Creative Design of Printed Electronics Products is Badly Needed

A common theme in the IDTechEx conference Printed Electronics in Dresden this week was the shortage of creative product design. Those trying to replace displays on television sets and mobile phones are finding it a very expensive and unforgiving exercise as LCDs and other old technologies continue to improve. Ironically, it is being made tougher for new technologies such as OLEDs because the older technologies are being value engineered by introducing a measure of printing with electronic inks - the basis of the new electronics - with some now incorporated in the processes of both Plasma Display Panels PDP and LCD displays. For example, SSCP of Korea has recently substituted six stages of PDP manufacture with one flexographic print stage.