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

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

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

Isotropic ALE is able to remove sidewall damage and has potential benefits in many applications, including microLEDs. MicroLEDs, LEDs with dimensions from 1 µm to a few hundreds of microns, are currently receiving a lot of attention. With much higher light output and lifetime, and lower operating powers than OLEDs, if two or three challenges can be overcome, microLEDs could empower the next generation of displays in areas including AR/VR, automotive, wearables, phones and large displays. The main challenges revolve around cost, though it has been predicted that they will be at a similar cost to the (2024) cost of OLEDs by 2026. There are also challenges around the fabrication of red LEDs and reducing the loss of light output as dimensions shrink. We are exhibiting at MicroLED Connect and AR/VR Connect in Eindhoven, The Netherlands on 16-17 September 2026 Please register to meet us in person and see our technology in action. It is known that the plasma etch process, that is used to define GaN LED mesa structures, damages the sidewalls and creates non-radiative recombination (NRR) states, which reduce the light output, usually quantified as external quantum efficiency (EQE). Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology has an active programme in producing a low damage mesa etch, but also an etch capable of removing the damage in the mesa sidewalls. Early results show promising increases in luminescence of bulk material, and further work on LED structures is planned. The images below show the effect of isotropic ALE on the (Cathodo-) luminesence of a damaged n-GaN mesa. In Fig. 1, the mesa top, which is protected by the mask during the etch,shows no damage and gives a bright luminescence, whilst there is damage in the GaN around it, hence giving out low luminescence. Fig. 2 shows that after treatment with isotropic ALE, which removes material from the top of the GaN and the sides, the signal is much brighter and the undamaged top is indistinguishable from the previously damaged backgrounds. A further challenge is in the manufacture of red-emitting LEDs. The green and blue GaN-based types are well known and achieve EQEs near to 50%, but for red, the record is <10%. Consequently, red is often made using AlGaInP, as opposed to the alloys of Al, In and GaN used for the other colours. There is an advantage, not least, in the fabrication of monolithic three-colour LEDs (i.e. each LED element has red, green and blue generating structures operating simultaneously). Here, the basic material system has to be GaN and its alloys. InGaN, which is the best candidate for red LEDs, is very difficult to make, though this is at an early stage. Join Us in Eindhoven Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass covers all three co-located events — MicroLED Connect, AR/VR Connect and Optical I/O Connect — plus the exhibition, at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven on 16 & 17 September 2026.

Why Should You Join TechBlick's The Future of Electronics RESHAPED? The Future of Electronics RESHAPED conference and exhibition (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) is set to be the most important event of the year focused on additive, hybrid, 3D, sustainable, wearable, soft and textile electronics. The event is co-located with Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect. In this article, we highlight various innovative talks around the theme of material, ink and paste innovations — the formulations that sit at the heart of every printed device. From silver-coated copper and room-temperature copper processing to biosensor inks, graphene formulations, and the substrates and adhesives that everything is printed on. In future articles, we will cover digital deposition, manufacturing and hybrid integration, and printed applications. Explore the full agenda now and register to join the event — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. Conductive Inks & Pastes: The Silver Question and the Copper Answer With silver prices and price volatility at record highs, the search for cost-effective, high-performance conductor materials has never been more urgent. Ames Goldsmith (USA) – Daniel Lacorte presents advances in silver-coated copper materials for high-performance printed electronics. As geopolitical uncertainty drives silver prices to new heights, core-shell silver-coated copper powders and flakes are gaining strong interest as a cost-effective alternative to pure silver. The talk discusses the development of robust silver-coated copper that combats potential reliability issues from copper oxidation, ionic copper leaching, and their influence on pot-life duration. University of Southampton (United Kingdom) – Jessica Pereira presents a patented copper platform enabling room-temperature fabrication of highly conductive, air-stable copper films — no thermal or photonic sintering required. Using biopolymer-stabilised particles and mechanical compression, the technology achieves excellent electrical properties (2.05–2.33 × 10⁻⁸ Ωm) and compatibility with paper, textiles, and other temperature-sensitive substrates using water-based, sustainable formulations. Demonstrated devices include conductive paper circuits and electroluminescent systems, with applications spanning RFID, disposable sensors, papertronics, and e-textiles. The team is actively seeking industrial partners for licensing and scale-up. Henkel (Germany)– Jacqueline Putz presents a masterclass on Electrically Conductive Inks: Formulation, Printing, and Applications. This session covers ink formulations, manufacturing, and key parameters across various printing processes. A special focus will be placed on the importance of ink compatibility testing, complete with real-life examples and troubleshooting strategies for screen printing. Heraeus Electronics – Ryan Banfield presents Ag Inks for Stretchable Electronics. Diving deeper into design considerations for elastic polymer thick film materials, this presentation explores how specialized silver formulations deliver reliable performance under continuous mechanical deformation in wearable and medical applications. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Functional & Specialty Inks: Biosensors, Graphene, and Beyond Sun Chemical (USA) – Phil Nicholas discusses "The Balancing Act" for electrochemical biosensor inks: the interplay between ink design, processing, and end-use performance, with a focus on the latest advances in materials for screen-printed electrodes (SPE) used in electrochemical sensors — a market spanning glucose test strips to next-generation diagnostics. BLACKLEAF (France) – Anaghim Nasri presents water-based graphene inks as a sustainable innovation for thermal heating elements. BLACKLEAF's approach targets high-performance printed heaters while avoiding solvent-heavy formulations, aligning graphene's exceptional thermal and electrical properties with greener chemistry. ACI Materials (USA) – ACI Materials joins us in Berlin to present its latest functional material innovations. At TechBlick USA 2025, ACI presented advanced printable conductors enabling fully additive manufacturing of durable flexible hybrid electronics, wearables, and e-textiles — offering improved solderability, finer print resolution, and support for smaller surface-mounted devices, while addressing a key reliability weakness of traditional conductive adhesives: galvanic corrosion under damp heat. Built on ACI's patented cavitation-based dispersion process and its Alchemy semi-sintering conductor series, these materials combine the processability of polymer thick films with the electrical performance of sintered inks. The Berlin talk title and abstract are still being finalized — this preview draws on ACI's recent TechBlick presentations. Ercon (USA) – Ercon will present its conductive ink technologies for printed sensing. Established in 1967, Ercon manufactures conductive polymer thick-film inks — silver, silver/silver chloride, carbon, graphite, platinum, and gold, plus insulating layers — used in billions of blood glucose test strips and body electrodes worldwide. Expect deep expertise on materials for electrochemical sensors and medical electrodes. Final talk details to be announced in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Substrates & Material Interfaces: The Unsung Heroes Every printed device is a materials system — and the substrate and adhesive layers are just as decisive as the functional ink. Avery Dennison (USA/Belgium) – Jarne Machiels maps ink/adhesive compatibility in flexible hybrid electronics — "beyond the holy grail." An intensive validation program tested diverse pressure-sensitive adhesive tape technologies in direct contact with various functional inks. The primary finding: there is no single holy-grail adhesive; compatibility is a multi-variable equation dependent on the chemistry of both ink and adhesive matrix. The talk introduces a validated methodology for evaluating ink/adhesive interfaces under accelerated ageing, breaks down the key factors engineers must consider to avoid unexpected field failures, and shares real-world applications where validated combinations even enabled elimination of layers and cost. Covestro (Germany) – Klas-Moritz Kossel presents tailored TPU films for flexible and stretchable printing substrates. As printed electronics and wearables enter markets demanding lightweight, thin, and flexible solutions, thermoplastic polyurethane films can be extensively tailored to each application's requirements — showing particularly promising properties as substrates for printed sensor systems. Kimoto (Switzerland/Japan) – Christoph Bosshard presents carrier and protection films for production processes. These films enable the handling of sensitive surfaces and flexible substrates in industrial processes — a quietly critical role as printed electronics scales up. Backed by Kimoto's decades of expertise in roll-to-roll coated functional films, the talk focuses on production processes and the options for sustainable scaling from lab to fab. Policrom Screens (Italy) – Giorgio Vavassori Bisutti presents TPU as a substrate technology for printed, hybrid, stretchable, and wearable electronics. At TechBlick USA 2025, Policrom introduced ELECROM STRETCH, a TPU-based substrate and encapsulation system designed to maintain elasticity, dimensional accuracy, and conductivity through multi-layer builds — enabling reliable integration of stretchable electronics, such as pressure sensors in gloves, into textiles. The Berlin talk will bring this substrate story to the e-textile audience. The final abstract will be confirmed in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Stretchable, Washable, Sustainable Inks and Substrates Because one pass covers all four co-located shows, materials-minded attendees should also mark these ink, paste, and substrate talks from the Electronic Textiles RESHAPED and Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED Leibniz-Institute for New Materials (Germany) – Christoph Kaiser presents screen-printable hybrid conductive inks for stretchable temperature sensing and heating, based on a hybrid metal–carbon filler network in a stretchable matrix. Characterized from 20 to 120 °C under repeated thermal and mechanical cycling, optimized formulations show a linear resistance response with temperature coefficients enabling thermal sensing or active temperature control even after tens of thousands of strain cycles — a versatile platform for textiles, medical applications like smart wound dressings, and soft robotics. Nagase ChemteX (Japan) – Nagase ChemteX presents stretchable, wearable, and washable inks meeting the requirements of next-generation electronic textiles — where conductive materials must survive not just bending but stretching, sweat, and repeated wash cycles without losing performance. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Fraunhofer IZM (Germany) – Lukas Werft leads a masterclass on gallium-based liquid metal inks for highly reliable printed stretchable electronics — a materials-science deep dive into how formulation governs viscosity, wetting, line formation, and electrical continuity, covering polymer–solvent systems, droplet morphology, oxide-mediated stabilization, and process windows for dispensing and screen printing. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Join Us in Berlin At the exhibition you will also meet many of the world's leading ink, paste, and substrate suppliers, alongside equipment makers and print houses — the full materials value chain in one place. Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass also includes the co-located Perovskite Connect, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED — four world-class events, one venue, one ticket.

Why Should You Join TechBlick's MicroLED Connect, AR/VR Connect and Optical I/O Connect? The three co-located events take place on 16 & 17 September 2026 at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, bringing together the display, optics, semiconductor and interconnect communities in one venue: MicroLED Connect, AR/VR Connect and Optical I/O Connect. For a decade, microLEDs were a display story. That changed when AI infrastructure ran into a wall: copper is efficient but short-reach, optics reach further but cost power and reliability, and neither scales the way AI clusters now demand. The "wide-and-slow" microLED architecture — many parallel, modest-speed optical channels instead of a few ultra-fast lanes — has emerged as a credible third option, and Eindhoven is where the people building it will gather. In this article we highlight talks around the theme of microLED optical I/O for AI infrastructure: the architecture, the link budgets, and the devices that make it work. In companion articles we cover mass transfer and assembly, emitters and backplanes, yield and metrology, AR waveguides, light engines, and the system-level challenges of AI glasses. Explore the full agenda now and register to join — one pass gives you access to all three co-located events, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. The Wide-and-Slow Architecture: Breaking the Interconnect Trade-Off Microsoft (United Kingdom) – Paolo Costa frames the problem precisely: AI workloads, especially inference, are increasingly constrained by memory and network bottlenecks — a consequence of the fundamental