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We are publishing a series of four articles over the next three weeks, highlighting the depth and breadth of innovation as well as existing and emerging applications in the field. This article includes more 65 individual images and charts showcasing various innovations, techniques, and products. You can see the table of content for this article below. Table of Contents: MicroLED displays: the role of printed electronics Digital printing on 3D surfaces with µ-sized features Large-area LED lighting and printed electronics Low temperature soldering for Flexible Hybrid Electronics 3D Printed Electronics: Bringing intelligence to 3D surfaces 3D smart surfaces Skin patches and medical electronics Medical Electrodes: R2R volume screen printing Stretchable conductive inks for e-textiles All the innovations highlighted in these articles are from companies presenting or exhibiting at our upcoming event on 11-12 May 2021 on Printed, Hybrid, Structural, and 3D Electronics. For a given trend, we often highlight just one or two firms, but our past (now available on-demand) and future (LIVE, online) events feature all the key players worldwide. At TechBlick, each year we offer more than 350 hand-picked talks on emerging technologies including (1) printed, hybrid, and structural electronics and (2) advanced materials. With a single annual pass, you can participate in all our LIVE events online, truly mingle and network with the community online, and participate in our masterclasses. See how our networking and virtual mingling works here. We have assembled the best speaker line-up yet for our next LIVE conference on 11-12 May 2021, covering Printed, Hybrid, Structural, and 3D Electronics. Our programme features 65 speakers and and panelists including Coca Cola, P&G, Boeing, Airbus, HP, Signify, Texas Instruments, Panasonic, Parsons, ARM, Identiv, Wuerth, Phillips 66, US Army, Agfa and many more... This programme is co-located with our LIVE (online) conference focusing on "Quantum Dots: Material Innovations & Commercial Applications". Here, the speakers include Shoie Electronic Materials, Emberion, IMEC, SWIR Systems, Avantama, UbiQD, etc. You can see the full agenda here You can buy your annual pass for just 450 Euros per year using the 10% discount code 10%DiscountAA until 1 May 2021. Speakers Include: You can meet all our exhibitors at our show LIVE (see exhibitors below). They will be at their interactive virtual booths waiting for you to pop in. You can also hear all our speakers present and then follow up with them- as you would in a physical world- in highly-interactive networking lounge. MicroLED Displays: The Role of Printed Electronics Back to Contents A hot trend in the display industry is micro-LEDs. These displays are fantastic, but they are difficult to manufacture. Mirco-LEDs come in a variety of forms (see below) and can be used in different types of displays, ranging from small sized and micro displays all the way to very large-sized displays. The transfer process, as we shall see, is a major technical challenge and thus deservedly receive all the attention. One point that is often neglected though is how to metalize the actual substrates to connect the transferred micro LEDs? PVD is often used. This approach is tried-and-test but is subtractive. Furthermore, a via needs to be drilled through the mother glass substrate and filled to create a front-to-back connection. Companies are now proposing the use of screen printing. A great example from Applied Materials is shown below. Here, the connection lines can be screen printed using silver pastes. More importantly, the substrate can be robotically rotated so that the front-to-back conductive lines can also be printed on the edge of the substrate, thereby eliminating the need to drill and fill vias. Applied Materials is currently achieving a L/S (linewidth to spacing ratio) of 60/40 µm. The transfer process in microLED display is a major challenge. This is partly because microLEDs are very small. The image below highlights this point, comparing the size of microLEDs against all manners of items. To appreciate the scale of the transfer challenge, consider the chart below on the right. For an RGB microLED displays with three differently-colored LEDs, the main chart shows the number of failed dies for a given display resolution (number of transferred items) and transfer yield (example: a 4K display has 8,294,400 pixels and each pixel has 3 microLEDs thus the total LED number is some 24.8 Million). As shown in the inset, we need yields exceeding 99.99% otherwise the display is compromised. This is of course extremely hard to achieve, especially on aggregate yield across the whole process including metallization, transfer, bonding and so on and so forth. Digital Printing on 3D Surfaces With µ-Sized Features Back to Contents Achieving such stringent targets likely require some precision post-transfer repair mechanism. Digital ultra-precision printing on 3D (or non-smooth) surfaces can offer a promising repair tool. An example is shown below, by XTPL (Poland). They can digitally print few micrometer feature sizes using their own viscous silver nanoparticle ink. As can be seen in the image, in one example, they print 3.2 µm line with a spacing of just 0.7 µm. In the bottom right image, the printer is being applied to enable open defect repair in high resolution displays. This technology has an interesting performance positioning w.r.t to other additive printing processes such as inkjet, aerosol, electrohydrodynamic, and so on. In general, it exceeds the current resolution limits of inkjet and aerosol, and matches that of electrohydrodynamic but with a more viscous ink. This tool can be used in many applications including security printing, prototyping of redistribution layers, electronic packages, and many other applications. The theme of ultrahigh-resolution printing is strongly covered in our upcoming conference on 11-12 May 2021. The past and confirmed upcoming presenters on this topic include Kodak, Optomec, Enjet, XTPL, Applied Materials, NanoOps, IDS, etc. With an Annual Pass you can of course access past content from all our previous conferences Large-Area LED Lighting & Printed Alectronics Back to Contents Printed electronics can play a role in large-area LED lighting in multiple ways. First consider the example on the left below (by Kundisch GmbH). Here, printed circuitry or metallization is used to power the LEDs. The primary advantage of printed LEDs is that one can create customized patterns, thus granting a high degree of design freedom. Note that the printing can also take place on flexible PET substrates. The soldering is likely done manually unless one of the below-described emerging technologies is deployed. Furthermore, one can roll-to-roll (R2R) print the metallization and the component attach materials, and also R2R assemble the LEDs onto a flexible and conformable PET-like substrate. This can be an excellent production process for creating flexible conformable LED foils. This process has been around for several years, but is now gathering steam and momentum. A good example is the R2R metallized and assembled LED lighting foil by Holst Centre shown below. Here, all the functional layers are R2R printed and the LEDs are R2R transferred. Low Temperature Soldering for Flexible Hybrid Electronics Back to Contents Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) requires low temperature soldering. There are two primary and important motivations: (1) to be able to solder SMD or dies onto PET substrates, enabling a transition from expensive PI in FPBCS to low-cost PET, and (2) to enable automated soldering on PET substrates (currently soldering on PET is often done manually to accurately control temperature profile). Multiple approaches have emerged, or are emerging, to enable this transition. NovaCentrix is proposing photo-sintering. Here, the joints are exposed to a short millisecond pulse of wide spectrum light to cause the solder to reflow. You can various examples of applications or close-ups of photo-sintered solders below. In this arrangement, the printed thin films on the surface of the substrate experience elevated temperatures, but not the substrate itself, enabling soldering on PET and similar substrates. If the sintering profile is optimized, this process can take place in a matter of milliseconds, potentially making it compatible with R2R high-throughput processes, thus removing one of the major bottlenecks of R2R printed FHE production. Several companies are also offering and/or developing low-temperature solders. Safi-Tech has developed SAC305 microcapsule solders that can be applied onto PET at just 120C. An example is shown below and the schematic on the bottom right describes the microcapsule concept. The great feature of solder – vs conductive adhesives- is the automatic self-alignment which lowers the burden of precision pick-and-place. Safi-Tech is a spin off from Iowa State University, which was the birthplace of SAC305. Alpha Assembly is another great example. They have developed a sub-150C solder compatible with heat-stabilized PET. The chemistry is not disclosed, but it is likely SnIn based. The images below show an example of a circuit assembly on a flexible white PET substrate. The reflow temperature remains below 145C in this case. The project was a collaboration between Alpha Assembly, Sheldahl, and DuPont Teijin Films, and clearly highlights the possibilities that this technologies offers. Of course, conductive adhesives remain a strong choice. The filler is often the main cost driver. We highlight one innovation here by CondAlign that can drive down filler content whilst not compromising performance such as z-axis conductivity. Here, CondAlign deploys electric fields to vertically align the particles to create anisotropic conductive films. The process is shown below in two snapshots taken during a real filler alignment process. CondAlign has now made production process R2R (see their machine below), whilst retaining sub-10 µm pitches in a wide range of film thickness (from a few to some hundreds of µm). The theme of flexible hybrid electronics is strongly covered in our upcoming conference on 11-12 May 2021. The past and confirmed upcoming presenters on the topic include ARM, Identiv, Parsons, Smooth&Sharp, GE Research, Jabil, American Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Panasonic, DuPoint Teijin Films, NovaCentrix, Alpha Assembly, CondAlign, Safi-Tech, CPI, Sheldahl, CEA, and more 3D Printed Electronics:Bringing Intelligence to 3D Surfaces Back to Contents 3D Printed Electronics is a very active area. One can divide it into two-sub areas: (1) electronics add to or near the surface of a 3D object, and (2) true 3D printed electronics combining classical 3D printing with printed electronics. The top row below shows examples of the first approach. Here, we can see 3D shaped antennas, heaters, lighting and HMIs, and even a medical device. The second row shows examples of the second approach. Here, the conductive lines as well as the SMD are embedded within the 3D structure of a complex 3D shape which is built up layer-by-layer using classical 3D printing. This approach allows one to really bring intelligence to 3D printing. Thus, instead of just creating dump mechanical objects, one could integrate also the electronics inside the 3D printed object. If one puts in place a seamless design-to-production process, it could open many fantastic opportunities. This is a major theme of our upcoming conference on Printed, Hybrid, Structural, and 3D Electronics conference on 11-12 May 2021. The past (now available on-demand) and upcoming speakers on this topic include HP, Signify, Wuerth, Neotech, NanoDimension, LPKF, and others. 3D Smart Surfaces Back to Contents 3D shaped smart surfaces are on exciting theme. The applications range from metallization of 3D surfaces at antenna or electronic package level to large-sized interior or exterior automotive parts. In the image below, we highlight various examples of large-sized 3D-shaped smart surfaces aimed at vehicle interiors. The underlying technologies highlighted below are diverse, including stretchable sensors, electronic textiles, transfer molding, and in-mold electronics. Of particular interest are the in-mold electronics (IME) technique and other similar technologies. These technologies typically have a functional layer composed of multiple printed layers. The functional film then somehow 3D formed and in some cases overmolded. Here you can see two examples of InMold Electronics (or structural electronics) which I wish to highlight. The one on the left is a prototype by Greely. Here, the seat adjustor is transitioned from a classical to an IME design, reducing parts from 45 to 1, tools to 20 to 2, weight from 185g to 25g, and thickness from 38mm to 3mm. The latter is an important figure-of-merit because it opens space for other functionalities. The image on the right is an example from Suunto. Here, the smart connector is made using IME. The process steps are shown below. The design passed design verification requirements including -20-to-60C operating temperature, 50 machine cycles @40C, 5000 30-degree twists and 90-degree flexes, heat press, and so on. The smart layer here was simple including only a simple memory and a resistance plus various conducive lines. However, the complexity of IME technology will in time rise. Of particular interest will be the integration of lighting components. This is a major theme of our upcoming conference on Printed, Hybrid, Structural, and 3D Electronics conference on 11-12 May 2021. The past (now available on-demand) and upcoming speakers on this topic include Geely, FIAT, Suunto, LightWorks GmbH, Arburg, DuPont, PolyIC, TactoTek, Kimoto, etc. Skin Patches & Medical Electronics Back to Contents A hot area in printed flexible electronics is in medical electrodes and there are many applications. Electronic skin patches for continuous health care monitoring has become extremely hot as we transition from a standard blood-based glucose sampling to continuous glucose monitoring and to all types of continuous vital signs monitoring, e.g., heart rate monitoring etc. Continuous vital signs monitoring is a multi-billion-dollar market already. Printing can really play a role here. The example I want to highlight here is the development by Holst Center who have developed a full solution. This is a clinical grade disposable patch with reusable electronics, with a dry electrode, etc. The dry electrode includes printed metallization allowing one to measure EKG, respiration, and temperature. Another highlighted example (right image below) is from Screentec Oy. Here one can see a medical electrode with integrated SMTs on the top. And the bottom right picture is an example of a screen printed sensor which can detect skeletal muscle activities. You can also see an example by Jabil, one of the largest contract manufacturers worldwide. Here, the actual measurement electronics can be printed using Ag/AgCl electrodes on the back side of the PCB. Printing allows one more freedom in where the electrodes are placed. Medical Electrodes: R2R Volume Screen Printing Back to Contents Printing of medical electronics is in fact already a major business. The example below is from Mekprint (Denmark). The example you see on the right below is a R2R screen printed ECG electrode. And this application has a volume sale of more than one hundred million units per year. Another highlighted example on the left below is an incontinence sensor. It is again R2R screen printed. Interestingly, here conductive cable lines are actually R2R printed on a stretchable non-woven material. This too is a commercial application. Here too, the printed sensor is part of a full solution, including the rigid electronics, the communications and so on and so forth. In general, printed electronics is playing a major role in electronic skin patches, medical electrodes, and similar fields. It is already a success story. Stretchable Conductive Inks for E-Textiles Back to Contents The overlap between electronic textiles and the printed electronics is often the printing of the interconnects or the printing of the stretch sensors. In the early days, maybe four or five years ago, companies started to bring out the first generation of conductive stretchable inks. There has been much progress since on improving the performance of these inks. Today, companies are not just offering stretchable conductive inks, but they are offering the full portfolio of stretchable inks needed to create an electronic textiles. This includes the stretchable silver inks, the carbon inks, the dielectric ink, the conductive adhesive, and so on. The highlighted example in this newsletter is from Nagase. Here, the silver ink can be stretched by 100 percent. The chat in the middle shows the properties of the stretchable conductive adhesive, which can be stretched up to 30 percent with very little hysteresis. The adhesive can be cured at 180C. The chart on the bottom right shows that a full stack is needed to improve washability. Here, the resistivity of a line made out of printed Ag alone is lower, but the stacked version (silver + carbon + dielectric) offer more washability. Here, the stacked version experiences little performance changes after 100 washing cycles- an important milestone for e-textiles. We have a full conference dedicated to Skin Patches, E-Textiles, and Stretchable Electronics in early Sept as part of the TechBlick series. We will bring you all the key end users, manufacturers, and material innovators. If you sign up for an Annual Pass you will also have access to that upcoming events. Conference agenda (1) Printed, Hybrid, Structural & 3D Electronics (2) Quantum Dots: Material Innovations & Commercial Applications A detailed overview of the platform including LIVE exhibitions How Does a Virtual Booth Work? How Does Real-Time Networking Work? How does speed networking work online?

