclable Biopolymers 13:45 · Track 1 UniJet | Seogsoon Kim | Inkjet Printing Technology for Perovskite/Si Solar Cell 13:45 · Track 2 AUMOVIO SE | Nathalie Canis-Moal | Circular economy on electronic components scrap 13:45 · Track 3 Henkel | Thibaut Soulestin | Global Innovation in Printed Electronics: Leveraging Materials Platforms Across Markets and Regions 13:45 · Track 4 University of Glasgow | REACT Centre | Benjamin King & Jon Harwell | Sustainable Electronic Materials for Wireless: Advanced Packaging to E-Textiles 14:05 · Track 1 HighLine Technology Gmbh | Marian Breitenbuecher | Multi-head fineline dispensing for solar cell metallisation 14:05 · Track 2 AT&S | Christof Wernbacher | Greener PCB Production: Enhancing Resource Efficiency and Reducing Carbon Footprint 14:05 · Track 3 Heraeus Electronics | Ryan Banfield | AG Inks for Stretchable Electronics: A continuance 14:05 · Track 4 NanoSen GmbH | Joseph Stephens | Force Sensing Impedance Materials for Flexible Applications 14:25 · Track 1 Dracula Technologies | German Soto Perez | Mass production of organic photovoltaics with inkjet printing 14:25 · Track 2 DP Patterning | Tommy Höglund | Sustainable Meets Cost-Efficient: A New Standard for Flexible Electronics Manufacturing 14:25 · Track 3 BLACKLEAF | Anaghim Nasri | Engineering Water-Based Graphene Inks for Scalable Printed Heating Systems 14:25 · Track 4 Datwyler Group | Andrea Rich | From Impedance Spectra to Wearable Performance: Practical EIS Characterization of Skin-Contact Electrodes 15:15 · Track 1 Signify Research | Peter Bancken | Sustainability aspects within lighting 15:15 · Track 2 Nano-C, Inc. | Henning Richter | Interface Materials Enabling Single-Junction Perovskite and Tandem Solar Cell Technologies at Industrial Scale 15:15 · Track 3 Born | Michael Schneider | Knitting factory for electronic textiles 15:15 · Track 4 Voltera | Huy Nguyen | Thermoformable Printed Circuits for In-Mold Human-Machine Interfaces 15:35 · Track 1 Silicon Austria Labs GmbH | Johanna Zikulnig | Sustainable Materials in Printed Electronics: Promise, Reality, and Open Challenges 15:35 · Track 2 PINA CREATION | Maryam Bari | Development of Printable Indium Tin OxideI(TO) Nano Inks for Low-Temperature Transparent Conductive Films 15:35 · Track 3 Interspitzen AG / FRTI | Alexander Haag | e‑broidery® Automation for Industrial‑Scale Smart Textiles 15:35 · Track 4 KRONOS Mechatronics GmbH | Jörg Dickerboom | Rebooting Additive Electronics: reliable end-to-end fabrication 15:55 · Track 1 Copprint | Ofer Shochet | Compostable and Recyclable Electronics Without Performance Compromise: Printed Copper on Paper for Green RFID Tags at Scale 15:55 · Track 2 LinXole AB | Feng Wang | Stable Organic Transport Materials 15:55 · Track 3 University College London | Pasindu Lugoda | Electronic Textiles: Functional Yarns for Healthcare and Entertainment Applications 15:55 · Track 4 Avery Dennison | Jarne Machiels | Direct Contact, No Failures: Mapping Ink/Adhesive Compatibility in Flexible Hybrid Electronics beyond the Holy Grail 16:35 · Track 1 Power Roll | Neil Spann | An ITO free micro-groove architecture for low cost scalable perovskite modules 16:35 · Track 2 Fraunhofer IAP | Yohan Kim | Advanced Materials and Precision Printing for Next-Generation Displays: Toward AI-Assisted Optimization 16:35 · Track 3 UHasselt - Institute for Materials Research (IUMAT) | Pieter Verding | Spray-on-Screen: A Universal Deposition Platform for Ultra-Thin Functional Coatings 16:55 · Track 1 Kalpana | Sandra Wiegman | How Spatial ALD Shapes Perovskite Performance, Stability, and Cost at Scale 16:55 · Track 2 XTPL | Witold Nawrot | Enabling Next-Level Interconnect Density with Ultra-Precise Dispensing 16:55 · Track 3 Norbert Schläfli | Rolf Meyerhans | Development of a Modular Roll-to-Roll Research Platform for Perovskite Solar Cells 16:55 · Track 4 Applycon | Milan Baxa | Hybrid Integration: Building invisible, Washable Smart Systems for Workwear and Sports 17:15 · Track 1 Homerun Energy | Luca Sorbello | From silica to power: the Homerun Vision - building the future of energy infrastructures through perovskite PV and an integrated vertical value chain 17:15 · Track 2 Hummink | Amr Maaroufi | Redefining Precision In Additive Manufacturing With Capillary Printing 17:15 · Track 3 Ceradrop MGI GROUP | Frederic SOULIER | Scaling Digital Additive Processes in Modern Electronics Manufacturing 17:15 · Track 4 Fraunhofer IZM | Malte von Krshiwoblozki | Electronic Textiles for Soldier Systems 17:35 · Track 1 Epishine | Thomas Österberg | How Printed Organic Solar Is Transforming Consumer and IoT Electronics 17:35 · Track 2 Notion Systems | Simon Rihm | Enabling Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing through Additive Functional Inkjet Printing 17:35 · Track 3 VDL Enabling Technologies Group | Sorin G. Stan | From feasibility and design to volume manufacturing of first-of-a-kind equipment 17:35 · Track 4 Nagase ChemteX America LLC | Alan Brown | Stretchable, Wearable and Washable Inks: Meeting the Requirements for Next-Generation Electronic Textiles Day 2 - Thursday 22 October 2026 09:10 · Track 1 Qcells | Fabian Fertig | Scaling Perovskite-Silicon Tandems: From Lab Records to Industrial M10 Wafer Production 09:10 · Track 2 Quantica GmbH | Ben Drummer | Rethinking Electronics Manufacturing: The Case for Digital Functional Material Deposition 09:10 · Track 3 Jiva Materials | Alun Morgan | Soluboard - a fully recyclable rigid PCB board made from natural fibres and water-soluble polymers. 09:30 · Track 1 Caelux | Ernest Hasselbrink | From Lab to Fab: Scaling and deployment of 1x2m perovskite at Caelux – wins and remaining challenges 09:30 · Track 2 XAAR | Karl Forbes | Beyond Low-Viscosity Limits: Rethinking Inkjet for Production Electronics Manufacturing 09:30 · Track 3 EMPA | Thomas Geiger | Printed circuit board substrates derived from cellulose nanofibrils 09:50 · Track 1 Tandem PV | Colin Bailie | Pursuing bankability for perovskite/silicon tandem panels 09:50 · Track 2 KYOCERA Europe | Daisuke Hozumi | Exploring Printed Electronics Applications of a Piezoelectric Bend‑Mode Inkjet Printhead for High‑Viscosity Inks 09:50 · Track 3 University of Maryland College Park | Huaishu Peng | 3D Printing Electronics That Can Be Recycled 10:10 · Track 1 SolarEdge | Roni Yehuda | Perovskite tandem delivers. Mismatch steals. MLPE saves the gains. 10:10 · Track 2 IMAGEXPERT LLC | Jochen christiaens | From Defect Detection to Root Cause Resolution: Practical Methods for Verifying, Evaluating, and Optimizing Inkjet Print Quality 10:10 · Track 3 Holzforschung Austria | Boris Forsthuber | EcoPCBs on Wood: Sustainable Printed Electronics on Wood 11:10 · Track 1 TU Dortmund | Matthias Grotevent | A Robust Room-Temperature Synthesis of Monodisperse Tin Oxide Nanocrystals for Perovskite Solar Cells 11:10 · Track 2 Binghamton University | Mark Poliks | Printed Multimodal Sensing e-Skin for Soft Robotics for use in Navigation and Inspection of Complex Industrial Systems 11:10 · Track 3 Ames Goldsmith | Daniel Lacorte | Advances in Silver-Coated Copper Materials for High-Performance Printed Electronics 11:30 · Track 1 Nanografi Nanotechnology | Duygu Cevher | Formulation Strategy for High Performance Silver Paste in Solar Cell Metallization 11:30 · Track 2 C2MI | Christophe Sansregret | Additively Manufactured Copper Multilayer Circuits and their Reliability 11:30 · Track 3 Sun Chemical | Phil Nicholas | The Balancing Act - for Electrochemical Biosensor Inks 11:50 · Track 1 HB Fuller | David McDougall | Materials for Perovskite Modules 11:50 · Track 2 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Margaret H. Samuels | 3D Printed Grounding Strap for Low SWaP Electrical Failure Mitigation during Spaceflight Missions 11:50 · Track 3 Kimoto | Christoph Bosshard | Carrier and protection films for production processes 13:10 · Track 1 Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT | Martin Shulevski | Laser Processing for Printed Electronics: Recent Developments 13:10 · Track 2 Eternal Sun | Peter Pasmans | Using steady-state LED simulation to enhance performance & stability testing for commercial perovskite PV 13:10 · Track 3 Leibniz-Institute for New Materials | Christoph Kaiser | Stretchable Electronics for Textiles and Beyond 13:30 · Track 1 Hamamatsu | Alexander Görk | Laser Soldering in Printed Electronics 13:30 · Track 2 Bergfeld Lasertech | Stefan Bergfeld | New laser platform for research and pilot production enables opportunities in perovskite PV. 13:30 · Track 3 University of Southampton | Russel Torah | Materials for Sustainable Soft Technologies of Interconnected E-textiles - the SoftIE project 13:50 · Track 1 Pulsar Photonics | Rainer Beccard | Ultra short pulse laser processes for next generation flexible electronics 13:50 · Track 2 Everlight | Yun-Chang Chao | Practical Encapsulation Factors for Reliable Perovskite Commercialization 13:50 · Track 3 Danish Technological Institute | Zachary J. Davis | Smart Wearables through Printed Electronics 14:40 · Track 1 nextCoatema | Thomas Kolbusch | Scaling perovskite from small scale R2R to big scale inline production systems 14:40 · Track 2 NovaCentrix | Rudy Ghosh | High-Performance, Low-Cost Silver-Coated Copper Inks for Flexible and Printed Electronics 14:40 · Track 3 Bopla Gehäuse Systeme GmbH | Sebastian Gepp | Transparent Temperature Sensors 15:00 · Track 1 Zentrum für Sonnenenergie-und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg ZSW | Eva-Maria Hammer | Recycling Procedure of Perovskite Minimodules 15:00 · Track 2 Beespenser | Kaan Yapici | Reimagining How Electronics Are Prototyped 15:00 · Track 3 Yamagata University | Shizuo Tokito | Scalable and Sustainable Flexible Hybrid Electronics for Smart Sensor Systems 15:20 · Track 1 Imec/EnergyVille | Tom Aernouts | Efficient Structures And Processes for Upscaling of Perovskite Modules and Tandems 15:20 · Track 2 University of Southampton | Jessica Pereira | Room Temperature Compressed Copper: A Scalable Route to Highly Conductive Films for Printed Electronics 15:20 · Track 3 Tageos | Victor Thenot | Printed Electronics Meets Paper: Scalable Paths to Sustainable RFID and NFC 15:40 · Track 1 Tabernair | Martin Stephen | Certified Perovskite BIPV Glass – Structural, Transparent, Deployment‑Ready 15:40 · Track 2 Neuroink (Freescale LLC) | Nikolay Frick | Development of Printable Indium Tin OxideI(TO) Nano Inks for Low-Temperature Transparent Conductive Films 15:40 · Track 3 Sekisui | Masashi Yanai | Printed speaker systems

