Here Comes Second Generation Printed Electronics

Unprecendented virtues

Disposable right through to top specification – it is all there in the new programs. After all, these printed and potentially printed technologies avoid the poisons involved in making and assembling most silicon devices and printed circuit boards. They can be more damage tolerant, even rollable. They eliminate the interconnects and therefore failure modes suffered when silicon chips are connected to other components. Installation may be as simple as applying sticky tape. Alternatively, they can be printed onto transparent sheet that doubles as a quality loudspeaker thanks to NXT technology. All this creates applications where cost is not always the prime consideration. However, the resulting ubiquitous disposable electronics will be a huge business.