David Savastano, Editor02.23.10
There are numerous companies and universities that are developing unique printed electronics (PE) devices to showcase to potential customers. However, one of the challenges is that the devices don’t necessarily fit what the customer wants.
Scott White, CEO of Nano ePrint Limited, a specialist in the design and manufacturing of planar nano-electronics, believes that the best results come when the customer brings their own needs to the table.
“A lot of printed electronics has been technology-pushed, but our approach is customer-pulled, as the way we integrate our technology is driven by the customer,” White said.
Earlier this month, Nano ePrint announced that in partnership with Novalia Ltd., it is developing all-printed electronic greeting cards for Tigerprint Ltd., a subsidiary of Hallmark. These cards are expected to reach the market in 2011, and it is a clear sign that Nano ePrint is on the right track.
Nano ePrint’s fundamental technology was developed by University of Manchester Professor Aimin Song in 2000. Professor Song, who serves as Nano ePrint’s chief scientist, developed an innovative approach for building diodes and transistors utilizing a 2-D planar structure, which he patented.
The technology enables planar nanoelectronic circuits that can uniquely be fabricated in a single layer of semiconductor on flexible substrates via single-step patterning, which makes it far simpler than conventional multi-layer 3-D electronic structures. As the technology evolved, Nano ePrint was spun out of the university in 2006.
“The technology has been further developed, and now we are focusing on commercial applications,” White said.
Nano ePrint’s focus on consumer packaging applications sets it apart from most PE manufacturers.
“The market for printed electronics has developed quite substantially,” White said. “Historically, PE has been targeted at markets such as flexible backplanes and printed RFID, but we have a different view. We see consumer goods packaging as an ideal market, where the use of PE can be value-driven rather than cost-driven, and companies can charge a premium for innovative functionality and form factors.
“This idea has started to gain a lot of traction in the market in the last six months,” White continued. “You can’t easily integrate a silicon chip into a complex form factor due to cost and the form factor itself, and even if you do, the cost of such integration becomes prohibitive. The ability to print this functionality is our value proposition.”
White noted that Nano ePrint is already discussing these concepts with a variety of consumer goods and packaging companies.
“We are partnering with major consumer-oriented companies, whose forte is designing interesting products,” he said. “These companies understand that marketing is a key differentiator. Printed electronics is seen as a way of differentiating the product, sort of analogous to the use of color packaging in an aisle full of black and white packaging. There would be a direct revenue benefit from being able to better capture consumers’ attention.”
The collaboration with Tigerprint is one example of how printed electronics can play a huge role for an innovative company. Nano ePrint’s ability to program its chips to different types of cards rather than have to produce specific chips will allow the company to produce its chips at a much more cost effective price point.
“Greeting cards are a massive market, and it is one where there is tremendous pressure for differentiation, while there are constraints due to cost and form factor,” White said. “PE opens up a huge world of opportunities for companies. But a key element is the ability to develop a programmable architecture for printed logic. We can configure functionality for different types of greeting cards, rather than create specific chips for cards, which would not be cost effective.”
Outside of consumer packaging and novelties such as greeting cards, toys and games, White sees strong opportunities in security products. One company Nano ePrint is working with is Optaglio Ltd., whose high-security Optically Variable Microstructure (OVM) technology utilizes holography, diffractive devices, micro-recombination, etching and nanotechnology elements.
“We can enhance security and authentication by printing functionality,” White said. “We have had a lot of interest from this market.”
Because of its approach to printing its devices, Nano ePrint is well positioned for scale-up.
“The process we use is similar to holographic printing. For us, the scale-up challenge is less than most, as we are making thousands and millions initially at premium price, and our circuits also have a very a small footprint,” White said. “ We don’t have to go roll-to-roll on Day 1. Our printing technology is very advanced technically, and offers high repeatability at a low cost. We are printing thousands of devices in a square millimeter or less, and we can use sheetfed production at a very low cost point per circuit.”
“A lot of printed electronics has been technology-pushed, but our approach is customer-pulled, as the way we integrate our technology is driven by the customer,” White said.
Earlier this month, Nano ePrint announced that in partnership with Novalia Ltd., it is developing all-printed electronic greeting cards for Tigerprint Ltd., a subsidiary of Hallmark. These cards are expected to reach the market in 2011, and it is a clear sign that Nano ePrint is on the right track.
Nano ePrint’s Approach to the PE Market
Nano ePrint’s fundamental technology was developed by University of Manchester Professor Aimin Song in 2000. Professor Song, who serves as Nano ePrint’s chief scientist, developed an innovative approach for building diodes and transistors utilizing a 2-D planar structure, which he patented.
The technology enables planar nanoelectronic circuits that can uniquely be fabricated in a single layer of semiconductor on flexible substrates via single-step patterning, which makes it far simpler than conventional multi-layer 3-D electronic structures. As the technology evolved, Nano ePrint was spun out of the university in 2006.
“The technology has been further developed, and now we are focusing on commercial applications,” White said.
Nano ePrint’s focus on consumer packaging applications sets it apart from most PE manufacturers.
“The market for printed electronics has developed quite substantially,” White said. “Historically, PE has been targeted at markets such as flexible backplanes and printed RFID, but we have a different view. We see consumer goods packaging as an ideal market, where the use of PE can be value-driven rather than cost-driven, and companies can charge a premium for innovative functionality and form factors.
“This idea has started to gain a lot of traction in the market in the last six months,” White continued. “You can’t easily integrate a silicon chip into a complex form factor due to cost and the form factor itself, and even if you do, the cost of such integration becomes prohibitive. The ability to print this functionality is our value proposition.”
“We are partnering with major consumer-oriented companies, whose forte is designing interesting products,” he said. “These companies understand that marketing is a key differentiator. Printed electronics is seen as a way of differentiating the product, sort of analogous to the use of color packaging in an aisle full of black and white packaging. There would be a direct revenue benefit from being able to better capture consumers’ attention.”
The collaboration with Tigerprint is one example of how printed electronics can play a huge role for an innovative company. Nano ePrint’s ability to program its chips to different types of cards rather than have to produce specific chips will allow the company to produce its chips at a much more cost effective price point.
“Greeting cards are a massive market, and it is one where there is tremendous pressure for differentiation, while there are constraints due to cost and form factor,” White said. “PE opens up a huge world of opportunities for companies. But a key element is the ability to develop a programmable architecture for printed logic. We can configure functionality for different types of greeting cards, rather than create specific chips for cards, which would not be cost effective.”
Outside of consumer packaging and novelties such as greeting cards, toys and games, White sees strong opportunities in security products. One company Nano ePrint is working with is Optaglio Ltd., whose high-security Optically Variable Microstructure (OVM) technology utilizes holography, diffractive devices, micro-recombination, etching and nanotechnology elements.
“We can enhance security and authentication by printing functionality,” White said. “We have had a lot of interest from this market.”
Because of its approach to printing its devices, Nano ePrint is well positioned for scale-up.
“The process we use is similar to holographic printing. For us, the scale-up challenge is less than most, as we are making thousands and millions initially at premium price, and our circuits also have a very a small footprint,” White said. “ We don’t have to go roll-to-roll on Day 1. Our printing technology is very advanced technically, and offers high repeatability at a low cost. We are printing thousands of devices in a square millimeter or less, and we can use sheetfed production at a very low cost point per circuit.”