Here are short video highlights from recent TechBlick events. In this issue: GraphEnergyTech | Thomas Baumeler | Can graphene carbon inks genuinely disrupt the silver metallization monopoly in solar cells? SparkNano | Alexander Bouman | Can a few nanometers of atomic layer deposition solve the notorious degradation challenge of perovskite solar cells? PINA Creation | Maryam Bari | How do you achieve a 2-nanometer crystalline grain size in low-temperature solution-processed thin films? CEA | Noëlla LEMAITRE | Can low-temperature screen-printed metallization replace evaporated silver grids in industrial-scale perovskite-silicon tandems? Total Energies | Lars Oberbeck | Why are 26% efficient perovskite-silicon tandems dead on arrival in utility-scale markets? SOLRA-PV | Yousef Farraj | Can We Design a Perovskite Solar Cell That Is 100% Recyclable Without Scraping the Electrodes? Perovskia Solar | Anand Verma | Can printed perovskites truly survive 10,000 hours of extreme damp heat without catastrophic degradation? SALD B.V. | Hindrik de Vries | Why does Couette flow limit the ultimate speed of roll-to-roll spatial atomic layer deposition? Swift Solar | Max Hoerantner | Why is monolithic two-terminal integration winning the tandem PV race over four-terminal alternatives? CubicPV | Adam Lorenz | Why must champion-efficiency perovskite chemistries be discarded when scaling up to high-throughput slot-die coating? Join us at our next event Meet the speakers and exhibitors in person - see the full programme and register on our website. GraphEnergyTech | Thomas Baumeler | Can graphene carbon inks genuinely disrupt the silver metallization monopoly in solar cells? Can graphene carbon inks genuinely disrupt the silver metallization monopoly in solar cells? The economic and ecological strain of silver metallization in the photovoltaic industry is driving the search for viable carbon-based alternatives. Silver pricing has doubled over the past two years, with the solar sector now consuming nearly 20% of the global silver supply. Graphene-based conductive inks offer a direct, drop-in replacement that addresses these supply-chain vulnerabilities. By leveraging optimized graphene dispersions, these newly developed carbon inks achieve a projected cost reduction of 87% compared to commercial silver inks at scale. Beyond raw material economics, the transition to carbon eliminates carbon-intensive and toxic mining processes. This translates to an environmental footprint that is roughly two orders of magnitude more sustainable. This technical shift enables a clean, one-to-one replacement of metal electrodes in printed electronics and solar cells. Watch the video SparkNano | Alexander Bouman | Can a few nanometers of atomic layer deposition solve the notorious degradation challenge of perovskite solar cells? Can a few nanometers of atomic layer deposition solve the notorious degradation challenge of perovskite solar cells? Perovskite solar cells offer exceptional light-to-electricity conversion efficiency and low potential manufacturing costs. However, their industrial viability is severely bottlenecked by poor long-term stability and rapid degradation when exposed to ambient moisture, heat, and oxygen. By replacing standard bathocuproine (BCP) buffer layers with spatial atomic layer deposition (ALD) of thin tin oxide (SnOx), researchers can dramatically improve current densities and device lifetimes. Adding even a minute sub-nanometer capping layer of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) creates a highly robust barrier that practically halts performance decay, opening a clear path to commercial durability. To make this commercially viable, manufacturers must transition from slow vacuum batch systems to high-speed, atmospheric-pressure roll-to-roll configurations. SparkNano's spatial ALD technology enables this transition, delivering conformal, pinhole-free barrier and charge-transport layers at high throughput. Watch the video PINA Creation | Maryam Bari | How do you achieve a 2-nanometer crystalline grain size in low-temperature solution-processed thin films? How do you achieve a 2-nanometer crystalline grain size in low-temperature solution-processed thin films? To function effectively as ultra-thin charge transport layers in solar cells and OLEDs, colloidal nano-inks must meet stringent electronic-grade requirements. PINA Creation's metal oxide inks are formulated using green solvents like ethanol, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and water, ensuring compatibility with standard roll-to-roll, slot-die, and blade-coating manufacturing lines. Crucial to industrial adoption is dispersion stability and shelf life; these formulations maintain their performance without aggregation or degradation for eight to twelve months. Minimizing nanoparticle size is critical to achieving dense, pinhole-free films that facilitate efficient charge extraction while maintaining high optical transparency. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) data of their zinc oxide ink confirms a highly monodisperse nanoparticle size distribution below 10 nanometers in IPA. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) characterization of the resulting thin films reveals exceptionally high crystallinity, with individual crystallite sizes measuring approximately 2 nanometers. Watch the video CEA | Noëlla LEMAITRE | Can low-temperature screen-printed metallization replace evaporated silver grids in industrial-scale perovskite-silicon tandems? Can low-temperature screen-printed metallization replace evaporated silver grids in industrial-scale perovskite-silicon tandems? At the laboratory scale, perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells have achieved remarkable efficiencies, such as the 30.8% demonstrated by CEA on a 9 square centimeter aperture. However, these record-setting devices rely on evaporated silver grids that suffer from severe shading losses of up to 14%. Transitioning to commercial manufacturing requires high-throughput metallization techniques that do not compromise the delicate perovskite top cell. To address this challenge, researchers developed a low-temperature screen-printing solution utilizing silver pastes that cure below 120°C. This specialized thermal window is critical to prevent thermal degradation of the underlying perovskite and organic transport layers. By optimizing the grid design, the team successfully mitigated grid shading losses, reducing them from 14% to under 3%. Watch the video Total Energies | Lars Oberbeck | Why are 26% efficient perovskite-silicon tandems dead on arrival in utility-scale markets? Why are 26% efficient perovskite-silicon tandems dead on arrival in utility-scale markets? TotalEnergies, in collaboration with IPVF, has conducted extensive total cost of ownership (TCO) and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) assessments on perovskite-silicon tandem systems. Despite the excitement surrounding laboratory records, the developer perspective shows that a tandem efficiency of 26% to 27% is commercially insufficient to compete with incumbent monocrystalline silicon. To achieve economic parity, perovskite tandems must target significantly higher starting efficiencies while maintaining degradation profiles that match crystalline silicon. The commercial viability of these cells is not dominated by the underlying manufacturing technology or the choice between two-terminal (2T) and four-terminal (4T) configurations, but strictly by starting efficiency and degradation. This reality check highlights the rigorous commercial barriers that emerging photochemistry must overcome. Watch the video SOLRA-PV | Yousef Farraj | Can We Design a Perovskite Solar Cell That Is 100% Recyclable Without Scraping the Electrodes? Can We Design a Perovskite Solar Cell That Is 100% Recyclable Without Scraping the Electrodes? Standard photovoltaic recycling is an energy-intensive, destructive process that usually recovers only bulk glass or silicon fractions. SOLRA-PV overcomes this bottleneck by utilizing a triple-mesoscopic oxide scaffold printed via screen printing. By sequentially printing titania (TiO2), zirconia (ZrO2), and indium tin oxide (ITO) layers on a transparent conductive oxide substrate, they create a highly porous matrix that can be infiltrated by a perovskite precursor in a single step. Because the active perovskite material is deposited as the final phase via slot-die coating and remains chemically accessible within the mesoporous scaffold, it can be completely dissolved back out of the matrix using a simple solvent wash. This non-destructive process preserves the underlying screen-printed titanium and zirconium oxide ceramic layers entirely. Watch the video Perovskia Solar | Anand Verma | Can printed perovskites truly survive 10,000 hours of extreme damp heat without catastrophic degradation? Can printed perovskites truly survive 10,000 hours of extreme damp heat without catastrophic degradation? Stability has historically been the primary critique of perovskite optoelectronics, but advanced barrier engineering is rapidly closing the reliability gap. Under rigorous independent testing in France and Taiwan, custom perovskite cells have successfully retained over 90% of their initial efficiency after 10,000 hours of continuous exposure to damp heat testing at 85°C and 80% relative humidity. This performance is mirrored in continuous maximum power point tracking and short-circuit testing under intense light sources. The core breakthrough enabling this moisture resistance is a proprietary three-step encapsulation process that operates with a mere one-millimeter active edge boundary. Typical industrial barrier layers require wide perimeter seals that eat up valuable surface area, rendering them unusable for space-constrained IoT devices. Watch the video SALD B.V. | Hindrik de Vries | Why does Couette flow limit the ultimate speed of roll-to-roll spatial atomic layer deposition? Why does Couette flow limit the ultimate speed of roll-to-roll spatial atomic layer deposition? Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (S-ALD) achieves deposition speeds up to 100 times faster than conventional temporal ALD by physically separating precursor zones rather than cycling gas pulses. While this allows continuous atmospheric processing, the absolute throughput limits of this geometry are governed by fluid dynamics rather than chemical kinetics. At high linear velocities, a major bottleneck emerges in the form of drag flow and Couette flow. The moving substrate drags a boundary layer of gas with it, threatening to carry precursor molecules (such as trimethylaluminum) across the nitrogen isolation barriers and directly into the reactant zone. To avoid parasitic gas-phase reactions and preserve self-limiting surface monolayer growth, the design of the deposition head must meticulously balance gas flow rates and nozzle spacing. Watch the video Swift Solar | Max Hoerantner | Why is monolithic two-terminal integration winning the tandem PV race over four-terminal alternatives? Why is monolithic two-terminal integration winning the tandem PV race over four-terminal alternatives? Integrating perovskites with silicon bottom cells in a monolithic, two-terminal (2T) tandem architecture offers a significant performance delta over four-terminal (4T) configurations. By integrating all active layers into a single, cohesive cell structure, optical parasitic absorption is minimized, yielding superior power conversion efficiencies. Additionally, the elimination of redundant substrates, transparent conductive oxides, and external wiring reduces raw material costs and simplifies module assembly. From a reliability and packaging standpoint, the 2T design provides crucial advantages. Structuring subcells within a single package minimizes scribe line complexity and boundary exposure, protecting the moisture-sensitive perovskite absorber from environmental degradation. Furthermore, this monolithic platform creates a direct evolutionary pathway toward multi-junction stacks, where three or more energy-harvesting layers can be stacked sequentially. While 4T architectures offer relaxed current-matching requirements, they suffer from high balance-of-system costs and complex field deployment. Watch the video CubicPV | Adam Lorenz | Why must champion-efficiency perovskite chemistries be discarded when scaling up to high-throughput slot-die coating? Why must champion-efficiency perovskite chemistries be discarded when scaling up to high-throughput slot-die coating? Transitioning perovskite PV technology from spin-coated laboratory pixels to scalable industrial formats requires a fundamental shift in material processing and architecture. While spin-coating enables rapid chemical screening on tiny substrates, it cannot scale to commercial dimensions. By moving to slot-die coating on larger substrates—such as 150 mm and eventually 310 x 400 mm glass—issues like fluid dynamics, film drying, annealing uniformity, and area-scaling losses become the dominant technical challenges. Interestingly, achieving stable, large-area manufacturing often requires purposefully avoiding the highly volatile "champion" chemistries used to claim record-breaking laboratory efficiencies. These high-performance laboratory formulas frequently lack the thermal and structural stability required to survive real-world environmental stress over decades. Instead, a more robust and intrinsically durable chemistry must be optimized, accepting a minor initial efficiency trade-off in exchange for scalable reliability. Watch the video

Author: Cesar Omar Ramirez Quiroz | corq@gm.dk A functional material may perform well in the laboratory but producing it continuously and consistently is a very different challenge. This is a common issue in printed electronics, batteries, fuel cells, solar technologies, and other functional thin-film applications. As a process moves from laboratory trials to pilot production and industrial manufacturing, more variables come into play. Scale-up is not simply about increasing speed or using a wider web. The material, substrate, equipment, and individual production stages all need to work together. What changes during scale-up? Laboratory development often involves short samples, small quantities of material, and relatively slow processing speeds. Parameters can be adjusted between trials, and each production step can be examined separately. In roll-to-roll manufacturing, the substrate moves continuously through several stages. Coating, drying, curing, web handling, registration, inspection, and converting become part of the same process. Increasing the line speed, for example, reduces the time available for drying or curing. Moving to a wider web can increase output, but it may also make coating uniformity and tension control more difficult. A successful laboratory result is therefore only the starting point. The next task is to find a stable process window that can maintain the required quality throughout a complete production run. We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. Looking beyond the coating stage Choosing the right coating method is important, but it is only one part of the process. The coating result can be affected by viscosity, surface tension, flow behaviour, layer thickness, substrate properties and line speed. In applications with several functional layers, each layer may have different coating, drying and curing requirements. The condition of one layer may also influence the adhesion, uniformity and performance of the next. This means that the order of the individual stages must be considered during development. Experience from building multi-station slot-die coating lines for web widths from 350 mm to 2 metres shows that there is rarely one fixed route from development to production. Requirements often change as more is learned about the material and its behaviour. A modular production setup can make it easier to adapt the process as it develops. Additional coating stations, drying or curing technologies, inspection systems and converting steps can be introduced when they are needed. Connecting drying, curing and web handling Drying and curing can determine both the performance of the material and the speed of production. If too much heat or energy is applied, it may damage a sensitive substrate or create defects in the coating. If the treatment is insufficient, residual solvents or incomplete curing may affect adhesion, conductivity, barrier properties or long-term stability. Web handling is just as important. Functional materials are often processed on thin polymer films, metal foils, membranes and other sensitive substrates. Changes in tension, alignment or temperature can cause wrinkles, stretching, registration errors and variations in coating thickness. These factors cannot be developed separately. Heating and cooling can change how the substrate behaves, while unstable web tension can affect several stages of the process. Planning for downstream processing The production process does not always end when the functional layers have been applied. The coated material may also need to be slit, laminated, die-cut or processed by laser. These operations introduce further requirements for registration, web control and material handling. Considering these steps early can reveal possible limitations before the process and product design are fixed. It can also reduce unnecessary material handling and create a simpler route from the coated web to the finished component. Using inspection to understand the process In industrial production, it is not enough to inspect a few samples after the run has been completed. Variations need to be identified while the material is being processed. Inline inspection can detect visible defects, coating variations and registration errors before a complete roll is affected. When the inspection results are connected with production data, they can also help explain when and why a variation occurred. This makes inspection useful for process development as well as quality control. It provides information that can be used to improve the process, define tolerances and support further automation. Designing with manufacturing in mind Manufacturing should be considered while the material and product are still being developed. Otherwise, a technically successful product may depend on long drying times, very narrow tolerances or manual adjustments that are difficult to reproduce in industrial production. Early cooperation between material developers, researchers, process engineers and equipment specialists can help identify these issues. In some cases, a change to the chemistry, substrate or product design may create a more stable and practical production process. The important question is not simply whether the product works. It is whether it can be produced repeatedly at the required quality, speed and cost. See scale-up in practice How do you turn a promising process into stable, repeatable production? Join GM Functionals Industry Day on 23 October 2026 in Birkerød, Denmark, for a hands-on look at the complete journey from process development to industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing. Meet researchers, technology developers, materials specialists, process engineers and equipment experts. Exchange experience, discuss real scale-up challenges and explore coating, drying and curing, web handling, converting, laser processing, inspection and automation. Through technical presentations, practical workshops, panel discussions and live demonstrations, you will see real machines and processes in action and gain new perspectives on the journey from development to industrial roll-to-roll production. Participation is FREE, and catering is included. MEET A STRONG LINE-UP OF EXPERTS FROM ACROSS INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH: ​Markus Klein (SURAGUS), Morten Madsen (University of Southern Denmark), Hindrik de Vries (SALD), Douglas Gray (Agito), Anders Elfwing (Epishine), TSE Application Representative (TSE Troller), Gernot Oreski (PCCL), and Alan Brown (Nagase ChemteX America). From GM Functionals, Uffe Nielsen, CEO, will open the Industry Day; Johan Nehammer, CTO, will deliver the keynote; César Omar Ramírez Quiroz, CScO, will chair the programme; and Antoine Rieutord, CSO, will lead the industrial walkthrough, live demonstrations, and networking. REGISTER FOR INDUSTRY DAY: https://news.gmfinishing.com/gm-functionals-industry-day-2026 Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

We would like to start our regular newsletters bringing you snippets of cutting edge knowledge and insights from our events across the world. In this newsletter we share short selected videos showcasing key innovations in additive and printed electronics. If you wish to learn more join us at the Future of Electronics RESHAPED conference and tradeshow in Berlin on October 20–22, 2026, where the entire industry meets to learn and do business. NoiseFigure Research | Dr. Manish Ojha | Can we bridge the gap between high-resolution sub-10 micron printing and industrial-scale manufacturing throughput for flexible packages? Iris Light Technologies Inc. | Pradeep Subedi | Can 2D Black Phosphorus Eliminate the Gluing Costs of Silicon Photonics? Lockheed Martin | Paul Gaylo | How do you build high-frequency RF antennas that survive high temperatures without cracking the ceramic substrate? iGii (Integrated Graphene) | Michelle Ntola | Can we integrate 3D nanocarbons directly onto silicon and metal foils without binders? Tapecon | Brad Hull | The Evolution of Smart Labels: From Identification to Intelligent Interaction. ChemCubed | Daniel Slep | How do molecular precursor inks achieve near-bulk conductivity without particle fillers? Sefar | Mark Pintar | How does mesh geometry determine whether your conductive paste prints like a "skyscraper" or a flat "factory"? Tatsuta | Robert Wilson | Can we bypass the high cost of silver in conductive inks without suffering from copper's extreme oxidation issues? Copprint | Ofer Shochet | Why is buying conductive ink based on cost per kilogram a major engineering mistake? Sinovia Technologies | Whitney Gaynor | Can you print defect-free organic semiconductors without using any chemical rheology additives? GE Aerospace | Deepak Trivedi | Why does scaling a robot's degrees of freedom from 10 to 100 increase control complexity by 10,000x? NanoIntegris