David Savastano, Editor01.19.11
The field of printed electronics is clearly evolving, and it is interesting to hear the perspective of people who have long been involved in the field. From time to time, Printed Electronics Now is going to interview some of the leaders in the field, and present their viewpoints.
This week, we spoke with Thomas Kolbusch, vice president of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, an equipment manufacturing company for coating and printing solutions located in Dormagen, Germany. Since 1999, Kolbusch has worked for Coatema Coating Machinery. His main areas of responsibility are marketing and new technologies.
He is active in the field of fuel cells and batteries, flexible electronics and photovoltaic. A member of the board of the OE-A (Organic Electronics Association) – a working group within VDMA, he leads a working group which is called “Upscaling to Production – from Lab to Fab.” For three years he worked on the board of directors of the KIBZ, a fuel cell network in Baden Württemberg. In North Rhine-Westphalia, he is engaged in a working group on Stack Design for fuel cells, which he also led for two years.
He is organizer of the Coatema Coating Symposium, an international coating and printing seminar which takes place in Dormagen. He is working on several BMBF-funded R&D projects on flexible electronics and on an EU project on the same topic. Kolbusch studied business economics at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, with a business economist degree in 1997. As a post-graduate, he worked for 3M, Germany, and the alpi GmbH. In addition to his position at Coatema, from 2006 until 2009 he workedas managing director for Solarcoating Machinery GmbH, a company which specialized on R2R equipment for third generation PV.
Coatema is a market leader for equipment in PE. The company has delivered more than five units for OPV and DSSC into the market, and can scale up customers from small scale sample machines into two-story PE machines, such as the one the company is now building for the Printocent center of VTT. This machine combines etching, laser patterning, inkjet, coating and printing technologies with state-of-the-art drying technologies at a speed of 30m/min.
Printed Electronics Now: What is your background in the field of PE and technology?
Thomas Kolbusch: I have been working for Coatema Coating Machinery for the past 11 years. The first contact with PE markets we had was in 2003, with conductive coatings on PE films. We started more intensive work in 2005 on polymer solar cells, DSSC and RFID. Since 2009, I have been a member of the board of directors of the OE-A, and organize a working group at the OE-A called “Upscaling to Production.”
Additionally, I represent Coatema on one FP-7 project called Facess. I was on the industrial board of the Prodi project and I am in the industrial board of a finish project called Rapidmass. Beside printed electronics, I am working in technologies like batteries, fuel cells and medical coating and printing applications.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry evolved in recent years?
Thomas Kolbusch: What we have seen over the years is that more and more big players from the material supplier world are moving into the market. We see more and more start-ups in different areas which are near to market, and we see a strong investment effort in Asia, specifically on flexible displays and OFT. The most significant change is that in a lot of markets, people are moving from small-scale bespoken demonstrators into semi-production industrial designs. In Europe, we see the successful installation of technology clusters where industry joins R&D in projects or product development.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Thomas Kolbusch: The key advancements which led to this development are the upscaling from lab processes into semi-production bigger scale operation; an example of this is Konarka. People are able to produce bigger amounts in reproducible quality due to two key factors: Development of the material supply chain from the chemical industry, and at the same time, the equipment manufacturers like Coatema are providing reliable and flexible machinery solutions.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Thomas Kolbusch: The key technology hurdles are resolution, registration accuracy, layer thickness, pattern on pattern precision, environmental control and an inline quality management loop. This means, for example, a registration control accuracy of 5µ by 5µ in cross and longitudinal direction for OTFT. This means printing thinner lines of silver than possible today for OPV, and to operate these processes under nitrogen control environment.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Thomas Kolbusch: Near term, we will see OPV, DSSC, OLED lightning, electrochrome displays and other flex display technologies as potential mass markets. Mid-term, we will see more and more integrated devices with thin film printed batteries, sensors and other devices. Long-term, we will see the development of the whole value chain for PE, and this might also change the way products are produced today.
He is active in the field of fuel cells and batteries, flexible electronics and photovoltaic. A member of the board of the OE-A (Organic Electronics Association) – a working group within VDMA, he leads a working group which is called “Upscaling to Production – from Lab to Fab.” For three years he worked on the board of directors of the KIBZ, a fuel cell network in Baden Württemberg. In North Rhine-Westphalia, he is engaged in a working group on Stack Design for fuel cells, which he also led for two years.
He is organizer of the Coatema Coating Symposium, an international coating and printing seminar which takes place in Dormagen. He is working on several BMBF-funded R&D projects on flexible electronics and on an EU project on the same topic. Kolbusch studied business economics at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, with a business economist degree in 1997. As a post-graduate, he worked for 3M, Germany, and the alpi GmbH. In addition to his position at Coatema, from 2006 until 2009 he workedas managing director for Solarcoating Machinery GmbH, a company which specialized on R2R equipment for third generation PV.
Coatema is a market leader for equipment in PE. The company has delivered more than five units for OPV and DSSC into the market, and can scale up customers from small scale sample machines into two-story PE machines, such as the one the company is now building for the Printocent center of VTT. This machine combines etching, laser patterning, inkjet, coating and printing technologies with state-of-the-art drying technologies at a speed of 30m/min.
Printed Electronics Now: What is your background in the field of PE and technology?
Thomas Kolbusch: I have been working for Coatema Coating Machinery for the past 11 years. The first contact with PE markets we had was in 2003, with conductive coatings on PE films. We started more intensive work in 2005 on polymer solar cells, DSSC and RFID. Since 2009, I have been a member of the board of directors of the OE-A, and organize a working group at the OE-A called “Upscaling to Production.”
Additionally, I represent Coatema on one FP-7 project called Facess. I was on the industrial board of the Prodi project and I am in the industrial board of a finish project called Rapidmass. Beside printed electronics, I am working in technologies like batteries, fuel cells and medical coating and printing applications.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry evolved in recent years?
Thomas Kolbusch: What we have seen over the years is that more and more big players from the material supplier world are moving into the market. We see more and more start-ups in different areas which are near to market, and we see a strong investment effort in Asia, specifically on flexible displays and OFT. The most significant change is that in a lot of markets, people are moving from small-scale bespoken demonstrators into semi-production industrial designs. In Europe, we see the successful installation of technology clusters where industry joins R&D in projects or product development.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Thomas Kolbusch: The key advancements which led to this development are the upscaling from lab processes into semi-production bigger scale operation; an example of this is Konarka. People are able to produce bigger amounts in reproducible quality due to two key factors: Development of the material supply chain from the chemical industry, and at the same time, the equipment manufacturers like Coatema are providing reliable and flexible machinery solutions.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Thomas Kolbusch: The key technology hurdles are resolution, registration accuracy, layer thickness, pattern on pattern precision, environmental control and an inline quality management loop. This means, for example, a registration control accuracy of 5µ by 5µ in cross and longitudinal direction for OTFT. This means printing thinner lines of silver than possible today for OPV, and to operate these processes under nitrogen control environment.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Thomas Kolbusch: Near term, we will see OPV, DSSC, OLED lightning, electrochrome displays and other flex display technologies as potential mass markets. Mid-term, we will see more and more integrated devices with thin film printed batteries, sensors and other devices. Long-term, we will see the development of the whole value chain for PE, and this might also change the way products are produced today.