The Fabrication of High-Performance Electronic Devices - Essay Example

Organic Electronics By Candi s (This page intentionally left blank) Although silicon has been the material of choice for the fabrication of high-performance electronic devices for the past fifty years, a phenomenal surge in interest in organic electronics within the relatively recent years has been the result of expectations of significantly lower costs and desirable features attainable with organic materials (Klauk, 2006, Chapter 4). Organic electronics, which deals with conductive polymers, plastics or small molecules that are carbon-based, holds promise for enabling the construction of a new generation of fundamental building blocks of microelectronics, the organic thin film transistors, at a much lower cost because of simpler patterning and deposition techniques. Traditional electronics, involving the use of inorganic conductors, including copper and silicon, presents a use of materials that are heavier and more expensive than conductive polymers and organic semiconductors include dielectrics, conductors and light emitters that have many and varied applications in the field of electronics (Sun, 2008, Chapter 5) and (Wikipedia, 2010, “Organic Electronics”). Already, organic electronics based displays using organic light emitting diodes have found their way into car radios, etc., with rapid improvements expected in organic field effect transistors. According to published reports, the market for organic materials will be worth US$ 4.9 billion on 2012, and this will surge to US$15.8 billion in the year 2015 (Allen, 2008, Pp. 6). The previously mentioned author states that new kinds of semiconductor materials, including rubrene, hybrid materials and formulations made of carbon nanotubes will continue to spur the market to grow to US$4.9 billion by the year 2015, with the organic electronic substrate business growing to US$ 6.9 billion. According to NanoMarkets (2007, "Organic Harvest: Opportunities in Organic Electronic Materials"), eighty percent of organic electronic materials will be sold into the RFID, display backplanes and Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) lighting and displays applications. However, according to the previously mentioned report, if organic electronics is to continue on the road to success, it will have to emulate the traditional semiconductor industry and invent an organic version of CMOS with its own stable material sets. Thus, firms specialising in materials for electronics and organic electronic materials must offer commercial quantities of n-type semiconductors and organic dielectrics. In addition, the previously mentioned report suggests that for large-scale organic electronic device manufacturing, material suppliers will have to formulate their offerings to suit large scale manufacturing plants. It is likely that the large-scale manufacturing plants for organic electronics will continue to use traditional evaporation, coating and flexo printing, rather than the much-touted ink-jet approaches, at least in the near future, so a need will exist for materials for the previously mentioned processes (NanoMarkets, 2009, “The Future of Organic Electronics Manufacturing”). Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 1 – 10) suggests that Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) has the potential for presenting answers to many pressing concerns in the field of energy, environment, information and communication, mobility, health and others. Organic electronics will play an important role in the future of lighting, organic photovoltaic applications, displays, electronics and integrated smart systems. Already several electronic organisations in Europe and around the world are working to deliver on the promise. The previously mentioned report puts the market potential of organic and large area electronics at US$ 300 billion by the year 2027. The previously mentioned report states that OLAE is a disruptive technology that will contribute to next-generation information technology, energy, healthcare, entertainment, and advertising industry solutions to meet large end-user markets demand in Europe. Researchers expect that developments in organic electronics technology will contribute in terms of effective use of materials, added functionality of products and savings in energy to change the way people live. Projections presented in Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 4) for products of organic electronics are in Figure 1, below. It is clear from the figure below that by the year 2010, the worldwide sale of semiconductors, flat panel displays had exceeded US$ 250 billion and US$ 130 billion respectively, and in the coming years, the worldwide sales of flat panel displays will approach US$ 150 billion. However, the previously mentioned report suggests that the worldwide sales of organic and printed electronics will grow to US$ 60 billion by the year 2019. The Photonics 21 report states that European players in the organic electronic field are global leaders in OLAE, with a 50% market share, with other players from North America, Japan and East Asia accessing the rest of the global market. However, judicious investments in research and manufacturing will decide about the key future players in organic electronics. Players in Europe are already in possession of materials and production machinery for organic electronics, with access to a huge European market. Nevertheless, despite the fact that organisations in Europe, including Photonics 21, Organic Electronics Association, European Technology Platform on Smart System Integration and Organic / Plastic Electronics Research Alliance are involved with the efforts to further the cause of organic electronics in Europe, a need exists for committed giants. There is a shortage of entrepreneurship associated with organic electronics in Europe with a clear view of research leading to manufacturing. Thus, Europe, like other developed regions in the world must compete to present applications that will succeed in the market. Figure 1: Projections of the Worldwide Sales of Products of Organic Electronics, from Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 4) Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) market for the world, as estimated by several leading players in consumer electronics, will reach about US$ 5 – 6 billion in sales by the year 2018, as depicted in the figure below (Photonics 21, 2009, Pp. 21). Figure 2: Overview of Organic Light Emitting Diode market predictions from several market research companies, from Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 21) Projections for the organic thin film market in Europe alone are in the figure below (Photonics 21, 2009, Pp. 27). Figure 3: Projections for Thin Film Photovoltaic market for Europe, from (Photonics 21, 2009, Pp. 27) The global market for organic and printed electronics, including logic / memory, battery, sensors, conductors and other products that are applications of organic electronics is in the figures below. Figure 4: Market forecasts for Organic and Printed Electronics, from Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 45) Figure 5: Global Market for Organic and Printed Electronics, from Photonics 21 (2009, Pp. 52) The brief discussion presented clearly demonstrates that published reports indicate that there is a great future for organic electronics. However, a need exists for major players to invest judiciously and for governments around the world to stimulate further research and investment in organic electronics today so that the world can benefit from this promising technology. (This page intentionally left blank) Bibliography/ References Allen, Glen. (2008). Organic Materials to Spike. Printed Circuit Design and Fabrication, Vol. 25 Issue 2, February 2008, Pp. 6. Retrieved: September 4, 2010, from: EBSCO. Friend, Richard and Malliaras, George. (2005). An Organic Electronics Primer. Physics Today, May 2005, Pp. 53 – 58, Retrieved: September 4, 2010, from: EBSCO. Gamota, Daniel & Zhang, Jie. (2007). Organic and Printed Electronics: The Next Big Thing. Printed Circuit Design and Manufacture, February 2007, Pp. 36 – 40. Retrieved: September 4, 2010, from: EBSCO. Klauk, Hagen. (2006). Organic Electronics: Materials, Manufacturing and Applications. John Wiley & Sons. NanoMarkets. (2007). Organic Harvest: Opportunities in Organic Electronic Materials. NanoMarkets. NanoMarkets. (2009). The Future of Organic Electronic Manufacturing. NanoMarkets. Photonics 21. (2009). Strategic Research Agenda: Organic and Large Area Electronics. Photonics 21. Retrieved: September 4, 2010, from: http://www.photonics21.org/ So, Frank (Editor). (2010). Organic Electronics: Materials, Processing, Devices and Applications. CRC Press. Sun, Sam-Shajing & Dalton, Larry R. (2008). Introduction to Organic Electronic and Optoelectronic Materials and Devices. CRC Press. Wiederrecht, Gary (Editor). (2010). Handbook of Nanoscale Electronics and Optics. Elsevier. Wikipedia. (2010). Organic Electronics. Wikipedia. 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