Technologies | Jefford Humes | Can Carbon Nanotubes realistically match the carrier mobility benchmarks of bulk silicon for Edge AI? INO, d.o.o., Žiri | Matjaž Finžgar | Why is edge-detection registration alone insufficient for high-precision, multi-layer functional printing? TracXon | Thomas Kolbush | Can we eliminate PCB complexity by printing a 5-layer architecture down to just 3? Hummink | Pascal Boncenne | Can printed silver ink reliably repair open-circuit defects in advanced 3D semiconductor packaging? See you in Berlin in less than two weeks? The entire additive and printed electronics industry will meet at the Future of Electronics RESHAPED show in Berlin on 20-22 OCT 2026. This is the most important event of the year featuring 100+ talks, 90 exhibitors, and 600 participants from around the globe. Register before 14 OCT 2026 (Next Wednesday) when final early birds end NoiseFigure Research | Dr. Manish Ojha | Can we bridge the gap between high-resolution sub-10 micron printing and industrial-scale manufacturing throughput for flexible packages? Can we bridge the gap between high-resolution sub-10 micron printing and industrial-scale manufacturing throughput for flexible packages? In this segment, Dr. Manish Ojha addresses the core bottleneck of low-to-mid volume manufacturing for flexible multi-layer semiconductor packaging. Standard high-resolution printing processes, such as electrohydrodynamic (EHD) inkjet printing, can print sub-10 micron features but suffer from painfully low throughput, requiring hours to print a single small package. The presentation introduces the FlySIP (Flexible System in Package) roadmap, designed to preserve ultra-fine resolution while scaling throughput to industrial levels. By moving away from single-printer dependencies, this hybrid approach aims to optimize manufacturing speed for conformable antennas and wearable RF sensors. This setup serves as a foundational paradigm shift for additive packaging. It lays the groundwork for combining high-throughput coarse printing with high-resolution fine-trace printing in a single seamless flow. Watch the video Iris Light Technologies Inc. | Pradeep Subedi | Can 2D Black Phosphorus Eliminate the Gluing Costs of Silicon Photonics? Can 2D Black Phosphorus Eliminate the Gluing Costs of Silicon Photonics? Silicon photonics has revolutionized data communication, yet the integration of active components remains a primary bottleneck. Today, manufacturers must physically glue discrete III-V semiconductor lasers, LEDs, and photodetectors onto silicon photonic chips. This hybrid packaging process is notoriously complex, precise, and accounts for up to 20% of the overall device cost. Iris Light Technologies is addressing this cost and manufacturing challenge by developing a direct-printing method using black phosphorus, marketed as "Nanoblack" ink. Black phosphorus possesses a direct, tunable bandgap and high carrier mobility, making it an ideal candidate for optoelectronic devices. By utilizing additive manufacturing on a wafer scale, this approach enables direct integration of active emitters and detectors onto silicon or silicon nitride waveguides. This additive printing strategy bypasses traditional epitaxial growth and pick-and-place packaging. Watch the video Lockheed Martin | Paul Gaylo | How do you build high-frequency RF antennas that survive high temperatures without cracking the ceramic substrate? How do you build high-frequency RF antennas that survive high temperatures without cracking the ceramic substrate? Designing high-temperature spiral antennas presents a classic material science compromise. Traditional Teflon-based circuit board substrates offer excellent dielectric properties but fail at elevated temperatures, whereas switching to ceramics introduces high loss and severe manufacturing challenges. To solve this, engineers must find a way to minimize substrate thickness while depositing metal tracks without causing thermal shock. In this clip, the speaker details using Corning's ultra-thin 80-micron ribbon alumina ceramic as a low-loss, high-temperature substrate. However, attaching metal to such thin, delicate ceramic is highly problematic; traditional powder bed fusion and high-temperature sintering techniques inevitably thermal-shock and crack the fragile alumina. The solution lies in room-temperature, electrochemical additive manufacturing. Watch the video iGii (Integrated Graphene) | Michelle Ntola | Can we integrate 3D nanocarbons directly onto silicon and metal foils without binders? How can a three-dimensionally assembled carbon nanomaterial redefine the boundaries of electrochemical sensing and thermal management? The unique structural morphology of G, a three-dimensionally assembled carbon nanomaterial, yields an exceptional specific surface area ranging from 300 to 400 square meters per gram. This high active surface area, combined with its ultra-lightweight nature and high electrical conductivity, makes it an ideal electrode platform for advanced electrochemical applications. Furthermore, its inherent thermal conductivity opens up critical pathways for integration into high-performance thermal management systems. For biochemical and environmental diagnostics, G offers distinct surface chemistry advantages, notably an intrinsic resistance to biofouling that preserves active sites during biosensor operation. The material exhibits robust chemical inertness and corrosion resistance, demonstrating stability up to pH 10. Crucially, this upper pH limit is dictated by the physical constraints of the underlying substrate rather than any chemical degradation of the G material itself. Watch the video Tapecon | Brad Hull | The Evolution of Smart Labels: From Identification to Intelligent Interaction. How do we guarantee absolute traceability for high-value biological samples when conventional RFID and optical labeling fail? The integrity of genetic material and critical bio-specimens demands a level of security and durability that standard labeling technologies simply cannot provide. Traditional QR codes are highly vulnerable to mislabeling, physical degradation, and detachment under harsh laboratory conditions. Even radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, while offering non-line-of-sight reading, suffer from severe security vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by the widespread commercial cloning of RFID chips used in consumer peripherals. To overcome these limitations, advanced microtransponders are emerging as a highly secure alternative for high-value tracking applications. These microscale devices are virtually impossible to clone due to their highly proprietary, specialized fabrication recipes, which require sophisticated semiconductor foundry capabilities to replicate. This inherent hardware security makes them an ideal choice for safeguarding critical intellectual property and sensitive biological assets against counterfeiting and tampering. Watch the video ChemCubed | Daniel Slep | How do molecular precursor inks achieve near-bulk conductivity without particle fillers? How do molecular precursor inks achieve near-bulk conductivity without particle fillers? Traditional conductive inks rely on suspended metallic nanoparticles combined with resin binders and fillers. During sintering, these organic additives often leave behind voids and polymer residues that compromise electrical performance. In contrast, particle-free or "molecular precursor" inks use reactive silver chemistry that reduces to pure metal during thermal processing. Because there are no organic binders or fillers left in the final track, the resulting film is completely dense and void-free, as demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy. This allows printed traces to achieve near-bulk electrical conductivity at exceptionally low sintering temperatures, making them highly compatible with thermally sensitive polymer substrates. This digital additive approach dramatically reduces manufacturing waste, bypassing the heavy environmental toll of traditional copper etching. By leveraging printhead compatibility and fast low-temperature curing, molecular inks enable high-yield digital printing for flexible electronics and complex multilayer circuits. Watch the video Sefar | Mark Pintar | How does mesh geometry determine whether your conductive paste prints like a "skyscraper" or a flat "factory"? How does mesh geometry determine whether your conductive paste prints like a "skyscraper" or a flat "factory"? In high-precision additive manufacturing, screen printing remains a dominant technique because of its deposition efficiency. Selecting the correct mesh morphology dictates the wet film deposition characteristics. Comparing variations of a standard 325 stainless steel mesh illustrates how open area percentage and mesh opening size dictate paste transfer dynamics. A higher mesh opening percentage (such as a 50% open, 56-micron wide opening) prints short, wide cubes of paste, which are easier to release from the mesh. Conversely, a smaller mesh opening with a taller profile acts like a high-aspect-ratio nozzle, printing tall, thin "skyscrapers" of paste that are harder to deposit cleanly. Engineers must design around wet film thickness requirements, as the wet print thickness typically matches the physical thickness of the mesh itself, assuming full cavity fill and proper squeegee pressure. Watch the video Tatsuta | Robert Wilson | Can we bypass the high cost of silver in conductive inks without suffering from copper's extreme oxidation issues? Can we bypass the high cost of silver in conductive inks without suffering from copper's extreme oxidation issues? The electronic packaging industry faces an urgent material challenge due to the skyrocketing cost of silver, driving a transition to lower-cost conductive metals like copper. However, copper readily oxidizes in fine particle form, which degrades electrical performance and ruins long-term reliability in high-density interconnects. To solve this trade-off, Tatsuta has developed silver-coated copper particles that leverage a core-shell architecture. This morphology combines the low bulk resistivity of a copper core with the excellent oxidation resistance and surface contact stability of a thin silver shell. By engineered control of the particle coating, this paste overcomes the historical limitations of conventional copper and silver inks. It delivers a stable, cost-effective conductive path suited for high-density electronic packaging and flexible printed circuits. Watch the video Copprint | Ofer Shochet | Why is buying conductive ink based on cost per kilogram a major engineering mistake? Why is buying conductive ink based on cost per kilogram a major engineering mistake? Evaluating conductive inks purely by their price per kilogram hides the true cost of electronic manufacturing. Senior engineers must look at cost-performance, which depends heavily on solid content and volumetric coverage. An