AMOLED: from TFE to printed RGB emitters QLED: from enhancement film to OLED-QLED to AMQLED Precision and repair MicroLEDs: printed in every step of the process from wafer onwards Waveguides for AR/VR displays Fully printed R2R low-cost display In this article, I will show you how different types of printing are impacting, and will impact, various display technologies including AMOLED, AMQLED, microLEDs, electrochromic, and beyond. Many of the innovations and trends highlighted below will be part of TechBlick’s unique upcoming LIVE(online) conference and tradeshow on Innovations in Displays and Lighting taking place on 14-16 July. Add the date to your Calendar: Google Calendar | Microsoft Outlook Calendar | Office 365 Calendar | Yahoo Calendar At this conference, we bring together hand-picked speakers, each representing an important innovation trend in display material development, microLEDs, flexible displays, AR/VR, large-area lighting, printed displays, and beyond. The speaker line-up includes Dolby, Volvo, Google, Microsoft, GE Research, IBM, Parc (Xerox), Lamar Advertising, Nanosys, VueReal, PlayNitride, Royole, Applied Materials, Universal Display Corp, Morphotonics, Avantama, Enjet, Optomec, Kent Display, DSCC, Yole, Fraunhofer IAP, Nanosys, Schott, Ten Flecs, Metamaterials, iBeam Materials Heilo, imec, C3Nano, Pixelligent, TNO/Holst, XTPL, Scrona, Inuru, OTI Lumionics, QustomDot, Quantum Solutions, etc. See full agenda here The events are very interactive. Don’t take our word for it and read the testimonials here! With a single Annual Pass, one can participate in this event and all LIVE (online) future events at TechBlick for 12 months. Furthermore, one can access TechBlick’s growing library of on-demand talks from its past events. AMOLED: from TFE to printed RGB emitters Inkjet printed has already been commercialized in OLED displays. It is used in the deposition of the organic layer in multi-layer thin-film encapsulation. Here, inkjet printed organics act as buffer layers separating PECVD-deposited inorganic layers. This is shown below. This is already an incumbent process. Example of inkjet printed and UV cured organic buffer layers in multi-later thin film encapsulation. Image is from Kateeva 2017 The printing of the emissive RGB layers are more challenging. The technology has been in development for at least 20 years. Indeed, solution processed OLED materials have come a long way in their twenty years of developments. Today, both polymeric and small molecule solution-processed materials show performance level that is almost on a per with evaporated ones. The three benchmarking charts- update as of Q1 2021- benchmark the performance levels for printed red, green, and blue vs evaporated versions. Here both small molecule and polymeric materials system from the leading suppliers are included. We can see that the performance gaps are now largely bridged, especially for red and green, paving the way for adoption without too much performance penalty. The lifetime, especially blue, perhaps need further refinement. The charts compare printed OLED performance vs evaporated materials (as of Q1 2021). Note that for blue we did not include a reference evaporated material as it is difficult to compare because of exact color coordinates. Instead, we included the bottom right chart. This chart is from 2020 (Samsung) and compares evaporated vs printed blue whilst factoring in color coordinates. Here, TE and BE denote top and bottom emission, respectively. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. The printing machinery and process know-how have also come a long way. The image below simply showcases some examples of inkjet printed OLED displays. There are improvements both in size and PPI. These trends will continue. Indeed, some manufacturing have been in mass production mode for 21.6”inch displays since 2018. There will be more to come. Note that additive deposition is not limited just to inkjet printing and solution processed materials. UDC (Universal Display Corp) has an interesting approach of vapor jetting evaporated OLED materials, thus achieving additive manufacture whilst keeping the performance of evaporated materials. This is a fully evaporated additive side-by-side RGB deposition with performance of evaporated material and a route to Gen10 scale up. This is from UDC. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. UDC will also present this technology together with their latest material developments. QLED: from enhancement film to OLED-QLED to AMQLED Quantum Dots (QDs) are a major success story. As color converters, they deliver value to LCD, OLED, and microLED displays. They widen the color gamut of LCD, enabling them to remain performance competitive against OLEDs. They can be used on blue OLEDs to achieve WCG large-area partially printed displays with excellent contrast. In microLEDs, they enable achieving RGB using small-sized blue LEDs. In addition, there is the use of QLEDs in truly emissive QD-based displays. The main application remains LCDs today. Here, the current dominant mode of integration in displays remains the enhancement mode film. I mention this here because the QD-filled resins are R2R coated. An example is shown below. R2R slot die coated QD resin enhancement films for expanding the color gamut of LCDs. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. In the quantum dot and narrowband phosphor field, you can hear from the following companies: Nanosys, GE Research, Avantama, Heilo Materials, Fraunhofer IAP, Emberion, QustomDots, Quantom Solutions, etc QDs can of course be used as color filters/color convertors both on LCDs and OLEDs. The integration with OLEDs is particularly interesting. One approach is to deposit a continuous blue layer stack (or multiple blue layer stacks to divide up the voltage and thus prolong lifetime). To get red and green, narrowband quantum dots (QDs) can then be inkjet printed on each pixel, acting as a color filter/color converter. This approach is promising because it allows achieving fully emissive, printed, and large area displays with excellent color gamut and contrast. This approach is actively pursued by Samsung (seeking to find a way to bring OLED and emissive display to larger areas) and multiple other firms. There is significant multi-billion dollar investment in this approach. This approach is also interesting because it provides excellent learnings on the way towards the future fully printed AMQLED. Emissive QLED materials are at a relatively early stage of development, but they promise to be the ultimate form of display: inkjet printed, large area, emissive, high EQE, high contract, thin, WCG, etc. The technology development is of course not straightforward. The non-Cd containing QDs need to improve the EQE and lifetime, better blue compositions need to be formulated, the entire stack materials including transport layers need to be developed and optimized, suitable device architecture developed, and finally an active-matrix mass production process that goes beyond spin coating. There is rapid progress here and it is not my purpose to detail all the developments. Just to show the complexity level, I showcase the example below from BOE, which is a 55-inch fully inkjet printed AMQLED (May 2021). This is an IJP 55-inch AMQLED by BOE. The EQE and other performance data were reported only for spin coated QLED device and not IJP AMQLED. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. In the quantum dot and narrowband phosphor field, you can hear from the following companies: Nanosys, GE Research, Avantama, Heilo Materials, Fraunhofer IAP, Emberion, QustomDots, Quantom Solutions, etc. Precision and repair Digital printing is evolving well beyond inkjet. Indeed, emerging approaches enhance the printing resolution to the sub-micron range and/or enable deposition on non-flat surfaces. These electrohydrodynamic (single or multi-head), aerosol, and/or micro-dispensing technologies can have many potential applications in the display industry. The example below shows how micro-dispensing can be deployed to repair open defects on a complex non-flat AMOLED surface. Another example below shows how this process, or version with multiple EHD print heads, can deposit the attach materials for placement of ever smaller microLEDs. Two examples of how precision digital printing can be used in OLED and microLED display. These examples are from XTPL using their microdispensing machine and their highly viscous silver nanoinks. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. In the precision digital printing field you can hear from Optomec, Enjet, XTPL, Scrona, and more. MicroLEDs: printed in every step of the process from wafer onwards MicroLEDs remain a topic of intense interest in the industry. I want to showcase how printing and R2R can deliver value here. One of the main challenge in microLED fabrication is a high-yield (>>99.99%) and high-throughput transfer process. Many approaches have been developed. Some interesting techniques involve some form of printing (stamp transfer, R2R, etc). Here, I only highlight two interesting approaches. The first is from VueReal who is developing a cartridge-based approach. The process is shown below. Here, the donor substrate containing the microchips is brought into contact with the receiver substrate. The two substrates are then aligned before the transfer takes place. There is a need to apply some force mechanism to overcome the force keeping the micro chips attached to the donor substrates. It is not clear whether this is mechanical, heat adhesive (based on material added to receiving substrate), or a combination thereof. Schematic outline of the process steps involved in VueReal’s cartridge-based printed microLED approach. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. Regarding MicroLED innovation, you can hear from Intel, PlayNitride, VueReal, iBeam, Parc, Imec, Applied Materials, and others. Another interesting, earlier stage, development is by Parc, a Xerox company. The idea is based upon xerographic printing. Here, micro chips such as micro GaN LEDs are suspended in a solution. They are then cast onto an active-matrix substrate controlling a 2D array of electrodes which generate electrostatic force to spatially move the individual chips under the gaze of a camera. The assembled microchips are then transferred using a roller onto the final target substrate. The 2021 demonstrator is still small size (2.5 x 2.5 cm) on 50um LEDs with no yield data. The assembly process is achieved using a projector addressing a photoswitch array. The assembly process, from mass disordered deposition from liquid to final alignment, is shown below. Currently it is too slow, but an order of magnitude improvement can make it competitive. The process has interesting development potential as it does not require any special microchip structure. The alignment and positioning is also software controlled, thus allowing arbitrary and complex shapes. The microprinter process being developed at Parc based on the idea of xerographic printing. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. Regarding MicroLED innovation, you can hear from Intel, PlayNitride, VueReal, iBeam, Parc, Imec, Applied Materials, and others The transfer step has been receiving substantial attention in recent years. There are many other critical steps in microLED production too. I mention this because printing and conductive inks can play important roles in some of these steps too. The example below, by Applied Materials, show various examples. Screen printing can be used to print conductive pastes to fill vias. It can be used to print fine-line electrodes between the front and backplanes. Furthermore, it can also print wrap-around electrodes, connecting the microLEDs with the driver IC. Finally, it can print various adhesives (solder, ECA, etc) for the placement and bonding of micro LEDs. The above images are from Applied Materials. They show how advanced fine-line screen printing can play a role in microLED fabrication. Screen printing can, without requiring a vacuum-based PVD process and etching, print fine-line electrodes and interconnects, create wrap-around electronics, fill vias, and even place attach materials. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. Regarding MicroLED innovation, you can hear from Intel, PlayNitride, VueReal, iBeam, Parc, Imec, Applied Materials, and others. There are many incredible innovations in the microLED field. Another one that we wish to highlight is in creating a method to assemble large-area microLED displays from tape-on-reel approach. This is shown below. Here, the microLEDs are first transferred into a larger panel and are then cut into smaller tiles. The tiles undergo an inspection step and the black filling material is added to enhance contrast. The titles are then added onto a reel, creating a tape-on-reel approach enabling the construction of large microLED displays using a SMT-like process! This is a very interesting innovation in the field by PlayNitride. These images show the steps needed to create a reel-on-tape approach to large-area microLED displays. This innovation is by PlayNitride. To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. Waveguides for AR/VR displays There are many other uses of printing or R2R/R2P in the display industry. Another use case is in R2P (roll-to-plate) nanoimprinting for creating in- and out-coupling features for AV/VR glasses. Such in- or out-couplings can be made on 300mm wafers, but the throughput is low. With R2P nanoimprinting the throughput may be substantially extended. An interesting approach is by Morphotonics. Here, they tile together their nanoimprint stamps to create a Gen 5 R2P nanoimprinting line able to achieve sub-micron features and 480 eyepieces per imprint cycle. The R2P nanoimprint process requires solvent-free resins with high refractive index. Here, for example, zirconia and titania based formulations by Pixelligent can result in resin with a refractive index of 1.857. A tiling approach can result in Gen5 R2P nanoimprint tool with integrated UV curing to achieve nano or sub-microfeatures with replication fidelity. The images above are from Morphotonics .To hear more about all key innovation trends in displays and lighting join the TechBlick’s LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass between 14-16 July. Regarding nanoimprinting, you can hear from the leading innovators such as Meta, Morphotonics, and Pixelligent. Nanoimprinting can have many uses cases in displays also beyond AR/VR. One example is in development of highly transparent and high conducting metal mesh transparent conductive films. One example is from Meta (Metamaterials) Inc. They have a rolling lithography system. Here, the UV light is wrapped within a soft rolled-up mask. The rolling nanolithography is used to create sub-micron exposures on a photoresist coated metal substrate. The photoresist is then etched, creating extremely high-resolution metal mesh. The schematic at bottom left shows the idea of a rolling UV nanolithography by Meta (Metamaterials) Inc. The images on top left shows ultra fine feature metal mesh. The benchmarking chart shows that this process can create ultra transparent and highly conductive films. Currently the web width is 300mm but could be scaled to 1-1.2m. Fully printed R2R low-cost displays Printing plays a role also in simple (i.e., segmented) low-cost high-volume displays with applications in smart packaging and beyond. One example is in R2R printed electrochromic displays. A leading player here is Ynvisible. The image set on the left below shows snapshots of full R2R line (printer and converting). This level of automated R2R production is a real progress in the field. The images on the right images show some application examples. There are numerous applications in smart packaging, IoT sensors, low-cost ubiquitous indicators, etc. We have leveraged our 15 years of insights into the field of displays and lighting to handpick a fantastic line-up of speakers. At TechBlick’s next LIVE (online) event you will hear about all the key innovation trends from the most innovative companies. With a single Annual Pass, one can participate in this event and all LIVE (online) future events at TechBlick for 12 months. Furthermore, one can access TechBlick’s growing library of on-demand talks from its past events. The events are very interactive. Don’t take our word for it and read the testimonials here! The speaker line-up includes Dolby, Volvo, Google, Microsoft, GE Research, IBM, Parc (Xerox), Lamar Advertising, Nanosys, VueReal, PlayNitride, Royole, Applied Materials, Universal Display Corp, Morphotonics, Avantama, Enjet, Optomec, Kent Display, DSCC, Yole, Fraunhofer IAP, Nanosys, Schott, Ten Flecs, Metamaterials, iBeam Materials Heilo, imec, C3Nano, Pixelligent, TNO/Holst, XTPL, Scrona, Inuru, OTI Lumionics, QustomDot, Quantum Solutions, etc

