Printed Electronics - the Giants Get Involved

First uses usually involve conventional components as well

Today, the main applications of printed electronics are where it is used in combination with conventional components such as silicon chips and button batteries etc. These applications are usually chosen to be relatively undemanding in technical parameters such as definition, colour quality (of printed electronic displays) and conductance (of antennas and interconnects). Examples are the screen printed electrochromic displays on Valentines Cards in 2003, billions of printed Ultra High Frequency (UHF) antennas on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in 2005 and, in recent years, vast areas of electroluminescent flexible billboard albeit based on a limited range of emitted colours. Eastman Kodak are now developing full colour electroluminescent displays - a big advance.