ink with 50% solid content requires you to pay for volatile solvents that evaporate during sintering, whereas 90% solid content delivers far more active material per dollar. Electrical resistance requirements dictate the volume of material actually needed to complete a circuit. If a copper ink has superior electrical conductivity, you can print much thinner lines and use significantly less total mass to achieve the target resistance (such as one ohm across a trace). This volumetric efficiency means high-conductivity inks often cost less per finished device, even if their raw material price is higher. Watch the video Sinovia Technologies | Whitney Gaynor | Can you print defect-free organic semiconductors without using any chemical rheology additives? Can you print defect-free organic semiconductors without using any chemical rheology additives? Adjusting the rheology of functional inks usually relies on organic binders and leveling agents, but this approach fails for the light-emitting polymer layer. Because the final active film must maintain absolute chemical purity to function, any non-volatile additives would act as charge traps and instantly degrade the device's quantum efficiency. Consequently, process engineers must rely entirely on solvent selection and evaporation kinetics to control film morphology. To dry perfectly flat and uniform, the solvent blend's surface tension must decrease continuously as evaporation proceeds. Tuning the ratios of binary or ternary solvent systems dictates the ink's Marangoni flow during drying. Finding the precise thermodynamic balance ensures the film levels completely within the brief dwell time on the high-speed printing press. Watch the video GE Aerospace | Deepak Trivedi | Why does scaling a robot's degrees of freedom from 10 to 100 increase control complexity by 10,000x? How do we overcome the exponential complexity barrier when scaling soft robotic systems to infinite degrees of freedom? Modern robotics is rapidly approaching a critical scaling paradox. When designing conventional systems, increasing the degrees of freedom from ten to one hundred does not result in a linear tenfold increase in system complexity; rather, the complexity scales exponentially, surging by a factor of ten thousand. To prevent this mathematical bottleneck from halting progress, the industry must transition away from traditional top-down engineering paradigms. This scaling crisis is particularly acute in soft robotics, where structural compliance yields practically infinite degrees of freedom. Managing such physical complexity is mathematically and computationally impossible using standard centralized architectures. To realize the promise of highly adaptable, resilient soft actuators and sensors, we must fundamentally re-engineer how we approach system integration and physical control loops. Watch the video NanoIntegris Technologies | Jefford Humes | Can Carbon Nanotubes realistically match the carrier mobility benchmarks of bulk silicon for Edge AI? Can Carbon Nanotubes realistically match the carrier mobility benchmarks of bulk silicon for Edge AI? Silicon-based FinFET architectures demand carrier mobilities between 1,000 and 2,000 cm²/Vs to support switching speeds, lower operating voltages, and heat dissipation limits. For high-performance AI data centers, matching these bulk or strained silicon baselines is a rigid requirement to manage thermal envelopes and power distribution. However, for Edge AI applications, these constraints are significantly relaxed. Flexible sensors require mobilities exceeding 1 cm²/Vs, flexible logic demands 10 cm²/Vs, and competitive flexible AI processing peaks around 100 cm²/Vs. This allows carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (TFTs) to immediately step in as a high-performance alternative. By utilizing 99.9% enriched semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), researchers at Peking University demonstrated stretchable CNT-TFTs achieving a field-effect mobility of 221 cm²/Vs. Watch the video INO, d.o.o., Žiri | Matjaž Finžgar | Why is edge-detection registration alone insufficient for high-precision, multi-layer functional printing? Why is edge-detection registration alone insufficient for high-precision, multi-layer functional printing? Achieving sub-micron alignment accuracy across eight sequentially printed layers is a major challenge when dealing with thick, rigid substrates like two-millimeter polycarbonate. Variations in substrate cutting edges and the presence of protective films introduce optical irregularities that defeat traditional edge-detection methods. To overcome this, a dual-mode camera-based positioning system is deployed. The system utilizes CCD cameras to capture substrate edges for the initial baseline layer, then dynamically switches to target-based registration utilizing previously printed registration marks for all subsequent layers. The final micro-alignments are executed via high-resolution, closed-loop servo-driven adjustments. This dual-method approach isolates physical edge tolerances from the functional print pattern, securing highly precise layer-to-layer registration. In this short video, you can learn: * The limitations of edge-based optical registration on rigid substrates with cut imperfections. Watch the video TracXon | Thomas Kolbush | Can we eliminate PCB complexity by printing a 5-layer architecture down to just 3? Can we eliminate PCB complexity by printing a 5-layer architecture down to just 3? Traditional multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs) introduce significant weight, cost, and process complexity, especially when utilizing multiple insulating layers. This segment explores how flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) can collapse a conventional five-layer architecture down to a streamlined three-layer, double-sided printed device. By using vertical interconnect access (via) printing, engineers can pack more functionality into tighter spaces while preserving mechanical flexibility. Transitioning to this additive, roll-to-roll manufacturing framework eliminates heavy substrates and chemical etching waste. These ultra-thin, bendable foils support robust interconnects and are perfectly suited for weight-critical systems like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Integrating this process into high-volume, high-speed lines allows manufacturers to scale up double-sided surface-mount device (SMD) assemblies effortlessly. This approach represents a major paradigm shift toward sustainable, lightweight electronics that replace standard rigid-flex boards in the one-to-four-layer application space. Watch the video Hummink | Pascal Boncenne | Can printed silver ink reliably repair open-circuit defects in advanced 3D semiconductor packaging? Can printed silver ink reliably repair open-circuit defects in advanced 3D semiconductor packaging? As the semiconductor industry advances beyond Moore's Law, chipmakers are increasingly turning to 3D chip stacking and panel-level packaging to boost density and computing power. However, these complex architectures suffer from yield-killing open defects in their copper redistribution layers (RDLs). This makes physical circuit repair an invaluable strategy for salvaging high-cost, multi-die packages. In collaboration with Hanyang University, a highly precise solution was demonstrated using capillary-printed silver ink to mend broken copper RDLs. This additive process deposits silver directly into the open defects with sub-10 micron resolution, bridging the electrical gap without risking thermal damage to surrounding active components. Rigorous thermal cycling tests have confirmed the structural and electrical reliability of these repaired RDL traces. Watch the video Best regards, The TechBlick team www.techblick.com

Author: Thibaut Soulestin, PhD; Technology Manager Printed Electronics; Henkel Adhesive Technologies; thibaut.soulestin@henkel.com Henkel Adhesive Technologies holds leading market positions worldwide in the industrial and consumer business. As a global leader in adhesives, sealants, and functional coatings, Henkel has developed a broad portfolio of LOCTITE® conductive inks and coatings. The LOCTITE® Printed Electronics portfolio includes more than 100 material solutions. Henkel silver inks are recognized for their reliability, printability, and ease of processing. This article examines silver-plated copper (SPC) inks as a lower cost and more price-stable alternative to conventional silver inks. It explains importance of raw material selection and formulation behind reliable electrical conductivity; and presents processing, aging, and compatibility data for LOCTITE® ECI 4010. We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. Economical Context Silver price fluctuations directly affect the cost of conventional silver-based electrically conductive inks. Over the past 20 years, silver has shown large and rapid price variations, as shown in Figure 1. A first peak occurred in 2011-2012, close to 50 USD/tOz. Earlier this year, silver reached record prices above 100 USD/tOz. Prices have since decreased, but have not returned below 30 USD/tOz. Silver demand remains supported by a sixth consecutive year of market deficit, and a return to low prices is not expected. Silver-plated copper (SPC) fillers reduce the exposure to these fluctuations because copper replaces most of the silver, while the silver shell protects the conductive surface. Figure 1. Silver price in USD per troy ounce over the past 20 years. The inset shows the last 12 months SPC flakes are not necessarily less expensive than pure silver flakes. Copper preparation and silver plating add manufacturing steps. SPC becomes economically attractive only when the reduction in silver content offsets this additional processing cost. LOCTITE® ECI 4010 contains less than 20 wt% silver and is therefore substantially less sensitive to silver-price fluctuations than conventional silver inks. The Importance of the Conductive Path 2.1 Electrical Contact An ink is electrically conductive only if its particles form a continuous network through direct surface contact. Metal purity alone is insufficient. Particle shape, size distribution, surface condition, packing, loading, binder content, and drying/curing determine the number and quality of these conductive contacts. Oxides, organic residues, dispersants, and binder films can remain between adjacent particles and increase contact resistance negatively affecting overall performance. Not all silver particles are suitable for electrically conductive inks, and the same applies to silver-plated copper particles. Selecting the right conductive filler and combining it with the right formulation to meet customer requirements is where the know-how of Henkel chemists lies. We are presenting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and listen to our presentation. 