TechBlick Highlights We are publishing a series of two articles this week, highlighting the depth and breadth of innovation in the display industry. This article includes more than 40 individual images and charts showcasing various innovations in microLED, microOLEDs, quantum dots, printed displays, phosphors, TFTs, AI in displays, reflective displays, nanoimprinting, AR/VR and beyond. You can see the table of content for this article below. In this article: Betting on the right display technology for the future Behind-display imaging and AI to shape the future of video conferencing Laser-induced forward transfer & photonic soldering for large-area microLED displays Cartridge-based printing in microLED transfer Xerographic-based digitally-controlled micro-assembly for microLED & microchip transfer Tape-on-reel approach to scaling microLED displays Enabling GaN LED epitaxial growth on large-area substrates (vs wafers) Towards Mask-Free RGB high-PPI directly-patterned microOLEDs High PPI directly patterned (via mask) microOLED Printing in tiling and transfer/placement of mini- and micro-LEDs Ultra-precision printing in display repairs Creating 130% stretchable microLED displays for healthcare Setting benchmarks for evaluating the reliability of flexible/rollable displays Ultrathin glass with <2µm bending radius All the innovations highlighted in these articles are from companies presenting or exhibiting at our upcoming LIVE (online event) on Innovations & Market Trends in Displays. This event will take place in nearly two weeks, on 14-16 July 2021. Add the event dates to your Calendar: Google Calendar | Microsoft Outlook Calendar | Office 365 Calendar | Yahoo Calendar With a single Annual Pass, you can participate in all our LIVE events online, truly mingle and network with the community online, and participate in our masterclasses. See how our networking and virtual mingling work here With the Annual Pass, you can also access an ever-growing Netflix-like library of up-to-date presentations on emerging technologies (currently 160 presentations). You can see the full agenda here. You can buy your annual pass for just 450 Euros per year using the 10% discount code 10%DiscountAA until 7 June 2021. Speakers Include And many more... Betting on the right display technology for the future After the demise of plasma, LCD has been dominating the TV market for more than a decade. OLED was once thought to be a sure winner for the next generation of large display technologies. After all, it delivers infinite contrast, perfect blacks, vibrant colors and proponents have long been promised that cost will ultimately match or even beat that of LCD. But OLED have failed to deliver on that latter promise. In the meantime, LCD cost keeps coming down while performance and size trend up: Quantum Dots are already widespread in high end LCD TVs and now propagating into mid-range models. MiniLED backlights are used by most TV makers in their 2021 flagship models. New technologies are emerging. The first QD-OLED panels should be available later in 2021. In the longer term, microLED, nanorod LEDs, and QLEDs are all promising alternatives for TV applications. But OLED are not standing still. Better materials such as TADF or phosphorescent blue could improve performance in term of brightness and color, Inkjet Printing could finally help deliver on the cost promise. This profusion of new technologies is exciting for the consumer. For display makers it represents both an opportunity and a strategic headache: developing advanced display technology and setting the fabs cost billions of dollars. How can they ensure that they’re betting on the right technology? At TechBlick, Yole will present its view of the technology trends in the display industry particularly in the mid or large sized segmentt. The schematic below is a snapshot of these trends. In the OLED field, we have gone from bottom to top emission white OLED. We are now transitioning towards QD-OLED. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass Behind-display imaging and AI to shape future of video conferencing These days we spend our days in front of computers, engaged in video call after video call. Often, the camera is not well positioned, giving an awkward and unnatural feel to the conversation. In fact, a common complaint is that conversation do not feel natural and one misses body language clues. This will change in time. A major trend is to image through the screen (vs. camera on the top edge). This will give a much better and natural view. The challenge, of course, is that transmission through the display is low. For LCDs, the open aspect ratio is around 53%. Furthermore, at IR, the transmission is much higher than visible. Indeed, many suppliers are development display sheets that are IR transparent now. This will allow one to place a LED laser source and an IR-sensitive camera behind the screen. The advances in machine vision will play an incredibly important role in displays. Neutral networks are being developed to offer face recognitions and later gaze, blur, scale and position correction to make the conversation as natural as possible. This is an extremely hot trend in the field of displays, both in terms of algorithm development and development displays that are IR transparent. Every player in the field is involved. At TechBlick, you will hear from one of the leading research teams in the field, Microsoft, developing the cutting-edge in the area. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Laser-induced forward transfer and photonic soldering for large-area microLED displays Holst is at the forefront of innovation in printed, flexible, and large-area electronics. They often set the tempo and direction of research. In this case, they have been working on many technologies which, when brought together, can enable large-area rapid microLED assembly. The R2R photonic soldering on flexible substrate is an excellent method that can accelerate soldering (attachment) of microLEDs onto the substrate. When optimised, it can take place on the scale of milli seconds (compared it with timescales of classic reflow for solder or heat curing for ECAs). LIFT or Laser Induced Forward Transfer offers a way to transfer the microLEDs onto the substrate at speed. Here, pulses from an ultraviolet (excimer) laser enter through the backside of the carrier, which is transparent. The laser light is absorbed in the thin layer of adhesive which has been holding the µLEDs to the temporary carrier and vaporizes it. This physically blows the µLEDs off and pushes them onto the final display panel, which is placed in close contact. Adhesive on the final glass panel holds the µLEDs in place. This method allows LEDs made on sapphire to be transferred economically over large areas at high speed. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass Cartridge-based printing in microLED transfer One of the main challenges in microLED fabrication is a high-yield (>>99.999%) and high-throughput transfer process. Many approaches have been developed. Some interesting techniques involve some form of printing (stamp transfer, R2R, etc). Here, I only highlight two interesting approaches. The first is from VueReal who is developing a cartridge-based approach. The process is shown below. Here, the donor substrate containing the microchips is brought into contact with the receiver substrate. The two substrates are then aligned before the transfer takes place. There is a need to apply some force mechanism to overcome the force keeping the microchips attached to the donor substrates. This force is likely to be a combination of thermal and mechanical. VueReal partners have access to end-to-end production ready tools, high yield verified microLED and cartridge process (99.999%), and a commercially available microprinter tool for 30x40 cm2 substrate using VueReal technology. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Xerographic-based digitally-controlled micro assembly for microLED and microchip transfer Another interesting, earlier stage, development is by Parc, a Xerox company. The idea is based upon xerographic printing. Here, microchips such as micro GaN LEDs are suspended in a solution. They are then cast onto an active-matrix substrate controlling a 2D array of electrodes which generate electrostatic force to spatially move the individual chips under the gaze of a camera. The 2021 demonstrator is still small size (2.5 x 2.5 cm) on 50um LEDs with no yield data. The assembly process is achieved using a projector addressing a photoswitch array. The assembly process, from mass disordered deposition from liquid to final alignment, is shown below. Currently it is too slow, but an order of magnitude improvement can make it competitive. The process has interesting development potential as it does not require any special microchip structure. The alignment and positioning is also software controlled, thus allowing arbitrary and complex shapes. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass Tape-on-reel approach to scaling microLED displays There are many incredible innovations in the microLED field. Another one that we wish to highlight is in creating a method to assemble large-area microLED displays from tape-on-reel approach. This is shown below. Here, the microLEDs are first transferred into a larger panel and are then cut into smaller tiles. The tiles undergo an inspection step and the black filling material is added to enhance contrast. The titles are then added onto a reel, creating a tape-on-reel approach enabling the construction of large microLED displays using a SMT-like process! This is a very interesting innovation in the field by PlayNitride. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass Enabling GaN LED epitaxial growth on large-area substrates (vs. wafers) Epitaxy is today carried out on rigid single-crystal wafers to make GaN LEDs. This yields high-quality low-defect LED wafers but over limited areas. But what if LEDs could be grown on large-area substrates such as glass or metal foils? iBeam Materials is developing a new technology for large-area LED epitaxy. By using a thin metal foil substrate iBeam can make the single-crystal templates for LEDs in a roll-to-roll (R2R) process. The key to the process is an ion-beam crystal aligned layer that sits between the metal foil and the epitaxial layer of GaN. This allows for making epitaxial GaN sheets in very large areas and potentially at very low cost, enabling large-area monolithic integration of optical and transistor devices. This technology is very interesting, albeit still at a low-tech readiness level. It has a tiny, almost negligible, fraction of the accumulated experience that wafer-based LED industry has. It is in fact yet to fully assess QY, lifetime, economics and other important factors of GaN LED growth on large-area substrate. Nonetheless, it is a promising approach. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Towards Mask-Free RGB high-PPI directly-patterned microOLEDs The need for bright high-PPI microdisplays is clear, particularly in AR/VR glasses. MicroOLED are a mature technology option, especially when it comes to the white OLED plus color filter technology. The table below benchmarks various options. The white OLED/color filter approach has high PPI but limited brightness (color filters waste 1/3 of power). The direct RGB OLED can have higher brightness but currently the PPI is now as high. Imec is developing an interesting RGB OLED technology based on direct photolithography of OLED. In previous years, it had demonstrated single color displays. It is now outlining a route towards RGB high-PPI displays. As driver circuit, Imec is using BEOL technology to realize IGZO TFTs allowing 3.6µm RGB-ready pixels, corresponding to 7055ppi. In parallel, it is developing a special fabrication line and a single process flow to develop photolith-patterned RGB microOLEDs. The proposed process is shown below. This is still a work in progress as many challenges are to be overcome, particularly around degradation minimization during etching, plasma exposure, chamber exchange, thermal and UV steps, etc. Nonetheless, Imec will show results at TechBlick showing no observable degradation in the OLED lifetime with and without patterning (T95@1000 nits >200h). To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. High PPI directly patterned (via mask) microOLED eMagin is the technology leader in high-PPI high-brightness RGB microOLED. Over the years they have been making excellent progress. They have gone from 20k cd/sqm in 2011 to some 7000 cd/sqm in 2021 with the short-term target and mid-term (2023) targets being 10000 cd/sqm and 28000 Cd/sqm, respectively. In terms of resolution, they have progressed from VGA (640x480) to now 2kx2k (2049x2048). Note that 7k Cd/sqm was for RGB WUXGA resolution. This product has well established military and aviation customers. The technology is based on evaporated RGB OLED via a very fine mask. The mask is created by etching through a PECVD SiNx coated silicon substrate. As such, the fine RGB patterns are achieved via direct patterning and evaporation (no photolithography). This is a relatively mature technology with an established customer base in military and aviation but with a still significant room for improvement. The products are currently all US based (see clean room below). To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Printing in tiling and transfer/placement of mini- and micro-LEDs Aerosol Jet technology enables panel front to backside connections without glass vias or vacuum processes. Aerosol jet can print high resolutions, down to 10 μm, and at a high aspect ratio, as high as 5mm from the substrate regardless of topology. It can print 36,000 and 18,000 interconnects per hour in the to-edge and full-wrap cases, respectively (both 0.5mm long). At TechBlick, you will hear about a demonstration of high-speed, high-density printing of connections from the front side of a panel to the backside along with examples of repair of existing metallization created by other methods. Screen printing can also be used in micro-LED displays. It can be used in via filling or in depositing the bonding material for the mini- or micro-LEDs, e.g., ECAs or solder paste. Furthermore, screen printing can be used to print the connection lines between the mini- or micro-LEDs and the outside circuit. Finally, screen printing can also print the wrap-around electrodes. In this case, the substrate will be precisely rotated as the printing takes place. This approach too will eliminate the need for vacuum processes. This diversity of applications means that screen printing can have its place, for example, in via filling, even when vacuum PVD processes are utilized. The image below is from Applied Materials showing that edge electrodes with L/S of 30µm/50µm can be printed (the actual shown example is with L/S of 40µm/60µm). To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Ultra-precision printing in display repairs Electrohydrodynamic jet (EHJ) printing brings the resolution of digital functional printing to the 0.1-1 µm range, as shown below. In many cases, the EHJ printers are single nozzle, limiting their industrial applications as throughout remains constrained. Scrona is developing a system with 12 print heads. The image below (left) shows printing of quadratic patches using Scrona’s printhead. Those patches of material are printed with silver inks, but can also be printed with other inks, e.g., quantum dot inks. One interesting application can be in deposition of colour conversion filters on microLEDs. What is important to note in the image below is that one can see 12 identical regions which were printed by 12 nozzles on Scrona’s printhead. The multiple nozzles essentially replicate the output and increase throughput, laying the foundation of an industry high-throughput ultra-precision system. XTPL is also developing ultra-precision digital printer able to print very fine features on flat and non-flat surfaces using their special micro-dispensing machines and highly viscous Ag nanoparticle ink system. There can be interesting applications in the display industry too. In the image below (right, bottom), you can see that this print head is applied to print Ag nanoparticle based micro bumps. In another example (right, top), the system is being applied to repair open defects in an OLED displays To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Creating 130% stretchable microLED displays for healthcare There has often been talk and tech demonstrators of stretchable displays, mainly focusing on OLEDs. However, Royole, the first to commercially launch a fully flexible display worldwide, has demonstrated a stretchable microLED display. The advantage here is that microLEDs can have smaller aperture sizes and do not require encapsulation like OLEDs. To achieve stretchability, the classic island-plus-wavy interconnect approach is utilized. Here, a small aperture translates into a smaller rigid islands, improving stretchability. The production process flow is shown here. The device is manufactured on a flexible substrate put on a temporary glass substrate. The micrLEDs are transferred and bonded using microLED assembly methods such as pick-and-place, printing, etc. The entire circuit is then delaminated off the temporary glass and encapsulated by an elastomeric material like silicone, TPE, or rubber. Royole demonstrated a 2.7 inch stretchable and transparent display containing 90x150µm LEDs in a 0.6mm pixel pitch (42 PPI), showing stretchability up to 130%. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Setting benchmarks for evaluating reliability of flexible/rollable displays The chart below shows the trend towards large displays. At the same time, it also shows the transitions in mobile phone display technology: LCD to Glass OLED to Plastic OLED and now to foldable/rollable displays. Reliability of these foldable/flexible displays is still not as mature as conventional (rigid) devices. For example, as shown here, when incorporating thin cover window film/glass for curved and foldable devices, new failure modes (crease, delamination, buckling, scratches, low energy impact, …) will become important. New reliability tests will need to be defined to correctly assess the performance of these devices. At TechBlick’s upcoming conference, Google will be outlining the latest test methodologies for mechanical, environmental and surface durability assessment of foldable displays Ultrathin glass with <2µm bending radius Flexible and foldable glass already has a long history of development. I recall the first time I saw the Corning flexible display when I was still at student some 12-13 years ago. The technology has come a long way since. In particular, various approaches have been developed to improve bending and hinder crack formation and propagation. Schott is one of the leaders in the field with a track record of success in commercialising its flexible glass as a cover glass in mobile phones. At TechBlick, Schott will present its latest progress. As shown below, Schott can now achieve <2mm bending radius. Part II: The Depth & Breath Of Innovation In The Display Industry Printed OTFTs: Finally coming of age? Improving QY and Lifetime of InP QDs ZnTeSe chemistry: solution for true blue in QLED? QLED EQE and Lifetime Race: Latest Progress KSF vs InP for microLEDs: Latest Progress Qualified green perovskite QD + red KSF phosphor film Towards stable red perovskite QDs PVD and inkjet printable TADF OLED materials with high PLQY Towards Gen5 R2P nanoimprinting for AR displays Rolling Nanolithography in Displays Printable ultra-high refractive index materials for AR/MR and OLED displays Visual Interface of IoT: fully printed R2R low-cost displays Cholesteric liquid crystal: a commercial success story in R2R-made writing surfaces Out of Home Displays: Requirements and Technologies Reflective outdoor displays that run on solar forever? How does speed networking work online? A detailed overview of the platform including LIVE exhibitions How Does a Virtual Booth Work? How Does Real-Time Networking Work?

TechBlick Highlights We are publishing a series of two articles this week, highlighting the depth and breadth of innovation in the display industry. This article includes more than 40 individual images and charts showcasing various innovations in microLED, microOLEDs, quantum dots, printed displays, phosphors, TFTs, AI in displays, reflective displays, nanoimprinting, AR/VR and beyond. You can see the table of content for this article below. In this article: Printed OTFTs: Finally coming of age? Improving QY and Lifetime of InP QDs ZnTeSe chemistry: solution for true blue in QLED? QLED EQE and Lifetime Race: Latest Progress KSF vs InP for microLEDs: Latest Progress Qualified green perovskite QD + red KSF phosphor film Towards stable red perovskite QDs PVD and inkjet printable TADF OLED materials with high PLQY Towards Gen5 R2P nanoimprinting for AR displays Rolling Nanolithography in Displays Printable ultra-high refractive index materials for AR/MR and OLED displays Visual Interface of IoT: fully printed R2R low-cost displays Cholesteric liquid crystal: a commercial success story in R2R-made writing surfaces Out of Home Displays: Requirements and Technologies Reflective outdoor displays that run on solar forever? All the innovations highlighted in these articles are from companies presenting or exhibiting at our upcoming LIVE (online event) on Innovations & Market Trends in Displays. This event will take place in nearly two weeks, on 14-16 July 2021. Add the event dates to your Calendar: Google Calendar | Microsoft Outlook Calendar | Office 365 Calendar | Yahoo Calendar With a single Annual Pass, you can participate in all our LIVE events online, truly mingle and network with the community online, and participate in our masterclasses. See how our networking and virtual mingling work here. With the Annual Pass, you can also access an ever-growing Netflix-like library of up-to-date presentations on emerging technologies (currently 160 presentations). You can see the full agenda here. You can buy your annual pass for just 450 Euros per year using the 10% discount code 10%DiscountAA until 7 June 2021. Speakers Include And many more... Printed OTFTs: Finally coming of age? OTFTs have been around for years. They were all the rage for years, but in recent years the interest has waned. OTFT technology suffered from low mobility (not enough above a-Si), instability (e.g., threshold voltage shift), and a lack of an application focus where it made sense. As IGZO and other amorphous metal oxide TFTs rose to prominence, attention moved away from OTFTs. Many big material developers stopped their research and offloaded their IP. However, there are still very interesting works. In fact, we would like to highlight Smartkem. The basic core of the technology is a combination of high mobility small molecules and low molecular weight polymers, with solvents that allow the material to be applied as ink. They are reporting 2cm2/Vs which is already above amorphous silicon. They can be deposited at low temperature (80C) on a wide range of substrates and can achieve very high levels of bendability (e.g., 5mm). As shown in the data below, the OTFTs can have ultra-low off current, comparable with IGZO. The stability has also improved. There is renewed interest because Smartkem has shown that it can drive miniLED active matric backplanes which would enable dynamic local dimming, enhancing the competitive position of LCDs vs high-contract OLEDs. Smartkem has shown that it can drive backlights with brightness levels up to 85,000 cd/sqm using a 2T1C TFT arrangement. This is interesting because amorphous silicon will struggle to supply enough current, LTPS can not be scaled to large areas, and IGZO is generally not easy to implement given the compositional/elemental uniformity requirements and can thus add to cost. Smartkem is also taking steps to remove non-material related barriers against adoption too. It is implementing EDA tools to allow design of devices. It is setting up a foundry ecosystem. The process is compatible with amorphous silicon lines and the deposition of the organic material can be with slot die or spin coating. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Improving QY and Lifetime of InP QDs According to RoHS rules, less than 0.01% of the substance by weight at raw homogeneous material level should be Cd. Since the active layer in QLED is homogeneous, then a non-Cd containing solution is required. InP QDs have been making excellent progress over the years. This chart, by Nanosys, showcases the progress in quantum yield (QY) over the years. In 2021, Nanosys reported a quasi-cubic InP/ZnSeS QD structure. The green InP QDs also show narrow FWHM (34nm) with a high QY (>95%). The quasi-cubic structure, it is argued, exposed only a Zn or S terminated facet, thus requiring only one type of passivation ligand. In spherical particles, multiple facets are exposed, ideally requiring multiple ligands. As such, it is argued, that quasi-cubic versions can have a lifetime x10 times higher. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. ZnTeSe chemistry: solution for true blue in QLED? A challenge in blue QLED material selection is that InP QDs are suited to >500nm while common ZnSe QDs for <440nm. The ideal wavelength range is 440-460nm. As such, there is a gap for a Cd-free RoHS-complaint material. An interesting material option is ZnTeSe. Here, as shown below, small amounts of Te doping can modulate the optical bandgap. As such, it is possible to synthesis narrow-band emitters with true blue emission wavelengths as shown below. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. QLED EQE and Lifetime Race: Latest Progress Two important benchmarks are closely watched in the development of QLED: EQE and T50@100 nits lifetime. These parameters are not by any means sufficient in assessing technology readiness, but they do provide a useful indication of trends and direction of travel. The charts below, updated by Nanosys, show that Cd-free QDs of all three colors (R,G,B) are making fast progress. Cd QDs are still in the lead on both fronts though. In particular, blue lifetime of Cd-free, even at a low 100 nits, is lagging behind by an order of magnitude. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. KSF vs InP for microLEDs: Latest Progress The battle between red KSF phosphor and red QDs has been intense for some years. QDs have received much attention. However, red KSF has been steadily, and quietly, gaining commercial success in LCDs because it is narrowband and can be added directly to the LED given its high level of thermal and light flux stability. The chart below compares the market update of red KSF vs QDs in displays. The battle between the two technology is moving to other fronts. A narrow band green phosphor is emerging which improves the FWHM of current phosphors, but may not be as good as many QDs. An emerging market is color converters for microLEDs. Conventional KSF phosphors are too large for microLEDs. However, as GE Research will show at TechBlick, the size of the phosphors is shrinking, potentially making them microLED compatible. GE Research believes that the advantage of phosphors will become apparent when thick layers are required. This is shown below. This is mainly because QD’s suffer from self-absorption, and EQE will decline for thick layers. Thick layers may be needed for high light output to absorb sufficient blue. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Qualified green perovskite QD + red KSF phosphor film Avantama discloses its latest work on the development of a film which contains both their shell-less ultra-narrowband green perovskites and GE’s red KSF phosphors. They have managed to mix these two different materials, with different brightness decay constants, into a film. In essence, they marry the best of QDs and phosphors, achieving >90% rec2020 and >99% DCI-P3 with high brightness (see chart below for performance positioning). They are the first to achieve display qualification. The chart below also shows soe stability data under heat, light, and heat-light stress conditions. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Towards stable red perovskite QDs Heilo Materials is developing perovskite materials. Uniquely, it is also developing red perovskites which have proved elusive due to its high instability. The chart here shows the key proposition of red perovskites. It has a FWHM of 31nm, comparable to other technologies. However, the unique is that it continues to emit at red (631m) even when the particle size is large. In other words, unlike traditional QDs, its production will not require a tight control of the size distribution (note: red InP would generally need to be around 5nm with a tight size distribution). Heilo Materials also discloses some stability data for the red QDs. These are impressive results but not yet close to the display qualification level. As shown below, the PL shows little change as a function of time and temperature exposure. This excellent progress although it should be said that the red narrow emitter field is technologically somewhat crowded. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. PVD and inkjet printable TADF OLED materials with high PLQY TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) is a potential next-gen material technology for OLEDs. It offers high efficiency as it can harvest both triplet and singlet states. A major challenge that TADF seeks to resolve is a stable and high EQE blue emitters (phosphorescent OLEDs have excellent EQE but a stable blue has proved elusive). Furthermore, TADF also seeks to offer lower cost alternatives to red and green phosphorescent OLEDs which can also be inkjet printed. An interesting capital-efficient Polish start-up, Noctiluca, is reporting interesting results for its blue TADF materials. In the below slide you can see a benchmarking (done by Noctiluca itself) showing how the PLQY of its evaporated and inkjet printed blue TADF materials compare with other commercially available materials. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Towards Gen5 R2P nanoimprinting for AR displays There are many other uses of printing or R2R/R2P in the display industry. Another use case is in R2P (roll-to-plate) nanoimprinting for creating in- and out-coupling features for AV/VR glasses. Such in- or out-couplings can be made on 300mm wafers, but the throughput is low. With R2P nanoimprinting the throughput may be substantially extended. An interesting approach is by Morphotonics. Here, they tile together their nanoimprint stamps to create a Gen 5 R2P nanoimprinting line able to achieve sub-micron features and 480 eyepieces per imprint cycle. The R2P nanoimprint process requires solvent-free resins with high refractive index. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Rolling Nanolithography in Displays Nanoimprinting can have many uses cases in displays also beyond AR/VR. One example is in development of highly transparent and high conducting metal mesh transparent conductive films. One example is from Meta (Metamaterials) Inc. They have a rolling lithography system. Here, the UV light is wrapped within a soft rolled-up mask. The rolling nanolithography is used to create sub-micron exposures on a photoresist coated metal substrate. The photoresist is then etched, creating extremely high-resolution metal mesh. The benchmarking chart shows that this process can create ultra transparent and highly conductive films. Currently the web width is 300mm but could be scaled to 1-1.2m. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Printable ultra-high refractive index materials for AR/MR and OLED displays High refractive index materials are often needed in displays. In near-eye AR/MR displays they are needed in optical waveguides. In OLED displays or lights, they can improve outcoupling efficiency. They can also be use in 3D printed optics. At TechBlick’s upcoming conference, you will hear from Pixelligent who has developed a range of high to ultra-high refractive index, UV curable resins for nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and inkjet applications. The common material sets, as shown here, are titania (TiO2) or zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles which can be capped with different ligands for compatibility with various solvents. The tables in the image also show their announced roadmap which will be discussed. There is a way to approach >2.0 refractive index using their titania nanoparticle chemistry. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Cholesteric liquid crystal: a commercial success story in R2R-made writing surfaces Writing tablets use a Cholesteric Liquid Crystal (ChLC) fluid confined in a polymeric network that modulates the ChLC flow caused by the volume change due to the pressure applied during the writing process. The device is initially in a Focal Conic (FC) texture that allows light to go through to be absorbed and/or reflected by the background. Flow disrupts the FC texture reorienting the ChLC to a Planar (P) texture that reflects some of the ambient light in a Bragg selected wavelength. Power is used only during the erase process thanks to the bistable properties of ChLC. Engineering the morphological and mechanical properties of the polymer network enables Kent Displays to create countless applications from handheld devices to large area boards under the Boogie Board brand. The technology is thin, flexible, and low power. It is made R2R. The surface will be written on when pressure is applied to it using any tool tip, even a fingernail. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Visual Interface of IoT: fully printed R2R low-cost displays. Printing plays a role also in simple (i.e., segmented) low-cost high-volume displays with applications in smart packaging and beyond. One example is in R2R printed electrochromic displays. A leading player here is Ynvisible. The image set on the left below shows snapshots of full R2R line (printer and converting). This level of automated R2R production is a real progress in the field. The images on the right images show some application examples. There are numerous applications in smart packaging, IoT sensors, lowcost ubiquitous indicators, etc. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass. Out of Home Displays: Requirements and Technologies Out of Home (OOH) Advertising is a very old business that dates back to the time of the Egyptians. Pharaohs used obelisks to communicate and promote services to the public. In more recent times, OOH has evolved from the posting of Vaudeville ads on fences to crisp LED digital displays along streets and highways. The last 15 years have brought a surge in LED digital displays that allow for quick, dynamic content. An example, by Lamar Advertising, is shown below on the left. This is an area with high potential for innovation. At TechBlick, you will hear from one of the main end users, Lamar Advertising, on how innovations with improved LED displays and reflective display technology along with solar and battery systems can shape the future of advertising displays. Reflective outdoor displays that run on solar forever? Reflective displays created e-readers and more. However, one reflective display technology is based on electrowetting display (EWD) technology. This technology has a long history of development but did not achieve the success that electrophoretic achieved. EWD is now focusing on the outdoor signage market segment. This is because it has potential a strong value proposition. The low power nature means that it can be powered endless on solar energy, saving installation, energy, and crucially maintenance costs. This will also mean that no digging will be required for installing power lines, batteries, etc. At TechBlick, Etulipa, the technology leader in EWD based in Eindhoven, will be present the latest technology and application progress in this field. To learn more join TechBlick’s upcoming LIVE(online) interactive conference on Displays & Lighting: Innovations & Market Trends (14-16 July 2021) with an Annual Pass Part I: The Depth & Breath Of Innovation In The Display Industry Betting on the right display technology for the future Behind-display imaging and AI to shape the future of video conferencing Laser-induced forward transfer & photonic soldering for large-area microLED displays Cartridge-based printing in microLED transfer Xerographic-based digitally-controlled micro-assembly for microLED & microchip transfer Tape-on-reel approach to scaling microLED displays Enabling GaN LED epitaxial growth on large-area substrates (vs wafers) Towards Mask-Free RGB high-PPI directly-patterned microOLEDs High PPI directly patterned (via mask) microOLED Printing in tiling and transfer/placement of mini- and micro-LEDs Ultra-precision printing in display repairs Creating 130% stretchable microLED displays for healthcare Setting benchmarks for evaluating the reliability of flexible/rollable displays Ultrathin glass with <2µm bending radius A detailed overview of the platform including LIVE exhibitions How Does a Virtual Booth Work? How Does Real-Time Networking Work? How does speed networking work online?

By The Industry For The Industry TechBlick is launching a series of on-demand masterclasses on emerging technologies. These masterclasses are by industry experts for the industry. The lecturers are handpicked experts in their domain, bringing years of real-world experience in production, application development, and product development. These classes blend theory with practice, covering not only the basics of the field but also offering practical advice, real-world demonstrations, and application insights. They are truly unique learning opportunities not found elsewhere. With an Annual Pass, for 12 months, you can join all our upcoming LIVE(online) conferences, watch all past conferences on-demand, and enjoy our ever-expanding portfolio of on-demand masterclasses. This is a tremendous opportunity for year-around learning, training, and networking. The masterclasses series cover a diverse set of topics. The current topics include Graphene and 2D Materials, Quantum Dots, Perovskite Photovoltaics, Conductive Inks and Pastes. Solid-State Lighting, MicroLEDs, Color Reflective Displays, QLEDs, R2R Printing, 3D Printed Electronics, Electronic Skin Patches, Electronic Textiles, Organic Semiconductor Materials, Aerosol Printing, Electrohydrodynamic Printing, Screen Printing, and many more. These classes are by the industry and for the industry. The presenters are from ST Micro, Kodak, Applied Materials, Asada Mesh, InnovationLab GmbH, DuPont Teijin Films, ACI Materials, Yole, Smartkem, Liquid Light, Arkema (Piezotech), META and many more. Masterclass Schedule In addition to the masterclasses, you can join all our LIVE online conferences for 12 months and watch all the content from our past events on-demand. You can explore our past talks here or below.

In the first part of this article series, TechBlick highlights promising innovation and market trends in Printed, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics. All trends highlighted in this article will be discussed by the key players in the field in TechBlick's upcoming interactive online conference and exhibition taking place on 10-11 March 2021 and covering Printed, Flexible, Hybrid and InMold Electronics. The compelling speaker line-up includes leading global organizations such as JCDecaux, GE Research, Fiat, Jones Healthcare, Geely Design, SWAROVSKI, Jabil, Eastman Kodak, Coatema, Suunto, Evonik, Heraeus, Fujikura Kasei, Information Mediary Corp, Copprint, ChemCubed, Voltera, Nano Dimension, Optomec, TactoTek, Arburg, Covestro, InnovationLab, PolyPhotonix, LPKF, Lightworks, NRCC, and many more (for further information and a full agenda visit http://www.TechBlick.com). TechBlick organizes LIVE online conferences at approximately 4-week intervals. Each conference will consist of approx 40 speakers organized as two LIVE sessions. With a single Annual Pass you can access past and future events as well as masterclasses. Upcoming events include: 10 & 11 March: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (I) 14 & 15 April: Graphene, 2D Materials, and Carbon Nanotubes 11 & 12 May: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (II) 11 & 12 May: Quantum Dots: Material Innovation and Emerging Applications 15 & 16 June: Innovations and Trends in Displays and Lighting: OLEDs, Flexible, Printed, microLED, and beyond 14 & 15 July: Skin Patches, Wearables, E-Textiles, and Stretchable Electronic Electronic Packaging and Printed Electronics The semiconductor and the electronic packaging industries are booming. The image below showcases some use cases of printed electronics in electronic packaging. The most common use has been in vias, especially thermal vias, filled with conductive, i.e., mainly Cu, pastes. Another growing use case is the adoption of sintered metal die attach materials (e.g., Ag or Cu), especially in high power applications such as SiC power electronics or GaN power amplifiers in 5G. There is a worldwide push nowadays to replace PVD (sputtering) with spray or inkjetted conformal EMI coatings. These paste-based PVD-alternatives show much higher throughput per hour and a much lower upfront capital cost. Today, the inks have improved adhesion, lower thickness to reduce cost and show laser markings, better top-to-side coating uniformity, etc. Aerosol is also targeting electronic packaging. It can replace long wire bonds with shorter interconnects, driving down parasitic inductive and thus boosting performance at high RF frequencies. Last but not the least, printing is being used to prototype redistribution layers (RDL). If and when coupled with emerging ultrahigh resolution printing techniques, this can become an excellent RDL-prototyping tool, potentially event meeting the pitch and linewidth requirements. Semi-additive processes are also playing a part. Laser direct structuring (LDS) can enable selective metallization atop epoxy mold compounds, enabling antenna-on-package for mmWave packages as well as area-selective package-level EMI shielding. TechBlick's interactive online conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021 covers these trends in detail. Here, the invited speakers cover all these trends and include Fujikura Kasei, Heraeus, LPKF, Nano Dimension, Optomec, Kuprion, and others. Examples of conformal coating in the electronic industry including on-case antennas, wire bond replacement, and package-level EMI shielding. Source: www.TechBlick.com InMold Electronics: Major success not far off InMold Electronics has a compelling value proposition: combining two high throughput processes to structurally integrate electronics into 3D parts. This process has been in development for over a decade. The learning curve in terms of material, process, and application development has been steep. Nonetheless, applications