limitations of current interconnect technologies. Copper links are power-efficient and reliable but limited to very short distances, while optical links extend reach at the cost of higher power and lower reliability. MicroLEDs combined with a wide-and-slow architecture have emerged as a way to break this trade-off, achieving low power, high reliability, and reach up to tens of metres simultaneously. Realizing the vision, however, requires cross-layer innovation from devices, micro-optics and analogue electronics through to connectors, fibres, packaging and system integration — plus supply-chain scaling and interoperability standards. A talk that doubles as a call to the community. Avicena Tech (USA) – Gregoire Denis presents a comprehensive framework for analyzing optical link budgets in microLED-based communication systems. Having pioneered microLED interconnects through the wide-and-slow approach, enabling low energy-per-bit operation and high-density integration, Avicena extends conventional link budget methodologies to account for the distinct properties of microLED emitters: limited optical output power, wide emission profiles, efficiency droop at high current densities, and strong dependence on device geometry. Particular attention goes to coupling losses, étendue constraints, and the trade-offs between optical power, modulation depth, and bandwidth. Tera Electronics Corp. (Taiwan) – Solomon Chi introduces a manufacturable MicroLED Optical I/O platform targeting next-generation AI interconnects, from pluggable active optical cables and near-package optics to future die-to-die optical architectures. Conventional copper faces severe thermal, signal integrity and scalability limits at 224G PAM4 and beyond, while co-packaged optics and silicon photonics still rely on complex laser integration, cooling, DSP-intensive architectures and costly packaging. The talk demonstrates sapphire-based high-speed microLED technology achieving approximately 1.9 GHz modulation bandwidth with CMOS-compatible wafer-level integration, integrating microLED arrays, photodetector arrays, driver/TIA electronics and image-fibre interfaces. Mojo Vision (USA) – Nikhil Balram shows how a single micro-LED technology platform enables breakthrough applications across both displays and AI infrastructure. Built over a decade, this highly integrated, wafers-in/wafers-out platform brings together advanced 300mm silicon architecture, GaN-on-silicon emitters, efficient photodetectors, proprietary quantum dots, custom micro-lens arrays, highly multicore fibre bundles and software. In displays it enables compact, high-efficiency systems that break conventional trade-offs in brightness, size and power; in AI infrastructure the same platform enables massively parallel optical I/O for chip-to-chip interconnects, dramatically improving bandwidth density, power efficiency and reliability. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Devices and Platforms: Making the Emitters Fast Enough CEA-Leti (France) – Anthony Cibié addresses the medium-distance gap. Copper serves short reach and silicon photonics serves beyond ten metres, but for one to ten metres GaN microLED-based interconnects are a promising candidate — thanks to their development for microdisplays, GHz-level bandwidth, and capability to be miniaturized to the micron scale, enabling large-scale parallel communication between microLED and micro-photodetector matrices through fibre bundles. The talk presents CEA-Leti's latest figures of merit for both devices, the impact of temperature and high current density, and device modelling to support driver and TIA design. University of California Santa Barbara (USA) – Steve DenBaars reports record-level external quantum efficiencies of 58% for blue micro-LEDs, 30% for green and 21% for red, enabled by novel epitaxial growth, optimized processing and transparent packaging — demonstrating the viability of monolithic full-colour III-nitride platforms. Crucially for interconnects, as device dimensions shrink and current densities rise, micro-LEDs exhibit exceptional modulation speeds: the work demonstrates a 3-dB bandwidth of 612 MHz at 1.4 kA/cm², corresponding to data rates approaching 1.24 Gbit/s under NRZ-OOK modulation, highlighting the dual potential for both high-brightness displays and high-speed optical communication. ALLOS Semiconductors (Germany) – Burkhard Slischka argues that in both microdisplay and optical interconnect markets, superior device performance and strong IP are necessary but may not be sufficient for commercial success — the winners may ultimately be determined by manufacturing strategy and supply-chain scalability. Although these are fundamentally different markets with distinct requirements, they share remarkably similar manufacturing challenges. The talk compares both applications and explores why silicon-fab compatibility, integration with CMOS and silicon photonics processes, wafer-level manufacturing, and the ability to scale production rapidly may become the decisive factors. Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork (Ireland) – Vitaly Zubialevich presents a micro-LED architecture for enhanced emission directionality in displays and optical interconnects — addressing one of the properties that most directly determines coupling efficiency into both waveguides and fibres, and therefore system-level power budgets in either application. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Emitters Built for Both Worlds: Display Innovations with Interconnect Impact Two emitter talks from the MicroLED Connect program are equally at home here, because their device physics directly serves the interconnect case. Aledia (France) – Pierre Tchoulfian's 3D GaN nanowire platform, grown on large-area silicon, is presented primarily as a display technology — but the nanowire architecture also introduces a disruptive approach to optical interconnects. By exploiting non-polar emission properties, the platform enhances carrier recombination dynamics, enabling high-speed modulation at reduced power consumption and positioning the technology as a key enabler for data communication systems requiring high bandwidth density and energy efficiency. (Full display-side coverage in our emitters article.) Ingantec (USA) – Alan Yeung's talk on red InGaN microLEDs and monolithic full-colour integration explicitly extends beyond consumer displays: high-density, high-brightness native red and RGB microLED arrays are uniquely positioned for AI optical interconnects alongside AR and medical imaging — and the single-substrate architecture that bypasses mass transfer matters just as much for interconnect array manufacturing as for displays. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Join Us in Eindhoven From data-centre architecture and link budgets to record-efficiency epitaxy and directional emitters, this is the most concentrated gathering yet of the microLED optical I/O community — alongside the display and AR ecosystems that share its supply chain. Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass covers all three co-located events — MicroLED Connect, AR/VR Connect and Optical I/O Connect — plus the exhibition, at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven on 16 & 17 September 2026.