2.2 Sintering Sintering creates direct metal-to-metal necks between particles. It reduces interfacial resistance and brings the coating closer to bulk-metal behavior. It requires additional processing such as temperatures significantly above standard drying temperatures, high-energy radiation, inert or reducing atmosphere. It is particularly important for copper, because copper oxide is poorly conductive and forms an insulating layer around the particles. The trade-off is mechanical: a strongly sintered network is generally stiffer and cannot provide the flexibility or elongation of polymer-bound flake ink. The optimum conduction mechanism therefore depends on the application. Sintered systems favor conductivity, whereas polymer-bound flake systems provide a better balance of conductivity, adhesion, and flexibility. 2.3 Focus on Silver-Plated Copper Inks Not all SPC flakes are equivalent. Particle morphology, size distribution, copper-surface preparation, and silver-shell uniformity control conductivity and environmental stability. A continuous silver layer is required to protect the copper core and provide a stable conductive surface. Thanks to this silver layer, sintering is not required to maintain electrically conductive particle-particle interfaces. Standard hot-air drying is sufficient, which simplifies processing and preserves the flexibility of the dried film. Henkel screened several flake suppliers and has worked with a selected supplier since 2014 to optimize the particle technology. However, the flake is only one part of the system. Formulation and manufacturing must preserve the silver shell and produce reliable inks. The main degradation mechanism and reliability risk is chemical. Chemicals that dissolve or mobilize silver can expose copper, accelerate oxidation, and increase resistance. For example, hydrogels can be especially aggressive. Adjacent inks, pressure-sensitive adhesives, and encapsulants must also be validated in the complete material stack. Henkel evaluated hundreds of formulations before selecting the particle, binder system, and manufacturing process used for LOCTITE® ECI 4010. LOCTITE® ECI 4010 3.1 Typical Properties LOCTITE® ECI 4010 is a thermoplastic, screen-printable SPC ink developed for flexible conductive circuits. Its principal properties are summarized in Table 1. Table 1. Typical properties of LOCTITE® ECI 4010. The product combines a typical sheet resistance of 0.025 Ω/sq/25 µm with 5B adhesion on PET and PI. Its silver content below 20 wt% limits exposure to silver-price fluctuations, while keeping processing similar to that of conventional silver inks. Recommended processing conditions are given in Table 2. Table 2. Recommended storage, printing, dilution, and drying conditions for LOCTITE® ECI 4010. The ink is ready to use for flatbed screen-printing. DBE-9 may be added in small increments, up to 10 wt%, to adjust viscosity for rotary screen printing. Dilution can improve transfer but may affect overall performance; the complete process must therefore be reoptimized after dilution. Table 3 summarizes the tested drying window. Sheet resistance may already appear acceptable, while insufficient time or temperature leaves adhesion, cohesion, or double-crease performance below target. The recommended conditions are 140-150°C in a conveyor oven for a few minutes, the time being adjusted to the oven dimensions and efficiency. Table 3. Detailed overview of box-oven drying tests of LOCTITE® ECI 4010. Preferred conditions satisfy the combined electrical, adhesion, cohesion, and flexibility requirements. The ink showed good adhesion on PET, PI, copper, aluminum, and glass after appropriate drying. The main solvent can induce stress cracking in PC. ECI 4010 is not intended for stretchable substrates such as TPU. 3.2 Accelerated Aging Tests of Bare Ink ECI 4010 was printed on 125 µm untreated PET through a 77/55 polyester screen and dried for 10 minutes at 150 °C in a box oven. Bare tracks were aged for up to 1000 hours under two conditions: 100 °C dry heat; 85 °C/85% relative humidity. Figure 2 shows the evolution of sheet resistance during aging. The change remained below 10% after 1000 hours under both conditions. Adhesion remained rated 5B, with no cohesive failure observed, according to ASTM D3359. Figure 2. Sheet resistance change of bare LOCTITE® ECI 4010 printed tracks during accelerated aging at 100°C and at 85°C/85%RH. Error bars indicate the standard deviation. After double-crease tests, the tracks remained intact, with no visible cracking. The post-crease resistance increase stayed in the 40–60% range for all aging times and conditions. These results show that a properly processed SPC ink can retain electrical and mechanical performance under prolonged thermal and humid aging. 3.3 Compatibility with Dielectric and Carbon Inks SPC inks must be evaluated with every material printed above or adjacent to the conductor. A chemically incompatible dielectric, carbon ink, or adhesive can damage the silver shell and expose copper. A carbon or dielectric ink is considered compatible, when it does not induce a continuous drift with increasing aging time of typical properties like sheet resistance, adhesion, and flexibility. LOCTITE® EDAG 456 is the preferred dielectric for use with ECI 4010. LOCTITE® EDAG 452SS and LOCTITE® EDAG PF 455B were not compatible under the full accelerated-aging test conditions. Among the carbon inks evaluated, LOCTITE® EDAG PF 407A and LOCTITE® EDAG 965SS were compatible. LOCTITE® EDAG 965SS is particularly suitable for over-track protection in tail-connector areas. LOCTITE® EDAG 440A was not compatible. Table 3. Compatible UV-dielectric or carbon inks with LOCTITE® ECI 4010 3.4 Product Carbon Footprint In 2025, the Henkel silver ink range already used 53 wt% recycled silver. Using flakes made from recycled silver reduces the product carbon footprint, PCF, by about 80% compared with an ink based on mined silver. Replacing part of the silver with copper further reduces the quantity of recycled silver required per kilogram of ink. PCF data are available per ink on customer request. Typical Applications LOCTITE® ECI 4010 is designed for applications in which price stability, processability, and reliability matter more than maximum electrical conductivity or stretchability. Human-machine interfaces (HMI) are a primary use case. Membrane switches, keypads, control panels, and capacitive touch sensors generally do not require the conductivity of a highly conductive or sintered silver ink. Printed heaters are a second use case. ECI 4010 can act as the heating meander track for a fixed power heater up to 100°C. It can also be used as busbars, thanks to its compatibility with carbon inks, in low power heaters. When high current densities are required, highly electrically conductive silver inks like LOCTITE® ECI 1010 or LOCTITE® ECI 1011 are more cost-efficient., because their lower sheet resistance allows thinner or narrower tracks at the same track resistance. ECI 4010 is also suitable for antennas in cost-driven designs, typically NFC or UHF RFID, on PET or paper substrates. Its excellent adhesion to aluminum and copper broadens the application scope and allows combination with etched foils, bridges, jumpers, or connection pads. For GHz applications or large-area antennas, ECI 1011 is preferred. Its very low sheet resistance and low surface roughness allow very thin printed layers, which is often also the more cost-efficient solution. Figure 3. Examples of typical applications using LOCTITE® ECI 4010 ECI 4010 is not recommended for medical electrodes as the hydrogel will dissolve the protective silver shell around the copper flakes. Conclusion SPC inks provide a practical route to reduce silver content and limit sensitivity to silver-price fluctuations. LOCTITE® ECI 4010 combines less than 20 wt% silver with conventional screen-printing processability, a typical sheet resistance of 0.025 Ω/sq/25 µm, 5B adhesion on PET and PI, and less than 10% resistance change after 1000 hours at 100 °C or 85 °C/85% relative humidity. It is compatible with selected dielectric and carbon inks and is well suited to human-machine interfaces, membrane switches, capacitive sensors, and selected heater and antenna designs. By reducing primary silver demand and incorporating recycled silver, LOCTITE® ECI 4010 also offers a route toward a lower and more stable material footprint. Final environmental performance must nevertheless be assessed at product and application level. SPC inks are not intrinsically unstable. Similarly to silver inks, their reliability depends on flake quality, formulation, processing and compatibility with adjacent materials. Chemicals that dissolve or mobilize silver may expose copper and degrade conductivity; application-specific validation remains essential. Based on Henkel’s development work and available information, we have no evidence that the silver coating of properly manufactured SPC flakes spontaneously peels or delaminates during ink storage, printing, or normal service. Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

Author: Marcel Grooten Introduction Additive Manufacturing Electronics (AME) and Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) are transforming how electronic devices are designed and produced. Instead of relying on traditional PCB manufacturing processes such as copper etching and multiple lamination steps, electronic circuits can be built layer-by-layer. Using the innovative inkjet printing system ElectroJet™ by ChemCubed (Figure 1), multiple conventional production steps are replaced by depositing only the required material. This turn-key inkjet printing platform enables rapid prototyping, complex geometries, customization, and multi-material printing while protecting your IP (Figure 2). Figure 1: Block diagram of the setup of the printhead of ElectroJet™ printers (left) and the ElectroJet™ UV3D-3200 printer system (right). We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. Figure 2: Demonstrators manufactured by ElectroJet™ printing equipment Incorporating Carbon nanotubes (CNT) in Dielectric materials A critical component in printed electronics is the dielectric material. However, improving the mechanical and thermal performance of printed dielectrics without compromising their electrical insulation remains a major challenge. To address this, a novel method for incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into a UV-curable dielectric material was developed for additive electronics. CNTs are favorable since they can be chemically modified and have exceptional tensile strength and thermal conductivity because of their nanostructure and the strength of the bonds between carbon atoms. Rather than premixing CNTs into a single formulation, the CNT-containing ink and dielectric ink are printed simultaneously and mixed during the printing process before curing. This innovative manufacturing approach creates a reinforced dielectric structure while maintaining excellent printability and electrical performance. Properties of the