have already appeared on the market and adoption in interior and exterior of automotive is not far off. The material set is arguably ready. Many offer an IME-compatible portfolio of pastes including conductive inks, dielectrics and overpasses, graphic inks, conductive adhesives, and so on. Polycarbonate is the incumbent material of choice, but PET is also receiving good attention when lower costs and low formability are required. Process development has also come a long way. The yields have now improved and the prototype-to-volume production know-how now exists. In our virtual interactive conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021 you will hear LIVE from all the key players including end users from the automotive and consumer electronic sectors (FIAT, Geely, Suunto), process developers and mass producers (TactoTek and Arburg), substrate and lighting developers (Covestro, Lightworks), and IME-compatible transparent heater and touch sensor providers (Canatu). Examples of IME products and prototypes. Source: www.TechBlick.com PCB printing and 3D printed electronics PCB printing and 3D printing are both hot topics. TechBlick highlights this trend by giving multiple examples. Voltera has designed a desktop-sized all-in-one solution. Here, the digitally-control printer lays down the solderable conductive traces to metallize the board. The system will map the location of solder pads and dispense the solder. The SMDs are then mounted before the tool reflows the solder. Nano Dimension offers a turnkey solution. It digitally prints Ag nanoparticles as well as dielectric photopolymers. By alternating between these two layers, it can build multi-layer circuits or PBCs on non-flat substrates. It is increasingly positioned as a platform technology that can be used in rapid prototyping and low-volume production of PCBs, electronic circuits, and beyond. Nano Dimension raised more than $650m in Q4 2020. This will give the company the war chest needed to develop or acquire technologies that will sustain its technology roadmap and in particular increase the throughput and improve the cost position of its 3D PCB printers. ChemCubed is a U.S. based manufacturer of materials and printing solutions for 3D printing / Additive Manufacturing. Their turnkey Electrojet 3D printer can digitally print Ag inks and UV curable dielectronic and do inline heat and UV curing. Their machine offers 1440 dpi resolution with an 8-channel inkjet, enabling simultaneous multi-material, multi-layer printing of electronic circuits and components. Neotech AMT GmbH is a leading player developing 3D printed electronic machines. They have developed a 5-axis motion control system enabling complex 3D printing. Their equipment portfolio covers the full range from rapid prototyping to high volume production. All these firms will be presenting at TechBlick's interactive online conference and exhibition on 10-11 March 2021. Other Interesting Innovation Trends Flexible Hybrid Electronics: This is an exciting frontier, combining the best of non-printed and printed electronics. Here, the trend is towards high-throughput R2R manufacturing of picked-and-placed flexible ICs into PET substrates using low-T die or IC attach materials. In our 10-11 March 2021 conference, we have invited two major developers of this technology: Jabil and GE Research. In a subsequent conference on 14-15 May 2021, we cover all aspects with speakers such as Arm, Panasonic, CEA, Alpha Assembly, CPI, CondAlign, Identiv, etc. With a single Annual Pass you can join all our conference. Copper Inks: Ag inks are expensive and sensitive to Ag prices, which can fluctuates as demonstrated recently by silver’s Reddit price surge. Copper is the natural alternative. However, the need to prevent oxidization and the usually lower conductivity of copper pastes (vs Ag) have held them back. These days, however, innovations in copper inks are overcoming these shortcomings. In particular, two companies are setting the standards: Copprint and PrintCB. The former has developed the below chart, claiming that it can offer rapid-sinter highly-conductive Cu inks. To learn more you can join our online event series starting on 10-11 March 2021 with an Annual Pass giving you access to past and future events as well as upcoming masterclasses. Smart Packaging: This was always the dream, but the realities of small margins and the complexity of adding printed functionality have hindered the development. However, the tide seems to be turning with low-cost metallization, flexible hybrid electronics, NFC, and other trends. In particular, there is success in pharmaceutical and medical packaging already. We have invited two successful end users to 10-11 March 2021 online conference to showcase their progress on printed electronics in smart packaging: Jones Healthcare Group and Information Mediary Corp. High-precision roll-to-roll printing: This is one of the most interesting trends in printed electronics. I recall when I started with printed electronics some 12 years ago, achieving 18-20um linewidth using R2R printing was considered an accomplishment. Now companies have developed <<10um processes with some even pushing the boundaries to sub-micron-meter range. A good example that combines high-resolution and high-throughput is Kodak’s R2R high-resolution flexography printing. This technique has been deployed to process copper micro-wire patterns on flexible substrates used for transparent RF devices, such as antennas and EMI shields. To learn more join our LIVE but online conference series with an Annual Pass. High volume roll-to-roll medical sensor production: R2R printed electronics has many commercial success stories. A recent example that we highlight in our 10-11 March 2021 conference is based on the work by InnovationLab GmbH together with Bausch. This collaboration has resulted in the development and commercialization of a R2R-printed sensors based on piezoresistive arrays that enables users to capture a patient’s teeth topography. Digitization of R2R printing: Digitization is affecting every aspect of life including R2R printed electronics. A good example is by Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH who is now beginning to integrate digital printing into their analog R2R machines. Importantly, Coatema is moving their equipment into Industry 4.0 era by offering inline control using sensors, camera systems and AI. Printed Polymer-Only Secondary Batteries: One innovation is by Evonik who has developed a printable polymer-only rechargeable battery that can be integrated into various production lines, offering design freedom, flexibility of use, and scalable production. This is a unique and promising approach because it is a secondary battery whose dimensions can be customized by the manufacturer itself to fit specific performance requirements of the application. Evonik will also be presenting during our 10-11 March 2021 conference, which is accessible with a single Annual Pass. Printed perovskite photovoltaics: Perovskites have been a breath of fresh air in the photovoltaics industry, registering a meteoric rise in efficiency over the past few years. Interestingly, there is now significant effort to print perovskite solar cells. One company that is spearheading the development of inkjet-printed perovskite is Saule Technologies. At our conference on 10-11 March 2021 they will describe the first commercial applications of flexible printed perovskite solar modules. Transparent Heaters: There are very few good solutions for transparent large-area heaters. In our conference we highlight two promising approaches. One approach is developed by Printable Electronics Research Centre China (PERC). They emboss trenches into a film, which then they fill a with an Ag seed layer before using plating to fill the trench. This way PERC obtains embedded ultra-narrow and ultra-conductive metal mesh, enabling low-voltage heating over very large areas. Another approach is by Canatu who can coat and 3D form their proprietary carbon nanobuds. Their solution is lower conductivity compared to that of PERC, but can be molded into a 3D-shaped part, and is thus most suited for ADAS and Autonomous Driving perception sensors. Examples of approaches towards transparent heaters. Source: www.TechBlick.com OLED light therapy: OLED lighting has experienced many challenges on its way towards commercialization. One success story however is in OLED-enabled sleep masks, launched by PolyPhotonix, to offer non-invasive and treatment for diabetic eye disease. This solution is an option for both late and early-stage prevention. Printed Memory: Printed memory is a major missing piece in the menu of printed electronics building blocks. There have been attempts for decades to commercialize printed memory, with mixed results. However, new players are picking up the mantle. One example is Australian Advanced Materials (AAM) who is developing a transparent printed memory based on its so-called Nanocube Ink technology. R2R Transistors: printing full thin film transistors (TFTs) was always a dream. The reality however has proved difficult given the interfacial nature of TFTs and given the required layer-to-layer alignment. There, however, continues to be noteworthy progress. A good example is by the National Research Centre of Canada (NRCC). They have developed fully printed transistors based on high-purity SWCNTs combining R2R gravure and inkjet-printing capable of driving an e-paper display. This is an important advancement of the state-of-the-art.

Towards thin and flexible logic 32-bit natively flexible ARM processor Electrohydrodynamic printing (EHD): breaking the limits of inkjet Silver nanoparticle inks: low-T curing, IME-compatibility, and transparent heating applications Print-on-Paper: Towards R2R printing of multi-chip multi-layer circuits Printed hybrid Arduino-type circuits In this article series, we will highlight various innovation trends in the diverse area of printed, hybrid, in-mold, and 3D electronics. Our goal is to demonstrate progress and state-of-the-art on various fronts ranging from R2R on-paper printing to thin ICs to conductive inks to stretchable substrates to in-mold electronics and beyond. This article showcases works from S&S, Enjet, CPI, Parsons, ARM, American Semiconductor, Agfa, Nanogate, and CEA-LETI. In the subsequent articles, we will cover developments at Signify, Jabil, Jones Healthcare Packaging, Swarovski, Wuerth, Ntrium, Sunew, XTPL, Identiv, Brilliant Matters, Philips 66, Alpha Assembly, GE Research, ACI, Panasonic, Safi-Tech, DuPont Teijin, VSParticle, Meta, NovaCentrix, Applied Materials, HP, Nano Ops, Brewer Science, e2ip, PolyIC, Kundisch, FIAT, Geely, and many others. You can learn the details of all these innovations by becoming a TechBlick member. Indeed, by becoming a TechBlick Annual Pass, holder you will benefit from all-year-around learning, training, and networking on emerging technologies. You will have access, for 12 months, to participate in all our LIVE in-person virtual events, catch up with content using our library of on-demand content, and learn from industry experts using our portfolio of masterclasses. Please take advantage to explore our masterclasses and library of on-demand content. Upcoming events 13-15 October: (1) Electronic Textiles & Skin Patches: Hardware & Software (2) Wearables Sensors & Continuous Vital Signs Monitoring (3) Printed & Flexible Sensors & Actuators 1 - 2 December (1) Battery Materials: Next-Gen & Beyond Lithium Ion (2) Photovoltaics: Perovskite, Organic, Hybrid, & Other Next Generation Technologies (3) Solid-State Batteries: Innovations, Promising Start-ups, Future Roadmap Q1 2022: Frontier Material Innovations: AI in Materials, 3D Printing Materials, and 5G/6G Materials The agenda for our 13-15 Oct co-located events will be announced next week. Speakers will include Roche, Medtronics, Ypsomed, Siemens, Microsoft, Jabil, MAS Holding, Williot, Ravensburger, innoME, Trelleborg, Neurosof Bioelectronics, Nutroimcs, Henkel, DuPont, Neteera, Feetme, Binah, Sonde Health, ZSK, Eastprint, VieLight, Atcor, Quad Industries, and many more. Towards Thin & Flexible Logic Back to contents An interesting trend is the development of flexible and ultrathin silicon chips. One approach is developed by CEA-LETI focusing on thin silicon dies embedded in flex. The process flow is shown below. Here, the silicon wafer is prepared, and a sacrificial layer formed. The flexible layer is coated, the metal lines and bumping pads are prepared, the dies are flip chipped face-down and collectively thinned down. Finally, the top flex layer is added before defining and releasing the thin silicon layer embedded in a flex substrate. The image below also shows a cross-sectional image, giving a sense of the materials and the dimensions involved. The flexible material is a siloxane material (SINR) enabling photolithography, low-T curing at 80C, and deposition by vacuum lamination. A key advantage of this process is that potentially any chip, with any number of pins and even with very small pitches, can be supported. This is because the wafer-level-manufactured metallization lines essentially act as a re-distribution layer, fanning out the die pins into large areas accessible to resolutions achieved by printed electronics. We also highlight some application examples in the image below. Here, one can see an RFID tag with a printed antenna and the RFID chip embedded in flex. This was demonstrated both on a PEN and a polyurethane substrate. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by CEA-LETI. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. Another interesting approach is taken by American Semiconductor. Here, the CMOS wafer from any IDM or foundry can be thinned and packaged in a PI layer, as shown below. In simplistic terms, the top layer is covered by PI and bump or RDL (re-distribution layer), a temporary carrier is added before the underlying bulk silicon is removed (leaving around 10µm of Si for active circuits), and the backside polymer is added. Finally, the temporary carrier is removed, and the thin SoP silicon chip is mounted on a tape for further processing. The inset shows the thinness of such packaged dies compared even with classic bare dies. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by American Semiconductor. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. One limitation for this thinned die approach is the resolution incompatibility of silicon chips, i.e., their pad size and pitch, with that of printing techniques. Indeed, using the process above, most CMOS wafers can be processed and packaged, but they could not always be connected to the next level, i.e., the PCB or equivalent. To overcome this challenge, a type of fan-out RDL may be required. An approach is shown below. First, a circuit on a flexible PCB is created using printed conductors and dielectrics. Conductive materials such as ACA or ACF are added and the bumped SoP IC is face-down flip chipped into place. The top cover layer is then laminated or coated. The impact of this approach is also shown below. One starts with a 3.8x3.8 mm SoP Bluetooth IC (AS-NRF51 in this case). Next, the flexible substrate is the created. In this case, it is designed to support 100µm pitch. Finally, the SoP is flip chipped face-down and inserted into the flexible fan-out RDL, creating the final product. This is an elegant approach that enables one to bring the power of silicon ICs into flexible hybrid electronics. However, it is not without its limitations today. In general, the pad pitch in FPCBs, even with expensive Cu on PI, is limited to 25 µm /25µm, whereas many CMOS chips have pad pitches or other space features below this size. As such, there is a limited choice of compatible ICs unless either ultrahigh printing techniques improve the pad pitch resolution and/or the silicon industry offers a wide selection of compatible processes. The latter will progress slowly as this is still a small market. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by American Semiconductor. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. 32-bit Natively Flexible ARM Processor Back to contents Finally, on this theme, we would like to cover the latest results reported by Arm and PramatIC in Nature (June 2021) on their natively flexible microprocessors. This is an important progress as it reports a 32-bit ARM microprocess made on the natively flexible IGZO TFTs made on a 0.8µm node. In total, there are 39,157 TFTs and 17,183 resistors in this 59.2mm2 die. This is exciting because, unlike the other approaches reported above, it is a natively flexible IC based on TFT and not silicon wafer technology. It is claimed with good reason that the manufacturing of the IGZO TFTs, based on traditional lithography based TFT production methods, is very cost effectively compared to silicon wafer production, allowing one to bring powerful processing capability to everyday objects on the trillions scale. It is argued that the other approaches cannot have the same cost structure as they are based on standard silicon wafer technology plus additional processing/converting costs. This image panel was constructed from the Nature paper published on 22 July 2021 by Arm. Note that Arm also presented LIVE at TechBlick (May 2021). Sign up to watch this content on-demand. To learn more join our LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass. ElectroHydroDynamic Printing (EHD): Breaking the Limits of Inkjet Back to contents EHD is an important development in ultra-precision digital printing of functional material as it can break the resolution limits of conventional inkjet print heads. We will not go into the details of the operational mechanism. Instead, we simply highlight the capabilities as well as the potential applications of this technique. The image panel below, assembled from an Enjet presentation in May 2021 at TechBlick, demonstrates the range of capabilities. First note how the technique can control the drop size from small to large. Indeed, it can print features from 1 to 100 micron meters. Next, note how it can be used to print various L/S (linewidth/spacing) ratios, covering 2/2, 25/25, and 80/80 µm. Finally, notice how it can print over non-flat and 3D topographies with good step coverage. In short, it can offer digitally controlled deposition of ultrafine features over flat as well as non-flat surfaces. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by CEA-LETI. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. The next question might be what could be the applications for EHD printing. The image panel below, assembled mainly from the works of Enjet, shows various possibility. In the top right (image a), the TFT repair application is shown. Here a <2µm bridge pattern with good adhesion to TFT surface and low contact resistance can be printed, enabling the repair of defects on TFT panels to boost production yield. This is an excellent technique playing on the strengths of EHD. Another application could be in micro pad printing for microLEDs (image b). In general, microLEDs will shrink in size as the industry learns to manufacture ever smaller micro-LEDs without scarifying efficiency and as the industry learns to transfer with good yield and economics ever higher numbers of LEDs. In my view, this trend will take time but has an air of inevitability to it. When microLEDs become small, the use of ultraprecise EHD printing for pad deposition over large areas might make sense, especially if one can demonstrate scaled-up and consistent industrial multi-head printing with EHDs. Scrona, from Zurich, is developing such EHD print heads. Another application could be in QD printing, especially on small-sized micro-LEDs or in high-PPI small-pixel displays. An example is shown below. Here, the pixel size is 20x100µm. Other opportunities include conformal EMI shielding with selective mask-free coverage and creation of precise 3D electrodes wrapping around the edge of the display mother glass. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by Enjet. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. Silver Nanoparticle Inks: low-T Curing, IME-Compatibility & Transparent Heating Applications Back to contents Agfa has been developing a scalable process for mass production of silver nanoparticle inks for some years now. It has a wide portfolio covering screen and inkjet printing inks. Last year it expanded its portfolio by acquiring Clariant’s Ag NP ink technology, allowing it to offer water-based as well as solvent-based inks. Despite being around for a long time, silver nanoparticle inks still continue to show significant improvements. The chart below shows an incremental, but important, evolution. Here, we can see how the resistance of Ag inks have improved for a given curing temperature. The effect is most dramatic for 110C curing but is still substantial for 130C and even 150C. This is good progress as it widens compatibility with low-T substrates and applications. Another interest point in the image below is that Ag nanoparticle inks can also be compatible with in-mold electronics (IME), provided only mild radiuses of curvature are involved. This is interesting as most IME examples utilize screen printed functional sheets. This, however, shows that digital functional printing could also be combined with IME techniques. If there is demand, one can expect that future technical developments will ensure also compatibility with smaller radiuses of curvature too. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by Agfa and Nanogate. The right image shows the thermoformed inkjet printed silver nanoparticle inks. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. An interesting application is in transparent heating of photochromic motocycle visors. One challenge is that in certain cases the rate of change of colour for the photochromic visor needs to be accelerated by the use of heat. A conventional solution might have been to use CNTs or ITOs as the heating element. In this case, experiments showed that heating was too slow due to high sheet resistance and the heating was non-uniform (see below top right). In these cases, up to 40 seconds might be required to affect the required colour change. However, with inkjet printed Ag NP metal mesh the colour changes was accelerated and uniform under similar conditions (10 seconds was enough). As shown below, the heater consists of a inkjet printed metal mesh with 2mm pitch and 70µm linewidth. This was co-developed with Nanogate. This is an excellent solution and perhaps the only shortcoming is the high reflection of Ag inks which could be dampened with further processing, controlled oxidisation, or other techniques. This image panel was constructed from a LIVE talk given at TechBlick (May 2021) by Agfa and Nanogate. The top right image shows a sample photochromic motorcycle visor. The top left images show the heating uniformity with IJP Ag NP metal mesh. The bottom right shows the test properties and the characteristics of the IJP Ag NP metal mesh. Finally, the bottom left shows the poor heating uniformity and the slow heating time for the case with other transparent conducting layer solutions. Become an Annual Pass holders to catch up with all on-demand content, participate in masterclasses, and join our in-person virtual events for 12 months. To learn more join our LIVE(online) event with an Annual Pass. Print-on-Paper: Towards R2R Printing of Multi-Chip Multi-Layer Circuits Back to contents The common choice is PI for conventional FPCBs, and it is PET for the emerging flexible hybrid electronics. These choices are however both based on plastics. To eliminate plastic, one can switch to paper. This, however, requires extensive development across the printing technique, material selection, and process know-how. It is not easy. S&S in Taiwan however has been working on the development of a R2R print-on-paper electronics since 2015, accumulating deep expertise. It has used more than 20 tons of paper from different suppliers and tested more than 100Kg of inks based on different filler materials and for printing techniques. Furthermore, it has also utilized 1M RFID components. The schematic below shows roughly their configurable set-up (image of pick and place and chip assembling is excluded). S&S uses flexographic and screen printing for higher volumes (e.g., 10M RFID antennas) and inkjet for prototyping and small-scale production (<100k RFID antennas). The curing for mass production is NIR + Photonics, enabling them to achieve some 20 m/min curing speed. The images above are from a presentation given by S&S at TechBlick in May 2021. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. In the simplest case, S&S has begun to R2R manufacture NFC on paper. These NFCs were at least 2x the price of their conventionally manufactured on-plastic counterparts two years ago. Now, S&S indicates, price parity is reached, which can help render more markets accessible. Importantly, this is also the beginning of the technical development. The NFC antennas have one small chip and a single metallization layer. As shown below, the future will be developing towards more chips, more layers, and more complicated circuit designs. The examples below show the integration of a 2-chip (NFC and LED chips) tag, the development of an 11-component piece (2 active layers and 10 passive components), and the demonstration of a 6-layer tag R2R printed on paper. This is a very promising trend overall. The manufacturing facility for flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) is still in its relatively early stages of developments but is advancing. The images above are from a presentation given by S&S at TechBlick in May 2021. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. S&S is not alone in developing on-paper electronics. CPI, in the UK, together with various partners, has also demonstrated NFC tags R2R printed on paper. The top right picture below (a) shows an example of a R2R printed paper-based smart label. Here, conductive inks and adhesives were R2R printed using a rotary slot die with optical alignment. The assembly of the electronic chips, the converting, and the testing all took place in a R2R fashion too. The images above are from a presentation given by CPI at TechBlick in May 2021. This presentation is available on-demand here. The bottom left image (c) is a prototype of a pressure-sensing helmet. Here, an array of printed pressure sensors (probably piezoresistive materials) is conformally attached to the 3D surface of the helmet. The right picture (b) is an example of R2R flexible hybrid electronics show a moisture and temperature monitoring label used in pharma supply chain. CPI manufactured 5000 samples. Printed Hybrid Arduino-Type Circuits Back to contents The image below is an example of a prototype of an Arduino-type circuit which is fully additively manufactured. The work was presented at TechBlick (May 2021) by Parsons. The substrates were made using SLA 3D printing with a Formlabs high-T resin. The active and passive components were then placed into the designated areas and encapsulated using syringe printing. Finally, the silver metallization lines and the dielectric layers were applied on the face-up dies using aerosol jet printing. There is no complex flip chip or RDL layer here as the die-to-board connections are made by conductive lines which bridge the height difference between the die and the board. Prototype of printed hybrid electronic circuit. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. This seems like a simple prototype, but many technical challenges need to be overcome, especially as the surface is non-flat. In particular, the reliability of the components at interfaces (see below) needs to be tested and guaranteed. A major source of unreliability at these interfaces is the mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the different materials, which leads to stress build-up during thermal cycling. As shown in the table below, there is a wide range of coefficients involved. A particular problem area can be the connection to the face-up dies. Here, aerosol deposits dielectric ramps upon which Ag tracks are aerosol printed. The conductive tracks can break, slip off, or disclose. Similarly, conductive tracks across areas filled with adhesives areas can also be a challenge. In this study, Parsons showcased its strategies to carry out reliability tests. Prototype of printed hybrid electronic circuit. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. Parsons has also worked on printed hybrid electronics to prototype complex re-distribution layers. The aim is to cut down cost and turn-around time of production. One example is shown below (this was not shown at TechBlick). Here, a 5-layer printed RDL is demonstrated. This consists of 11 layers of printed dielectric and conductive layers with 15 separate sintering steps/profiles. The below images also shows the CAD and print patterns in this. When using syringe deposition, a min feature size of 100 µm is the limit. With the uptake of aerosol deposition, this can be reduced to 20 µm. Further techniques such as EHD or microdispensing from XTPL could, in my view, further print down the resolution limit to around 1-5 µm, enabling one to prototype, and perform small production runs of, complex RDL with small feature sizes. Become a TechBlick Annual Pass holder to benefit from all-year-around learning, training, and networking on emerging technologies. You will have access, for 12 months, to participate in all our LIVE in-person virtual events, catch up with content using our library of on-demand content, and learn from industry experts using our portfolio of masterclasses. Become an Annual Pass holder to watch this content on-demand. Visit These Exhibitor Booths During the LIVE Events: Back to contents How does speed networking work online? A detailed overview of the platform including LIVE exhibitions How Does a Virtual Booth Work? How Does Real-Time Networking Work?