Why Should You Join TechBlick's The Future of Electronic Textiles RESHAPED? The Future of Electronic Textiles RESHAPED conference and exhibition (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) is where technologies and applications meet, accelerating the industrialisation of smart and electronic textiles. The event is co-located with Electronics RESHAPED, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect. Smart textiles prove their worth on the body — monitoring health, protecting workers, and performing in environments where conventional electronics fail. In this article, we highlight talks around the theme of wearables that work: health and physiological monitoring, and safety-critical wearables for demanding environments. In a companion article, we cover the manufacturing platforms, materials, and standards behind these products. Explore the full agenda now and register to join the event — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. Health & Physiological Monitoring: From Lab Accuracy to Daily Wear Danish Technological Institute (Denmark) – Zachary J. Davis provides a comprehensive overview of DTI's smart wearable technologies, spanning the full value chain from e-textile manufacturing and standardized IPC test methods (wash durability, abrasion, tensile and stretch behavior, climate exposure) to functional demonstrators: a printed EMG electrode sleeve targeting musculoskeletal disorder prevention with a detachable wireless unit; a cardiovascular monitoring platform fusing impedance cardiography, ECG, and a six-axis IMU in a wearable vest for human activity recognition; and a fully washable printed e-textile heater with integrated material-based temperature control — to name a few. QUS Body Connected (Austria) – Susanne Bracun presents the biometric t-shirt: delivering medical-grade data accuracy in daily-wear textiles. The challenge QUS addresses is the hardest one in wearables — achieving clinically meaningful signal quality not from a chest strap or clinical electrode, but from a comfortable garment worn all day. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Datwyler (Switzerland) – Datwyler offers a glimpse inside: how next-gen wearables are unlocking internal physiological and mental insights. Building on its expertise in high-precision elastomer components and wearable sensor technologies such as dry electrodes, the talk explores how body-worn devices are moving beyond step counts toward genuine physiological and cognitive-state monitoring. Full talk details to be published in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Safety-Critical & Extreme-Environment Wearables Feraru Dynamics (United Kingdom) – Andrei Feraru presents wearable technology for health and safety at work. Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) remains one of the most prevalent occupational diseases in construction and heavy industry, yet risk assessment still relies on estimated exposure values disconnected from real-world behaviour. HAV-Sentry is a textile-embedded wearable measuring hand-transmitted vibration directly at the palm in real time — integrating MEMS acceleration sensing, grip force measurement, and cloud analytics in a compliant gauntlet. The talk traces the journey from engineering research through Rolls-Royce experience to industrial deployment, examines how UK and EU regulatory landscapes shape adoption, and closes with a vision of PPE evolving from passive protection to active sensing. Protex – Helena Almqvist presents specialized wearables: integrating flexible heaters and sensors for extreme environments — where garments must deliver electronic functionality reliably in conditions that would destroy consumer wearables, from severe cold to demanding industrial settings. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Fraunhofer IZM (Germany) – Malte von Krshiwoblozki presents electronic textiles for soldier systems. Since 2017, Fraunhofer IZM has been developing e-textiles for soldier applications, focusing on textile-based energy and data transfer, physiological health monitoring, and human–machine interaction. The talk provides an overview of past and current developments and outlines general requirements and future needs in one of the most demanding application domains for smart textiles. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Join Us in Berlin Wood, cellulose, natural fibre, and dissolvable boards; additive copper on biopolymers; carbon-accounted production lines — the PCB is being reinvented before our eyes, and Berlin is where the people doing it will be. Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass also includes the co-located Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect — four world-class events, one venue, one ticket.

Why Should You Join TechBlick's Perovskite Connect? Perovskite Connect (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) brings together the companies, institutes, and equipment makers turning perovskite photovoltaics from a laboratory success story into a manufacturable, bankable product. The event is co-located with Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED. A perovskite module is a stack of thin layers, and every one of them is a materials problem: transport layers that must be depositable at scale, contacts that survive firing, encapsulants that keep moisture out for 25 years, and electrodes that don't depend on scarce indium. In this article, we highlight talks around the theme of materials innovations — charge transport and interfaces, encapsulation and end-of-life, and transparent electrodes and alternative device concepts. In companion articles, we cover tandems and commercial deployment, and manufacturing equipment and processes. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. Charge Transport & Interface Materials TU Dortmund (Germany) – Matthias Grotevent presents a room-temperature synthesis of crystalline tin oxide nanocrystals that is remarkably robust: particle size and crystallinity are independent of reaction time, temperature, and precursor concentration. Unlike conventional colloidal syntheses requiring precise parameter control and multi-step purification, this route needs only simple mixing without precise control of fluid dynamics, and transfers monodisperse nanocrystals into a nonpolar dispersion agent with over 98% reaction yield. Solar cells fabricated with these nanocrystals demonstrate competitive efficiencies, confirming the scalable synthesis is directly compatible with high-performance device fabrication. Nano-C (USA) – Henning Richter describes the engineering of fullerenes as electron transport materials for n-i-p, p-i-n, and tandem architectures — covering the production and refinement of unfunctionalized fullerenes, particularly C60, at industrial volumes for vapor-phase deposition, and the role of functionalized fullerene moieties forming self-assembled monolayers and stabilizing the perovskite crystal phase. Advanced derivatives incorporating phosphonic acid or amino/ammonium functionalities enable effective interface passivation, while ongoing hole transport material development targets triphenylamine or carbazole cores with phosphonic groups, including cross-linking approaches to enhance interface durability. Performance data from single-junction and tandem devices is shared, alongside solvent selection for large-scale manufacturing. LinXole (Sweden) – Feng Wang introduces new Spiro-OMeTAD inks with several unique advantages for efficiency and stability. The resulting films show excellent moisture and thermal stability even after aging at 85% relative humidity and 85 °C, large-area printed films show high uniformity, and the films can be used directly without any post-oxidation process in air. They also suppress gold migration into the perovskite layer, further improving device stability. Nanografi Nanotechnology (Turkey) – Duygu Cevher provides an integrated formulation strategy for high-performance silver paste in solar cell metallization, examining how composition influences printing behaviour, firing response, contact formation, and electrical performance. Silver powder characteristics — particle size distribution, morphology, packing and tap density, surface properties — govern dispersion, screen passage, packing, and sintering; glass frit, though present in small amounts, controls the reaction with passivation layers and mechanical adhesion during firing; and the organic binder system determines viscosity, drying, open time, and the thixotropy needed for fine line definition. Current trends point toward finer lines, reduced silver consumption, lower contact resistance, and wider firing windows. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Encapsulation, Glass & End-of-Life HB Fuller (USA) – David McDougall examines the packaging demands unique to perovskite devices. Compared with conventional photovoltaic technologies, perovskites require lower-temperature packaging materials providing exceptional moisture and oxygen barriers, strong mechanical protection, and high optical transparency — a combination that presents new challenges for material suppliers. The talk reviews emerging polymer solutions and the technical challenges facing material developers as the technology transitions from laboratory-scale devices to field-ready modules. Everlight Chemical (Taiwan) – Yun-Chang Chao notes that while research focuses primarily on absorber and interface optimization, systematic discussion of encapsulation remains limited despite its strong influence on device lifetime and scalable manufacturing. Drawing on industrial validation projects and common failure modes, the talk presents a structured engineering perspective connecting material selection and structural design with long-term performance. Everlight has developed encapsulation materials for emerging PV since the DSSC era, with systems validated by academic and industrial partners across continents and published in internationally recognized journals. Tabernair (United Kingdom) – Martin Stephen presents certified perovskite BIPV glass — structural, transparent, and deployment-ready. Building-integrated photovoltaics demands that a module be a legitimate building material first and a solar device second, meeting structural and safety certification alongside performance. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. ZSW (Germany) – Cordula Wessendorf argues that with perovskite and tandem modules already reaching the market, it is time to think about recycling — especially since roughly one gram of lead per square metre must be kept out of landfill, alongside critical materials like indium, caesium, and silver. ZSW has developed an industrial-scale recycling process at 140–160 °C allowing over 96% of perovskite material to be recovered and reused. Crucially, modules are thermo-mechanically separated in one piece, so indium-containing TCO glass is recovered selectively and undamaged and substrate glass avoids the downcycling caused by shredding. Mini-modules made with recycled substrates and recycled PbI₂ achieved over 90% of the efficiency of those built from fresh materials. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Transparent Electrodes & ITO-Free Architectures PINA CREATION – Maryam Bari presents printable ITO nano inks for low-temperature fabrication of transparent conductive films. Conventional ITO deposition relies on high-temperature, vacuum-based processes that limit compatibility with flexible substrates and raise cost and energy consumption. This solution-processed ink offers controlled particle size, stable dispersion, and optimized rheology for scalable coating such as spin and slot-die, producing films with high optical transparency, good conductivity, and uniform morphology at processing temperatures below 150 °C. Power Roll (United Kingdom) – Neil Spann explores a scalable, ITO-free device architecture designed around ultra-low material usage and compatibility with high-throughput roll-to-roll production. A micro-structured substrate architecture enables efficient charge collection with no ITO or TCO, eliminating reliance on scarce or geopolitically constrained inputs, and by decoupling electrical performance from thick transparent conductive layers it supports flexible, lightweight photovoltaic films for large-area deployment. Experimental results demonstrate leading bifacial performance, improved angular and shading response, and resistance to pinholes — with a closing discussion of how such architectures enable cost-competitive perovskite PV at scale. Join Us in Berlin Robust tin oxide synthesis, industrial-volume fullerenes, air-stable Spiro inks, ITO-free architectures, and a recycling route recovering 96% of the perovskite — the materials layer of this industry is maturing fast. Meet the suppliers and institutes making it happen at the co-located exhibition. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Your pass also includes the co-located Electronics RESHAPED covering the entire world of R2R and printed electronics

What if the biggest bottleneck holding back the mass commercialization of all-day-wearable AI glasses isn't the display itself, but the way we track the user's eyes? For AR OEMs, display integrators, and product strategists, the trade-off has always been brutal: resource-heavy, power-hungry camera architectures that kill battery life, or subpar, sluggish user experiences. But a massive structural paradigm shift is coming. By stripping the camera out of the equation entirely and replacing it with ultra-low-power, high-frequency temporal sensing integrated directly into the lens, a new commercial pathway is opening up. This breakthrough unlocks true "always-on" natural user interfaces at up to 1000 Hz while keeping power budgets at an absolute minimum—solving a critical hardware hurdle for consumer-grade, lightweight smart glasses and redefining the competitive roadmap for next-generation spatial computing. Join us at MicroLED Connect and AR/VR Connect at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven (Netherlands) on 16 and 17 Sept 2026 to see how this technology is reshaping the display and AR optics landscape, and catch this presentation: * Who is presenting: Antoine Boniface; * Company: AlphaLum; * Title of the talk: Camera-Free, Low-Power Eye Sensing for AI Glasses Using Self-Mixing Interferometry; * Where they will present: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven (Netherlands); * Event & Dates: MicroLED Connect and AR/VR Connect on 16 and 17 Sept 2026; * Full Program: https://www.microledconnect.com/;