CNT incorporated Dielectric material The performance of the dielectric material was enhanced due to CNT incorporation (Table 1). The mechanical properties significantly increased: the Young's modulus by 123% and the Tensile strength by 112%. Not only the mechanical performance improved, but thermal properties were enhanced as well. One singular glass transition indicated a more uniform material, smaller deformations occurred while heating and the thermal conductivity was increased. Additionally, the CNT-reinforced material retained excellent electrical properties. Table 1: Mechanical, Thermal and Electrical properties of dielectric material with/without CNT incorporation. Conclusion and outlook Multi-layer additive manufacturing offers new opportunities to enhance the performance of printed dielectrics through the combination of materials using the ElectroJet™ printing equipment. Additionally, ElectroJet™ is a supplier of various specialty dielectric and conductive inks, such as inks with bulk silver conductivity. This ElectroJet™ printing platform and its inks change the way circuits are designed and manufactured, enabling creation of complex customizable electronic systems with unparalleled high performance. Find out more: https://domicro.nl/chemcubed/ About ChemCubed & DoMicro ChemCubed (US) is a leading supplier of specialty inks and printers in additive printed electronics today. The company combines deep expertise in conductive and dielectic inks, primers and security marking materials with turn-key inkjet printing platforms. The ultimate goal is to optimize printed electronics and 3D printing materials to enhance real-world applications, we prioritize end-use functionality. Our solutions are tailored to meet the unique requirements of diverse applications. DoMicro (NL), as technology service provider and value-added reseller of Chemcubed in Europe, excels in developing cutting edge inkjet printing processes, micro assembly and 3D packaging technology. Our expertise is in matching the application requirements with material properties and equipment functionalities, creating high-functionality electronic products for the market quickly. Technology development typically relates to the know-how on creating the process for the applications. If you are challenged by the market and looking for a partner to move your ideas into realization, contact us. We really do IMAGINE, CREATE AND ACCOMPLISH. Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

Author: Erika Rebrosova, Ph.D is Global Technology Manager for Electronic Materials at Sun Chemical Screen printing is the dominant process for printed electronics manufacturing. Screen printing is capable of multilayer patterning of materials with different functionalities. These include conductive, resistive and insulating layers. This method of printing is used to manufacture various electronic components and circuits. For example, printed touch switches for control panels, displays, lighting, flexible heaters, printed antennae and medical electrodes. Additionally, various sensors are used in environmental monitoring, wellness and healthcare monitoring and even medical diagnostics. As printed electronics continue to expand into healthcare, automotive, industrial and consumer applications, material performance has become increasingly important. Sun Chemical works with manufacturers to develop functional ink solutions that help enable reliable and scalable printed electronic devices. We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. Electronic Manufacturing Printing Traditional high-speed printing methods – such as flexography and gravure – are rarely used in electronics manufacturing. These methods are typically used for low power interconnects and sensors in niche and specialty applications. They include electronic medical adherence packaging, smart adult incontinence products and, in some cases, wearable medical electrodes. For some electronics applications – such as in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and organic photovoltaic (OPV) – inkjet printing can be appropriate. It offers an opportunity to displace vapor deposition processes, rather than compete with screen printing for more traditional printed-electronics applications. Functional Inks Many of today’s functional inks are based on polymer thick film (PTF) technology. This combines screen printing with polymer-based pastes filled with functional particles to create electronic components and circuits on plastic substrates. PTF technology found its commercial success in membrane touch-switch applications back in the 1970s. Its use is now widespread in other printed electronics applications. The term ‘functional inks’ expands beyond PTF inks. It also covers a broader scope of printing materials suitable for various printing methods designed to provide specific properties for electronic component or circuit functions. We are presenting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin on 21-22 October 2026 Please register to meet us in person and listen to our presentation. Functional Ink Types Depending on the level of electrical resistivity – the material’s ability to resist electric current flow – functional inks are divided into three main types (see Table 1). Primarily, these inks are used to make passive electronic components, such as interconnect wires, electrodes, resistors and capacitors. The opposite of electrical resistivity is electrical conductivity. Therefore, low-resistivity material is considered conductive and very high resistivity material does not conduct electric current and is thus considered electrically insulating. There are other types of functional inks designed for specialty uses. Among these are ferric inks for inductors, semi-conducting inks used as active layers in transistors and diodes. In addition, other forms of these inks are used for light-emitting materials for displays and lighting, light-absorbing materials for solar cells, various sensing and catalyst inks. Table 1: Main functional ink types for printed electronics Advancements In Functional Inks There is a constant push for higher-performance functional inks. This is to increase adoption of printed-electronics technologies in automotive, consumer, industrial and healthcare electronics markets. Ink formulators are currently pursuing many targets for advancement. For example, better electrical performance (higher conductivity, higher insulation and reliability) and improved mechanical properties (flexibility, folding endurance, conformability, stretchability, thermoformability). Additionally, better environmental stability and operational reliability. Formulators are also looking for more cost effective, faster or lower-energy curing capabilities, as well as biocompatibility and eco-designed materials with a lower carbon footprint. While there are advancements in all categories of functional inks, much of the development effort revolves around conductive inks, which are the key materials for any printed electronics application. As a trusted partner, Sun Chemical delivers value through continued investment in R&D and technical expertise to develop tailored electronic material solutions that address the dynamic needs of industries by combining performance, efficiency and sustainability, allowing its customers and partners to ‘Experience. Transformation.’. Functional Fillers The primary functional filler for conductive inks is silver (Ag) because of its high conductivity, stability and high-volume manufacturability. Silver is highly reliable and stable to handle in ambient conditions. In contrast, other metals – such as copper or aluminum – form surface oxides that hinder conductivity. There are some copper inks on the market; however, they typically require special handling and processing. Other conductive fillers include silver chloride, silver-plated gold, platinum, copper particles and nickel. Silver-based conductive inks utilize the metal in a range of forms, shapes and sizes (see Figure 1). Silver micro-flakes and powders are commonly used in PTF silver inks. However, there are also silver nanoparticles, as well as reactive silver salts or metal-organic precursors (transient metals). These are sometimes used either by themselves or as an additive to increase the conductivity of particle-based silver inks (hybrid or semi-sintering). Figure 1: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of large, small and nano-sized silver particles used in conductive silver inks Formulators typically consider aspects such as particle-size distribution, particle morphology, tap density and lubricant chemistry. All of these affect ink properties, such as dispersibility in polymer matrix, processability, particle-packing density and, ultimately, ink conductivity. The radar graph (see Figure 2) compares the main attributes for various types of silver-conductive inks available on the market. Advances in particle and polymer binder technologies have led to a dramatic increase in electrical, mechanical performance and compatibility with various substrates and processing methods. The price of conductive silver inks is highly dependent on the silver bullion market price. Due to this, it is very important to balance ink cost and performance. Figure 2: Comparison of various conductive silver ink types and their main attributes (rating 0–5 [0 for worst, 5 for best]) Conclusion Sun Chemical has a long history of supplying traditional printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing materials, functional inks for printed electronics, including biosensors, and material solutions for solar cells and Li-ion batteries. Performance targets, operational and environmental reliability, safety and cost are all important considerations when designing materials for electronics applications. As new applications and markets emerge, ink formulators rise to the challenge. At Sun Chemical, value-chain partnerships and extensive fit-for-purpose testing capabilities are key. These aspects allow for development and optimization of materials addressing the needs and new requirements of this exciting field. The company works in partnership with leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and partners to develop tailored functional ink solutions for a range of electronics application areas. Its SunTronic and SunSens functional inks product portfolio providea comprehensive range of conductive, resistive and insulating inks designed to meet growing customer demands for printed electronics and biosensors markets. The Sun Chemical team will be on Stand A09 at The Future of Electronics Reshaped in Berlin, October 21-22, 2026. Further information: Sun Chemical, Parsippany, NJ , USA Email: globalmarketing@sunchemical.com Web: www.sunchemical.com Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature: Perovskite Connect, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED All included in your pass! Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates.

