Printed, organic and flexible electronics forecasts, 2010-2020

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Printed, Organic & Flexible Electronics Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2010-2020" report to its offering.

2008 to 2028 market size: IDTechEx expects the spend on printed and thin film electronics beyond conventional silicon to be $1.58 Billion this year.

The majority of this is for OLED display panels ($0.69 Billion) which is the value of the panel and not the final device. Virtually all of this is non printed and on glass. Second largest by value is photovoltaics (PV) beyond conventional crystalline and amorphous silicon, accounting for $0.4 billion. This is not organic PV however, which is still some time away from commercialization, but inorganic technologies such as CIGS and CdTe devices.

For example, First Solar has an order book exceeding $2 Billion for CdTe PV devices which they will be delivering over several years. Third largest is not a specific product, but a value for inks for $0.21 billion, which are used for multiple different applications such as interconnects for switches, membrane keyboards, windscreen heaters.

The publisher gives the ink value only here rather than the value of the product because the products are so diverse in scope. Then the publisher has the market for sensors, at $0.11 billion, which are printed sensors used for glucose meters - approximately 2.2 billion are sold each year. $50 million will be spend on electroluminescent displays and $48 million on electrophoretic displays (the value of the front plane of the display itself rather than the end device).

On the other hand, the publisher sees the market for logic and memory beyond conventional silicon to be just $10 million this year - and virtually all of that is Most comprehensive quantative assessment of the industry

2009 to 2029 market size: The market for printed and potentially printed electronics, including organics, inorganics and composites, will rise from $1.92 billion in 2009 to $57.16 billion in 2019.

The majority of the market in 2009 - 71 percent percent - is for electronics which are relatively mature - conductive inks (for membrane keyboards, PCBs, flex connectors, membrane keyboards), sensors (e.g. disposable blood glucose sensors for those with diabetes) and OLEDs, which are on glass substrates and not printed as yet.

These three products will be overtaken in terms of market value as hundreds of companies develop, for example, OLEDs on flexible substrates which are printed, Thin Film Transistor Circuits (TFTCs) etc. Photovoltaics such as CIGS account for a market of $0.41 Billion in 2009, but even this is not the full picture.

CdTe and aSi photovoltaics, which are not printed today and are not included in the above figures, are now a substantial markets and both have been demonstrated to be printed and/or flexible. Over the coming years they will also make an impact in this topic.

In 2009, those two technologies result in $2.8 billion of sales and in this report the publisher looks at their future impact in printed electronics too.

$80 million will be spent on e-paper displays and $60 million on electroluminescent displays. On the other hand, most effort is going into technologies that are barely commercial today. For example, over 500 companies are developing thin film transistor circuits, and revenues this year will be only $10 million.

Most of these companies are working on organic semiconductors but that is changing - printed inorganic semiconductors have leapfrogged organics in terms of performance.

2010 to 2020 market size: IDTechEx finds that the market for printed and thin film electronics will be $1.92 billion in 2010. 43 percent of that will be predominately organic electronics - such as OLED display modules. Of the total market in 2010, 35 percent will be printed.

Initially, photovoltaics, OLED and e-paper displays grow rapidly, followed by thin film transistor circuits, sensors and batteries. By 2020, the market will be worth $55.1 billion, with 71 percent printed and 60 percent on flexible substrates.

However, the topic is even bigger than this with some conventional electronics such as conventional aSi Photovoltaics now migrating to being printed, to reduce cost, be available on flexible substrates and in larger areas.