Why Should You Join TechBlick's The Future of Electronics RESHAPED? The Future of Electronics RESHAPED conference and exhibition (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) is set to be the most important event of the year focused on additive, hybrid, 3D, sustainable, wearable, soft and textile electronics. The event is co-located with Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect, bringing the entire ecosystem together under one roof. In this article, we highlight a series of superb talks around the theme of digital deposition and inkjet printing — from printheads that finally break the viscosity barrier, to complete digital manufacturing platforms, to technologies that push additive precision down to the sub-micron level. In future articles, we will cover further themes including material, ink and paste innovations; manufacturing and hybrid integration; and printed electronics applications. Explore the full agenda now and register to join the event — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. Breaking the Viscosity Barrier: Next-Generation Inkjet Printheads For decades, inkjet in electronics has been confined to low-viscosity, near-Newtonian fluids, leaving most functional pastes to analogue screen printing. In Berlin, four leading printhead makers will show how this decades-old limit is finally falling. XAAR (United Kingdom) – Karl Forbes examines how recent advances in inkjet technology are overcoming the low-viscosity constraint that has limited inkjet's role in production electronics manufacturing. The talk shows how innovations in printhead design and fluid management enable reliable deposition of high-viscosity functional materials such as polymer thick films, adhesives, and protective coatings, addressing the engineering challenges of scale-up including fluid handling, jetting stability, layer uniformity, and process repeatability — a step change positioning inkjet as a viable production platform. Seiko Instruments (Japan) – Fabio Tallarico presents results from a modified RC1536 piezoelectric printhead achieving stable, high-frequency jetting of an undiluted pseudoplastic fluid with rheological properties far beyond the traditional inkjet operating window. The talk explores how shear-thinning behavior influences droplet formation and jet stability, demonstrating that tailored printhead architectures can unlock reliable deposition of high-viscosity complex fluids for printed electronics and advanced material processing. KYOCERA Europe (Japan) – Daisuke Hozumi introduces a piezoelectric bend-mode inkjet printhead architecture developed for stable ejection of high-viscosity, non-Newtonian functional inks while retaining high resolution and high nozzle density. Combining a high-output piezoceramic actuator with an optimized internal flow-path design, the printhead has demonstrated stable jetting of a non-Newtonian ink exceeding 50 mPa·s (at 1000 s⁻¹) at room temperature — opening a wider operating window for conductive, insulating, and structural inks. Konica Minolta (Japan) – Kenji Mawatari shares new printhead driving technology for jetting higher-viscosity fluids using commercially available Konica Minolta printheads. Testing fluids between 10 and 50 mPa·s, the team confirmed that improved jetting efficiency using bi-polar waveforms and meniscus refilling control are key to ejecting higher viscosity fluids — extending the reach of proven industrial printheads without hardware redesign. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Digital Deposition Platforms & Process Reliability Beyond the printhead itself, industrial adoption demands complete systems: material handling, process monitoring, and production-grade reliability. Quantica (Germany) – Ben Hartkopp makes the case for digital functional material deposition based on direct volumetric displacement and mechanical actuation, overcoming legacy acoustic limitations to enable stable jetting of rheologically complex fluids up to 250 mPa·s. A key focus is processing heavily loaded conductive pastes and dielectrics with particle sizes up to 9 μm (D95) using continuous material recirculation — providing the engineered headroom for a fully flexible, scalable digital workflow. iPrint Institute (Switzerland) – Gioele Balestra addresses the practical "how-to" of high-viscosity jetting: formulating and characterizing highly concentrated non-Newtonian fluids where standard rheology fails, redesigning degassers, filters, and high-pressure ink delivery systems, and — critically — deploying real-time nozzle status sensing. In printed electronics, a single failing nozzle can compromise an entire part; this talk shows how nozzle-level monitoring delivers the process stability required to make inkjet truly fit for Industry 4.0. EPSON (Japan) – Enrico Sowade presents EPSON's "Printing Beyond the Color" activity and roadmap. As a printhead supplier, EPSON has established Inkjet Labs in Japan and Europe as hubs where companies with unique functional fluids can go far beyond drop-watching: comprehensive testing to integrate the fluid into a specific print process under controlled cleanroom conditions, running together as a co-pilot in the "Lab to Fab" concept. The talk covers the labs, typical activities, success stories, and the printhead roadmap for functional fluid applications. Notion Systems (Germany) – Notion Systems will present its digital additive electronic manufacturing platforms, spanning from industrial inkjet to EHD (electrohydrodynamic) printing. Notion Systems' n.jet platforms are already established in production environments for display, PCB, and semiconductor applications, and this talk will outline how the portfolio is expanding towards ultra-fine-feature EHD printing. Speaker and final talk details to be confirmed — watch the agenda for updates. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Ultra-High Precision: From Microns to Nanometers A third group of talks pushes additive deposition into territory once reserved for photolithography. Hummink (France) – Amr Maaroufi presents High Precision Capillary Printing (HPCaP), an advanced additive manufacturing technology achieving micron and sub-micron resolutions (50 µm down to 100 nm). Inspired by Atomic Force Microscopy, HPCaP operates via capillary forces, ensuring precise, splash-free deposition with minimal waste, and its macro-resonator system enables fine control over line width and thickness. HPCaP supports a wide range of conductive, dielectric, and functional inks on diverse substrates — including flexible and recyclable ones — and beyond high-resolution 2D printing, it enables microbump formation for advanced packaging and interconnect applications, reinforcing its role as a key technology in semiconductor fabrication. XTPL (Poland) – Witold Nawrot outlines recent progress in Ultra-Precise Dispensing (UPD), forming robust high-performance interconnections with feature sizes as small as 1 μm. Bridging the gap between standard inkjet and complex photolithography, this maskless technology dispenses highly concentrated nanoparticle inks — silver, gold, copper — as well as dielectrics, across demanding 3D substrate topographies. The talk demonstrates a transformative approach to Open Defect Repair (ODR) in ultra-fine RDLs for advanced packaging, UHDI PCBs, and next-generation high-resolution displays — maximizing yields and drastically reducing electronic waste. ImageXpert (USA) – ImageXpert will share practical guidance on selecting the right inkjet printhead based on paste properties and application requirements. Drawing on the company's extensive jetting analysis and drop-watching expertise — used across the industry to characterize jetting behavior of functional fluids — the talk will help attendees match fluid rheology and particle loading to printhead capabilities before committing to a platform. The full abstract will follow closer to the event. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Join Us in Berlin These twelve talks are only one slice of the program. At the co-located exhibition you will meet equipment makers, printhead suppliers, ink formulators, and integrators across the entire digital manufacturing value chain. Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass also includes the co-located Perovskite Connect, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED — four world-class events, one venue, one ticket.