Flexible & Printed Electronics: Commercialising 2D Materials for Industries Applications Event, taking place on Tuesday 3rd November 2026 at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), University of Manchester. This full-day event will bring together industry leaders, manufacturers, innovators, and researchers to explore how graphene and other advanced 2D materials are enabling the next generation of flexible and printed electronic technologies. Attendees will gain practical insights into real-world applications, manufacturing challenges, commercial opportunities, and routes to adoption. The programme includes: Expert presentations on the latest developments in flexible and printed electronics Industry case studies and commercialisation insights Networking with technology leaders and potential collaborators Tours of the world-leading GEIC facilities Opportunities to explore future partnerships and innovation projects Whether you are involved in product development, manufacturing, innovation strategy, business development, or technology scouting, this event offers a valuable opportunity to understand how advanced materials can create competitive advantage within your organisation. Date: Tuesday, 3 November 2026 Time: 09:00 - 17:00 Location: Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3B To register, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/flexible-printed-electronics-commercialising-2d-materials-for-industries-tickets-1996996551443 We would be delighted to welcome you to Manchester our in-person only event and hope you can join us for what promises to be an insightful and engaging day.

Introduction Recent industrial and academic research has produced many optoelectronic materials with improved properties. Perovskite, quantum dot, and 2D materials have enhanced the range of existing organic and inorganic materials suitable for light-emitting diode (LED) or photodetector (PD) applications. Researchers with access to conventional laboratory equipment can produce working demonstrations of individual diodes to characterise properties related to electro-optical performance and therefore select suitable applications where the new materials could be employed. Moving beyond this toward productization for practical applications brings with it a number of challenges, since the use case for the consumer world requires a much more polished demonstration, closer to existing industry standards and quality. The decision by funders to invest further financing into R&D for novel materials is often influenced by a functional prototype incorporating those materials in a display or imaging device. The increase in complexity required to go from single pixels to high-yield arrays with 100,000s of pixels extends far beyond the capability of the equipment sets available to the team that made the material innovation. Figure. (Left) Perovskite Crystal Structure. (Right) Quantum Dot Emission Transforming lab results into impressive product-ready prototypes LED or PD arrays are typically made with pixel counts beyond what may be achieved using simple direct drive connections, such as those used in basic device research. To reduce the number of anode/cathode wires used, a row/column matrix should be employed, where LED pixel signals are updated row by row or PD pixels are read out line by line. In an n-row x m-col array of pixels, the direct wiring connection numbers would be (n x m)+1 whereas the matrix addressing reduces the number to n+m+1. The most common way to make a addressable array is through the use of thin-film transistors (TFTs), with a minimum of two transistors per pixel required for an LED display pixel and one transistor for a PD array pixel (see Figure 1). A small-sized LED display with a resolution of 360 x 360 would require >250 thousand individual TFTs. A PD array of 1024 x 1024 would require over 1 million transistors. Making prototype displays with this number of TFTs is challenging using R&D grade equipment, and due to manual handling of substrates, contact mask defects, and lower grade clean room facilities. Yielding displays containing 100’s of K of transistors without fault requires access to manufacturing-grade facilities containing automated robotic handling, projection lithography, and materials processing in better than class 100 environments. Figure. (Left) A simple 2T-1C circuit used for addressing emissive displays (LEDs). (Right) A 1T-1C circuit used for addressing photodetector (PD) pixels, where the V_READ signal is measured by a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) We are exhibiting at The Future of Electronics RESHAPED in Berlin, Germany on 21-22 October 2026. Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. LinkZill’s TFT capability for optoelectronics LinkZill’s purpose is to enable new TFT-based product development by leveraging existing manufacturing capacity from the flat-panel display industry. It works with developers of new optoelectronic technology using its design and knowledge of manufacturing to enable the development of product-ready displays or sensor arrays. Production of the TFT backplanes uses smaller-sized G2.5 to G4.5 lines, which were previously used in the production of displays for consumer electronics. Not only does this ensure high quality and low defectivity, but facilitates the rapid scalability of successful products from pilot production to mass manufacturing, reducing the capital investment required for product development. Products that are qualified on these lines can transition to larger-scale G6 and above lines with short re-qualification times. Even so, the cost of using even the smaller production lines can be prohibitive for start-up businesses or academic researchers. Therefore, LinkZill acts to lower the cost by sharing the photomask area among several customers, much in the same way that multi-party wafers (MPW) in Si CMOS manufacturing divide the cost of production among the number of projects that are combined on the wafer. Such use of the display substrate area has been described as multi-party glass (MPG - see Figure 2) to denote the use of rectangular glass based substrates in TFT manufacturing as opposed to Silicon wafers used in CMOS IC production. Figure. Image of the G4.5 substrate with multi-party-glass (MPG) designs from several customers integrated into the same process run. Design of the backplane is a critical factor in demonstrating the beneficial properties of the new materials. Customers have the option to design themselves or to leverage our experience in this area. LinkZill’s industrially trained designers have access to electronic design automation (EDA) tools to help generate the best performance between the optoelectronic component and the TFT backplane. Pixel designs can go beyond the simple 2T-1C for displays by introducing compensation circuits to manage variations over time in the driving of the display component. A further critical element required for the successful productization of displays or sensor arrays is the ability to address the TFTs through the use of driver electronics. For a display, this takes images or video from a PC or mobile phone and converts the media into the analog signals required to drive the LEDs. For an imager, the electronic readout system measures the currents in each pixel, addressing them in a row-by-row manner, and then forms the image on the computer, representing the amount of radiation (UV, visible, IR, x-ray) received in different areas of the panel. LinkZill has an electronic engineering team dedicated to the development of easy to use driver systems that can be used in R&D and demonstration to show off the best properties of new materials. The critical combination of backplane design, driver system development, and materials understanding ensures that customers achieve the best possible result in the shortest possible time, saving money and allowing opportunities for exploitation to be maximised. Figure. (Left) LinkZill TFT sensor chip operating with a compatible readout system. (Right) LinkZill TFT display chip operating with a compatible driver system. Figure. LinkZill Product Portfolio (Full specifications at: https://www.linkzill.com/en/optoelectronics/) LinkZill’s model of MPG has been used successfully for the past 5 years with over 140 companies and 260 top academic groups benefiting from the accelerated development of their ideas into product-ready prototypes. This has resulted in 300 publications in high-impact journals, including 20 in the Science and Nature portfolio. Start-up businesses using the service have achieved follow-on investment and see the access to TFT manufacturing as an important part of their product development and scaling. Figure. Representative papers from LinkZill's customers Future outlook Novel optoelectronic materials show great promise to extend the range of types of displays and sensor arrays available on the market. Flexible and large-area format displays and sensor arrays with wavelength tunability through materials design may accelerate application uptake beyond what is currently available. LinkZill is positioned to help companies succeed in this area and provides a significant capability both in-house and through its network of TFT suppliers. Over 60% of staff have Science Masters or PhD education, coupled with industrial experience in TFT design, manufacturing, and materials development. If you have a new promising material or processing technology for optoelectronics and would like to develop a product-ready prototype closer to the end-user application, then please contact us for a no-obligation discussion of how LinkZill may be able to help. We are headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and have offices to support sales and business development in Cambridge, UK, and Hong Kong. Figure. Global layout and R&D centers of LinkZill. LinkZill can be contacted through the email address info@linkzill.com Join the flagship TechBlick events in Berlin, Germany on 21-22 October 2026 This event is the global home of Additive, Printed, Sustainable, Hybrid and 3D Electronics. It is where the global industry connects, where the latest is unveiled and where big products, novel ideas and key projects and partnerships are discussed and forged. This event is not to be missed!