In this second part of this article series, TechBlick highlights promising innovation and market trends in Printed, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics. The topics discussed in this article include (1) flexible hybrid electronics, (2) precision additive and R2R printing, (3) printed and R2R photovoltaics, and (4) hybrid CMOS SWIR sensors. All trends highlighted in this article will be discussed by the key players in the field in TechBlick's upcoming interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions taking place on 10-11 March 2021 and and 11-12 May 2021 With a single Annual Pass you can access all future LIVE (online) conferences and exhibition, masterclasses, library of on-demand content, and community networking opportunities. Upcoming events include: 10 & 11 March: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (I) 14 & 15 April: Graphene, 2D Materials, and Carbon Nanotubes 11 & 12 May: Printed, Flexible, Hybrid, and InMold Electronics (II) 11 & 12 May: Quantum Dots: Material Innovation and Emerging Applications 15 & 16 June: Innovations and Trends in Displays and Lighting: OLEDs, Flexible, Printed, microLED, and beyond 14 & 15 July: Skin Patches, Wearables, E-Textiles, and Stretchable Electronic Register before 26 February 2021 using the following discount code to receive a 10% discount 10%DiscountAA Meet Our Speakers and Exhibitors LIVE and many more Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE): the most important trend in printed electronics? Despite all the progress, printed logic never delivered the required mobility, stability, and size performance, limiting what printed electronics could offer. However, now utlrathin and flexible dies/ICs are being formed, enabling flexible hybrid electronics. This is one of the most exciting trends in printed and flexible electronics. Some examples of ultrathin and flexible ICs are shown below. A roadmap showing the rise in capability is also shown. Note that these devices are not based on printing. Despite this, they are enabling technologies for printed electronics applications. There are now multiple approaches to developing ultrathin dies and/or ICs. One approach is to thin down silicon dies as much as possible, thus rending them flexible. Here, the technology capabilities will be like silicon. Indeed, already Bluetooth-level flexible and ultrathin ICs have been demonstrated. This is an important milestone. Another approach is to develop flexible ICs based on natively thin technologies using flexible electronic fabrication techniques, thus paving the way towards natively-flexible LSI and VLSI ICs. The ultimate goal here is to make everyday objects smarter however technology capability is still decades behind silicon. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear from all the key players advancing this technology: American Semiconductor, ARM, CEA, and Lux Semiconductor. Source: www.TechBlick.com Low-temperature interconnect (die or IC attach) is also a crucial part of the emerging FHE (flexible hybrid electronics) picture. In fact, lack of suitable solutions has constrained flexible PCBs (FPCBs) to PI substrate, unnecessarily keeping the costs high. To remedy this, multiple approaches are emerging to enable low-T PET-compatible die or IC attach technologies. NovaCentrix has developed solder photo-sintering, enabling users to cut down both the processing time as well as temperature, making the approach compatible with R2R processing and with PET substrates. Here, pulses of high intensity light replace a reflow oven, bringing the solder to its liquidus temperature in milliseconds without damaging the underlying substrate. Saf-Tech is developing ultra-low temperature solder. They are from the Iowa State University which developed the famous and now commonplace SAC solder. Indeed, SAFI-Tech’s approach proposes to enable soldering SAC305 at temperatures as low as ambient, thus opening the door to PET- or paper-compatible flexible hybrid electronics. Alpha Assembly is also developing ultra-low temperature solder, extending their compatibility to heat-stabilized PET and beyond. Note that solder has a self-alignment capability which is important in R2R FHE because it eases the precision requirements of the pick-and-place operation and will enable the adoption of increasingly complex ICs with many closely-packed I/O pins. Conductive adhesives are of course low temperature. They are used in RFID, perhaps the first successful simple FHE application. However, the do not support large ICs with high I/O pin numbers. CondAlign is developing a novel anisotropic conductive adhesive film. Here, the embedded particles are electrically aligned. These films are now made R2R at scale with thicknesses from a few µm to some hundreds µm and resistance below 0,01 Ohm/cm^2. Interestingly, they can support 10um pitches. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear the latest first-hand in LIVE (online) presentation from all players mentioned above. Source: www.TechBlick.com Of course, all this would not make sense without applications and ultimately without R2R processing. The former is key otherwise FHE will remain a solution looking for a problem. The latter is needed to help the technology realize its potential cost per unit benefits. In our interactive LIVE but online conference and exhibition series, we have hand-picked interesting companies working on applications and R2R processing. GE Research will present on their approach in going from the lap to real-world applications. Jabil will present on bringing flexible hybrid electronics to the market. Both firms have a strong pedigree in commercialising printed electronics. Smooth & Sharp will present on its R2R printed RFID tags for Covid printing. IDENTIV will present on its NFC and UHF sensors made using flexible hybrid electronics. CPI (Centre for Process Innovation) will outline its advanced in utilising R2R processing to manufacture flexible hybrid electronics. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear the latest first-hand in LIVE (online) presentation from all players mentioned above. Source: www.TechBlick.com Precision Printing The trend towards high-resolution printing of electronics is one of the most important in the field. All printing technologies have demonstrated resolution leaps in the past decade. Even screen printing has now reached in some cases 10um linewidths. In our interactive LIVE but online conference and exhibition series, we highlight some of the most interesting companies and advancement in the field XTPL will present their ultra-precise deposition technology which can print features as small as 1µm features on 3D-shaped surfaces. The company offers its own printer as well as high-density silver nanoparticle inks. The applications can be numerous including re-distribution layer prototyping/printing, late-stage repair of microLED and other displays, security feature printing, quantum dot printing, and beyond. In time, this can become a platform technology. Enjet will also present on its ultra-fine electrohydrodynamic printing process. This is a near field jet printing technology using electrostatic field. This can also achieve small features on non-flat surfaces. A unique and innovative approach is developed by NanoOps, a Northwestern University spin-out. They can do sub-micron (down to 20nm) transfer printing. Here, the circuit is first etched onto a template. This template is then inserted into a chemical batch in which the nanoparticle materials are attracted to the circuit patterns under electrostatic force. This template is then pressed against the target substrate, e.g., flexible, to transfer the pattern. This enables wafer-based multi-layer multi-material printing with sub-micron resolution. The process is now offered as a modular automated Gen2 production line. Source: www.TechBlick.com The approaches outlined above are not R2R. However, R2R printing is also making resolution advancements. Kodak will present on its high-throughput and high-resolution flexoprinting with sub-10µm resolution and print speeds of 10 m/min. This could be used in R2R photovoltaics, active circuits, security features, transparent antennas and RFID tags, and beyond. Asahi Kasei has also develop a R2R process able to achieve sub-micro resolution using its so-called seamless roller mold technology which is patterned using electron beam lithography. The company is developing its own Cu inks too. They can have many applications including transparent heaters, display interconnect metallization, and transparent RFID and tags. Indeed, Asahi Kasei is evolving its business to become a full tag and trace solution process using its transparent RFID technology. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear the latest first-hand in LIVE (online) presentation from all players mentioned above. Printed Photovoltaics Printed photovoltaics has a long history of ups and downs. However, finally, it looks as though the technology is maturing. In particular, OPVs have exercised the patience of the developers since the heady days of Konarka. Now though, there is positive news, which is why we are highlighting it in our programme. One positive trend is that EQE of OPVs has once again begun to climb up, breaking through the long period of stagnation. As shown below, the shift to non-fullerene acceptors has helped and supported this trend. Source: www.TechBlick.com In parallel, the processing technology has matured, and some have scaled up to faster and wider format R2R processing. The materials are also now more stable, relaxing the barrier requirements, and also easing the fabrication processes. Critically, the application space has also come a long way. Not everyone is now boxing OPVs into the same category as Si PVs. Indeed, many are realising and exploiting OPV’s unique features such as good indoor EQE, flexibility, ability to customize patterns, etc. In our conference, we are highlighting all the key trends. Armor will present on new OPV applications and Sunew will present on OPV production scale-up and industrial challenges. Brilliant Matters, with its ever expanding portfolio of semiconductors and interlayers for OPVs, will present on its latest generation of photovoltaic materials. Raynergy Tek will highlight its best-in-class OPV materials and Philips 66 will discuss its photoactive polymers tailored to industrial printing of OPVs. Of course, printing or R2R processing of PVs is not limited to organic PVs, as shown below. There is also good progress in other areas. High-speed R2R printing is being applied to perovskites in the US whilst inkjet printing is used in the first commercial printed perovskite PVs. The latter is developed by Saule Technologies who will also present in our interactive online but LIVE conference and exhibition series. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear the latest first-hand in LIVE (online) presentation from all players mentioned above. Source: www.TechBlick.com Hybrid CMOS photodetectors for NIR and SWIR sensing As show below, printed electronics can play a part in fully printed and hybrid photodetector manufacture. One interesting trend is in hybrid CMOS SWIR sensors. CMOS can not see SWIR. At best, using innovations such as deep isolation trenches, it is now achieving around 40-50% efficiency at NIR. However, there are countless application in the SWIR range in industrial inspection, textile sorting, ADAS and autonomous driving and beyond. Currently, InGaAs is the technology of choice. It is expensive for SWIR and super expensive for extended SWIR. It also has a low resolution given that the pixel size was traditionally limited by the need to hybridize the InGaAs and Si read-out dies using solder bumps (note: the Cu-Cu bonding tech by Sony will change this) QD and organic materials can be solution cast or evaporated atop CMOS ROICs to enable hybrid sensors able to sense NIR, SWIR and even MWIR. The absorption characteristics is adjustable by fine tuning the diameter of the QD. There has been much progress here. In our conference series, we have handpicked the best works. SWIR Vision System is the first to market, commercialising a QD-CMOS product; Emberion, a Nokia spin-out, is about to launch its product after years of development; IMEC is the leading research organization on the field setting a pixel size record of 0.13um and working on industrialising the process; and Fraunhofer FEP has completed the best-in-class work on organic-CMOS NIR and SWIR photodetectors. With one Annual Pass, you can access all our interactive LIVE but online conferences and exhibitions and hear the latest first-hand in LIVE (online) presentation from all players mentioned above. Source: www.TechBlick.com Register before 26 February 2021 using the following discount code to receive a 10% discount 10%DiscountAA Register Today to Connect, Learn & Engage With The Emerging Technology Community For a Whole Year.

Silicon is generally, without modification in the chip such as deep trench isolation, not that sensitive to NIR. This means that in some cases alternative materials such as InGaAs or Ge are deployed. Organic semiconductors have now shown excellent results with 65% EQE at NIR. Silicon- even with modification- struggles to reach this level of performance. Silicon is generally not very sensitive to NIR. As such many approaches are being developed to make it sensitive to NIR. One such approach is to develop hybrid sensors consisting of organic or quantum dots atop a specially designed Si CMOS ROIC (read-out-circuit). In such approaches the EQE is generally not high- it hovers around the 20% mark. In the case of this development, demonstrated by Raynergy Tek, an advanced materials firm in Taiwan focusing mainly on organic photodetectors and organic photovoltaics, the EQE has reached 65% at 940nm. The device structure is shown below. Of course, to the best my knowledge, these appear to be hero cells made on a glass substrate. They are still a far cry from a true solution processed organic on CMOS hybrid imager with a resolution of VGA and above. To get there, many developments will still be needed including the development of a special ROIC, the development of a process to cast (or otherwise deposit) the entire OPD stack onto of the CMOS ROIC, patternig it without loss of EQE, ensuring stability, etc Nonetheless, this is a fantastic demonstrator, showing the potential. In subsequent posts I will discuss other approaches towards NIR and even SWIR sensing, starting with full silicon approaches then going towards hybrid QD- or Organic-CMOS approaches. If we get the chance, we will also highlight some innovations in InGaAs-on-Silicon technology which is overcoming the traditional limitaitons of this approach, e.g., large pixel size above 10um. Of course, we should emphasis here that these organic NIR OPDs need not be neccessarily used in a hybrid CMOS structure. They could be standlone NIR sensors or even large area ones. However, results on flexible substrate or in large-area sensor formats, including active matrix ones, are yet to be annonuced. #NIR #SWIR #OPD #InGaAs

In the organic electronic world, it is often argued that silicon can not do NIR. But is it true. In this brief article, I touch upon the latest results in NIR sensing in silicom CMOS imagers and explain the basic ideas behind it. The chart above- from OmniVision- shows the latest sensitivity of silicon to NIR. It shows an EQE 50% @ 940nm with 2.9um pixel! OmniVision was a pioneer here. Several years ago it annonuced its first vesion of the the so-called Nyxel pixel, which is the brandname for their NIR-sensitive Si pixel. The basic idea is build up DTI or Deep Trench Isolation, which is an important innovation in the CMOS imaging industry. It is DTI - and improvements therein- which have really enabled and sustained much of the pixel scaling in the CMOS imaging industry in recent years. A problem with pixel scaling was that cross-talk, meaning that as pixels shrunk in size there would be optical and electric cross talk between them. with DTI, the pixels are propely isolated from each other, minimising cross-talk, and enabling pixels to be shrunk. DTI is very advanced today. You can see the latest examples below. Just consider the aspect ratio! In general, with DTI and pixel scaling, the active area of the CIS (CMOS Image Sensor) is becoming thicker- the innovation here between the different gens of the Nyxel appears to be the same: a deeper pixel which gives more chance of light absorption . As for NIR sensing in Silicon, the basic idea is to lenghten the propogation path of light in silicon. Since silicon has a low absorption in NIR, the only way to increase total absorption is to increase the total apparent thickness. With DTI, the light is trapped within the pixel, bouncing off the walls multiple times, so as to increase its absoption chance. Furthermore, in this approach, the top of the pixel is somewhat roughened, causing light scattering as the light enters the pixel, further increasing the propogation path. The image below shows the first version of Nyxel, demonstrating how the NIR sensitivity has already improved. Note that this technology is not just limited to Nyxel, and all other players like OnSemi also have similiar offerings. One notable application area for NIR is in automotive sensing. This is especially useful for LIDAR sensors because many LIDARs operates at 904nm or longer wavelenghts. Note that this still does not give a technological path to SWIR. For this, InGaAs, Ge, or other hybrid (QD or ORganic CMOS) approaches will be needed #SWIR #NIR #Nyxel #OmniVision #OnSemi

This is community-centric platform. You can find and message all the other attendees. If you were attending a physical event, this would be the equivalent of being able to network with all the attendees! You can also share content on the Social Well, giving information about your latest innovations and/or commercial achievements, or asking the community for help or comments. You can also engage with other posts. Each attendee therefore has a voice in the community. You can browse the Schedule to participate in any LIVE presentation. In the Q&A session, you can post your questions or engage with other members of the community participating in the same talk. You can jump into any track and also effortlessly move between tracks. So no more running between rooms to catch parallel talks. If you miss a talk, don’t worry as you can watch it later on-demand in the same platform. Meet the exibitors LIVE via video calls You can meet the exhibitors LIVE and via video. Simply browse to their exhibitor page and click on the video link. If the exhibitor accepts your call, you will enter a 30-min video conversation. It is as simple as that so don’t be shy. Think of it as stopping by or stumbling across a booth to learn more, to satisfy your curiosity, or just to say hello to an old friend or partner. The conversations are totally private.