Why Should You Join TechBlick's Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED? Sustainable Electronics RESHAPED (21 & 22 OCT 2026, Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin) is where the global sustainable electronics industry takes form — reshaping the future of electronics layer by layer, through sustainable materials, efficient manufacturing, and circular designs. The event is co-located with Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect. The printed circuit board sits at the heart of electronics — and at the heart of its waste problem. In this article, we highlight talks around the theme of rethinking the PCB: bio-based substrates, additive and recyclable circuit fabrication, and greener production at industrial scale. In a companion article, we cover life cycle assessment, eco-design, and circular business models. Explore the full agenda now and register to join the event — one pass gives you access to all four co-located shows, the exhibition, and the TechBlick on-demand library. Bio-Based PCB Substrates: Wood, Cellulose, and Natural Fibres Holzforschung Austria (Austria) – Boris Forsthuber presents ecoPCBs on wood, developed within the EU-funded HyPELignum project. Conductive paths are printed onto wood substrates via inkjet or screen printing; the plywood ecoPCB concept prints circuitry into each veneer layer before gluing, connecting layers with vias to mimic a conventional multilayer PCB. Waterborne primers homogenize ink penetration on birch wood, and the screen-printing approach extends to timber construction (moisture and strain sensing) and furniture (touch sensing, VOC measurement with novel biomimetic smell sensors). EMPA (Switzerland) – Thomas Geiger presents printed circuit board substrates derived from cellulose nanofibrils. Lignocellulose nanofibrils obtained from lignin-rich pulp are dewatered under pressure and heat into rigid PCB substrates with a flexural strength of ~133 MPa and thermal conductivity comparable to epoxy-glass boards. A complete demonstration — a functioning wired computer mouse with inkjet-printed circuitry on an LCNF substrate and a 3D-printed PLA/wood housing — shows the readiness of these biodegradable substrates and points the way to sustainable eco-electronics. Jiva Materials (United Kingdom) – Steve Driver presents Soluboard — a fully recyclable rigid PCB laminate made from natural fibres and water-soluble polymers. Instead of shredding or incineration, end-of-life boards can be immersed in hot water: the substrate dissolves, releasing components and metals for clean recovery. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Voltera (Canada) – Voltera presents printing PCBs on biodegradable substrates for end-of-life recovery. Known for its desktop electronics printers used across labs and workshops worldwide, Voltera will show how digitally printed circuits pair naturally with biodegradable substrates — putting sustainable prototyping and small-batch production within reach. Speaker and final abstract to be confirmed in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Additive & Recyclable Circuit Fabrication Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany) – Gordon Elger presents a process-integrated approach for circular flexible electronics: biodegradable polymer substrates (PHB and bio-synthesized Polyamide-4 produced via metabolically engineered E. coli) combined with a particle-free copper complex ink sintered at just 150 °C under nitrogen. Fully additive patterning eliminates subtractive etching and copper waste; printed features reach ~3 µm thick continuous copper layers. Crucially, a solvent-based recycling protocol separates copper residues from the polymer, which is recast into second-generation films — demonstrating closed-loop substrate recovery without energy-intensive reprocessing. University of Maryland (USA) – Huaishu Peng presents dissolvable PCBs, leveraging water-soluble 3D printing and liquid metals for fully recyclable electronics — an approach where the entire circuit carrier is designed from the outset to come apart on demand, releasing components and conductors for recovery. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. CEA (France) – Lina Kadura presents the transformation of PCB production from subtractive to additive for sustainable electronics — replacing etch-and-waste process chains with additive fabrication that deposits material only where needed, cutting chemical use, energy, and scrap. Full talk details to be published in the agenda. DP Patterning (Sweden) – Tommy Höglund asks: how can sustainability and cost efficiency combine into a true win-win — and a disruptive force in flexible electronics? DP Patterning's unique mechanical roll-to-roll process eliminates waste-intensive steps for high-performance antennas, sensors, heaters, and interconnects. The talk covers the company's strategic transition from equipment supplier to flex-PCB production partner, its growth across Europe and North America, and its micro-plant strategy for localized, scalable manufacturing — showing that sustainability is no longer a trade-off but a catalyst reshaping business models. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Greener Production at Industrial Scale AT&S (Austria) – Christof Wernbacher outlines a practical approach to quantifying and reducing the carbon footprint of PCBs, using a Product Carbon Footprint methodology aligned with ISO 14067 combined with PCB-tailored eco-design. A dedicated bottom-up PCF tool enables hotspot identification, scenario analysis, and decarbonization monitoring across materials, processes, and energy — demonstrated through an automotive multilayer PCB use case featuring renewable energy, reduced copper and laminate thickness, material recycling, and bio-based alternatives. The talk emphasizes manufacturer–OEM collaboration to unlock the full potential of green electronics design. Infineon Technologies (Germany) – Moritz Schlagmann presents making electronics greener at the semiconductor level — from design to manufacturing. As one of the world's leading semiconductor makers, Infineon brings the sustainability discussion to the chip itself, where design choices and fab operations set the environmental baseline for everything built on top. The detailed abstract will follow in the agenda. Auburn University (USA) – Pradeep Lall presents AI-driven reliability: predictive life-cycle modeling for sustainable semiconductor packaging. Longer-lasting electronics are greener electronics — and Auburn's world-renowned reliability research shows how machine learning can predict degradation and lifetime, enabling packaging designed for durability rather than disposal. Full talk details to be published in the agenda. Explore the full agenda and register early for the best rates. Join Us in Berlin Wood, cellulose, natural fibre, and dissolvable boards; additive copper on biopolymers; carbon-accounted production lines — the PCB is being reinvented before our eyes, and Berlin is where the people doing it will be. Explore the full agenda and register now to secure the best rates. Your pass also includes the co-located Electronics RESHAPED, Electronic Textiles RESHAPED, and Perovskite Connect — four world-class events, one venue, one ticket.

16 & 17 September 2026 | High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands The agenda is LIVE! It is time to explore the full agenda and book your tickets! This event will feature ✅MicroLED Connect,✅ AR/VR Connect and ✅Optical I/O Connect, uniquely bringing together the display, the semiconductor and the AI communities. The agenda is very strong, featuring the likes of Google, Microsoft, Meta, Sony, GlobalFoundries, AppliedMaterials, Samsung Display, EssilorLuxottica, Aumovio, and more. You can explore the agenda below The exhibition floor is also nearly sold out. The ground floor is in fact full and for the first time we have opened the space on the upper floor for exhibition too! ­ 📅When: 16 & 17 Sept 2026 (Masterclasses on 15 Sept 2026) 📍Where: High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands 📋Combined Agenda: https://www.microledconnect.com/agenda-2026 Explore LIVE Agenda Now and Book Your Tickets Day1: 16.09.2026 09:15 | Track 1 | Sony | Challenges in democratizing AR glasses 09:35 | Track 1 | Google | Purpose-Driven Pixels: Aligning Display Tech with XR Use Cases 10:10 | Track 1 | Meta | AI glasses 11:15 | Track 1 | Hongshi Intelligence | What’s Next for MicroLED Micro-Displays: Hybrid Bonding, Metasurfaces, and System-Level Iteration 11:15 | Track 2 | Lumus | Synergistic Design of Micro-LED Projectors and Waveguides 11:35 | Track 1 | Adeia | 3D System Integration for MicroLEDs: Hybrid Bonding and Co-Optimization of GaN and Silicon 11:35 | Track 2 | Optinvent | Molded Polymer Reflective 2D Waveguide - A breakthrough for consumer AR 11:55 | Track 1 | WEVE Co., Ltd | Innovations in MicroLED Driver Architectures and System-Level Integration for Wearables 11:55 | Track 2 | Cellid | Displaying the Future: Advancing High-FOV Waveguide Design and Volume Manufacturing 12:15 | Track 1 | GlobalFoundries | Enabling CMOS backplanes for Microdisplays 12:15 | Track 2 | Applied Materials | Turning Breakthroughs into Reality: AI Glasses from First Etched Device to High-Volume Manufacturing 14:15 | Track 1 | Coherent | Fast and flexible - how lasers can solve the current technical bottlenecks for the mass production of microLED displays 14:15 | Track 2 | TriLite Technologies | Beyond mLED and LCoS: Laser beam scanning for high-efficiency AR displays 14:35 | Track 1 | VueReal | MicroLED Displays for Smartphones: Key Technical and Manufacturing Enablers for Commercial Viability 14:35 | Track 2 | vitrealab | Laser-LCoS – The Solution to AR Smart Glasses Challenges 14:55 | Track 1 | Holst Centre | Laser-Based Mass Transfer and Photonic Soldering for High-Yield MicroLED Integration 14:55 | Track 2 | Smith Displays Limited | The Transparency Paradox: Achieving AR in Crystal-Clear Displays 15:15 | Track 1 | Konica Minolta | (No title provided) 15:15 | Track 2 | Seagate Technology | From HDD to AR: Leveraging Wafer-Scale Photonics and High-Volume Manufacturing for Display Engines 16:20 | Track 1 | Avegant Corp. | Power is all you need ! 16:20 | Track 2 | Ingantec | Red MicroLEDs and Monolithic Full-Color Integration for AR, Medical Imaging & AI Interconnects 16:40 | Track 1 | Agency for Science, Technology and Research | One-micron pixel LCoS displays based on metasurface-integrated liquid crystal cells 16:40 | Track 2 | Aledia | High‑Performance Nanowire MicroLEDs for AR and Optical Interconnect Applications 17:00 | Track 2 | QubeDot | Direct-View MicroLED Arrays: Bridging the Gap Between Pixel Pitch and Optical Performance 17:20 | Track 2 | Oxford Instruments | (No title provided) 17:00 to 17:40 | Track 1 | Panel 1: Google AR | Meta | Center for eXtended Reality (CXR) | Display Training Center and Display Skeptics | Karl Guttag | Explore LIVE Agenda Now and Book Your Tickets Day 2: 17.09.2026 09:10 | Track 1 | Samsung Display | Micro LED for Display ; Challenges and Potential 09:30 | Track 1 | Center for Extended Reality / University of Rochester | Beyond Smart Display Glasses: Creating a path to Comfort, Context, and Depth in Spatial Computing. 09:50 | Track 1 | Microsoft | From Displays to Data Centers: The Promise and Reality of MicroLED Optical I/O for Next-Generation AI Infrastructure 10:10 | Track 1 | Mojo Vision | A wafers-in wafers-out Micro-LED Platform for AI* 11:10 | Track 1 | Nanoscribe GmbH & Co. KG | Additive 3D Microfabrication: Enabling Complex Micro-Optics and Compound Lenses for AR Systems 11:10 | Track 2 | Teradyne | Challenges of MicroLED testing 11:10 | Track 3 | CEA-Leti | Towards parallel communication using GaN microLEDs for chip to chip communication 11:30 | Track 1 | Hummink | Printed Metaoptics for AR/VR and Photonics 11:30 | Track 2 | TechnoTeam | Biomimetic Metrology Lenses for Near-Eye Displays: Diffraction-Limited AR/XR Quality Assurance 11:30 | Track 3| Avicena Tech | Wide, Slow, and Efficient: Redefining Optical Link Budgets with MicroLEDs 11:50 | Track 1 | EssilorLuxottica | POPULAR - Prescription Optics Providing a Universal Lens for Augmented Reality Eyewear 11:50 | Track 2 | Instrument Systems | Optical Metrology for MicroLED Displays and Wafers: Optimized Color-Matching Functions for Cross-Technology Product Portfolios 11:50 | Track 3 | University of California Santa Barbara | Development of GaN Based MicroLED Devices for Full Color Displays and High Speed Optical Communication 13:10 | Track 1 | Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute | From Materials to OSAT: SITRAB Technology for Scalable Micro-LED Transfer and Bonding 13:10 | Track 2 | Eulitha | Displacement Talbot Lithography for Scalable AR Waveguide Manufacturing 13:10 | Track 3 | ALLOS Semiconductors | 300mm GaN-on-Si Epitaxy: Overcoming Cost and Yield Barriers for CMOS-Integrated MicroLEDs 13:30 | Track 1 | Technische Universität Ilmenau | Fluidic Self-Assembly of MicroLEDs: Scaling into the Deep Microscale 13:30 | Track 2 | Morphotonics | Multi-Wafer Nanoimprint Lithography: A Panel-Based Approach to Scalable AR Waveguide Manufacturing 13:30 | Track 3 | Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork | A Micro-LED Architecture for Enhanced Emission Directionality in Displays and Optical Interconnects 13:50 | Track 1 | Pixel-Flo | A scalability breakthrough for microLED mass transfer using a slot-die coating approach 13:50 | Track 2 | EV Group (EVG) | From Nanostructures to New Realities: The Role of Nanoimprint Lithography in AR 13:50 | Track 3 | Tera Electronics Corp. | Wide-and-Slow MicroLED Optical I/O for Al Infrastructure 14:40 | Track 1 | Aumovio | Advances in MicroLED for Automotive Applications 14:40 | Track 2 | Vizon Tech | What it'll take, to make Augmented Reality Glasses a mass adopted Reality. 15:00 | Track 2 | AlphaLum | Camera-Free, Low-Power Eye Sensing for AI Glasses Using Self-Mixing Interferometry 15:00 to 16:00 | Track 1 | Panel 2: Labbet Advice | Imec.xpand | Applied Ventures | Photonventures | LIFTT S.p.A | 15:20 | Track 2 | Vuzix | (No title provided) Global Program The program is truly global, bringing together all the key players from across North America, Europe and Asia at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. You can not afford to miss this event! Learn more here. Explore LIVE Agenda Now and Book Your Tickets ­ Exhibition Floor The exhibition floor is also nearly full. In fact, the ground floor is fully sold out and we are not opening the upper floor for the very first time. We encourage you to learn more about our packages here and book now. Contact khasha@techblick.com Explore LIVE Agenda Now and Book Your Tickets The MicroLED Connect + AR/VR Connect + Optical I/O Connect 2026 show offers a truly remarkable experience, full of networking, interactions, and superb talks. See some images from our 2026 event below. Explore LIVE Agenda Now and Book Your Tickets