Integrated Circuits and Systems

Series EditorAnantha P. Chandrakasan

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Eugenio CantatoreEditor

Applications of Organicand Printed Electronics

A Technology-Enabled Revolution

123

EditorEugenio CantatoreDepartment of Electrical EngineeringEindhoven University of TechnologyEindhovenNetherlands

ISSN 1558-9412ISBN 978-1-4614-3159-6 ISBN 978-1-4614-3160-2 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-3160-2Springer Boston Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London

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Preface

The Disruptive Potential of Low-Cost,Low-Temperature Technologies for Electronics

Electronics, and more specifically integrated circuits (IC), have dramaticallychanged our lives and the way we interact with the world. Following the so-calledMoore’s law [1], IC complexity is growing exponentially since 40 years, and thistrend is predicted to continue at least for the coming 15 years [2]. The abundance ofelectronic functions at affordable cost has enabled a wealth of applications wherethe main IC strengths, namely computational speed and memory capacity, are wellexploited: PCs, portable devices, game consoles, smart phones and alike. Thecommercial success of integrated electronics is based on a symbiotic developmentof technology and applications, where technical progress and economic growthnurture each other. This process requires lots of time and effort: first IC patentswhere filed in 1949 [3], but it is only in 1971 that the first commercially availablemicroprocessor (Intel 4004), one of the most far-reaching application of ICs, gainedthe market; and PCs became popular only in the second half of the eighties.

The main strength of integrated electronics is in the low-cost-per-functionenabled by an ever growing miniaturization: mono-crystalline silicon real estate isvery expensive, but the number of transistors that can be integrated per area growsaccording to Moore’s law, bringing down the cost to realize a given function.

Since the second half of the seventies, a completely different electronic para-digm, the so-called large-area electronics, has been developing. In this field themajor aim is to decrease the cost per area (instead of the cost per function),enabling large surfaces covered with electronic devices. The main application ofthis kind of technology, typically based on amorphous or polycrystalline silicontransistors, is in active-matrix addressing of flat displays. The success of thistechnology has become evident in the last decade, when flat-panel LCD displayshave swiftly replaced traditional cathode ray tubes in television sets.

Amorphous and polycrystalline silicon technology typically require high-tem-perature vacuum-based processing, with the consequence that glass substrates are

v

used and that the technology throughput is limited. In the nineties a new technologyapproach has been proposed, based on materials that enable low-temperature pro-cessing and the use of very high throughput patterning technologies, borrowed fromthe graphic printing field: organic and printed electronics were born.

The word ‘‘organic electronics’’, which I personally started using in 2000 [4]together with many colleagues, designates electronics manufactured using func-tional carbon-based materials, typically semiconductors, like pentacene, P3HT,PCBM, PTAA and many others. There are several reasons for this choice:

• Organic materials can form functional films when processed from solutions,paving the way to manufacturing processes with a reduced number of vacuumsteps (which are typically expensive and cumbersome to scale to large areas),and thus enabling potentially very low-cost large-area electronics;

• Organic materials are processed at low temperature (typically below 200 �C),enabling the use of inexpensive and flexible plastic foils as substrates and pavingthe way to flexible electronics;

• Organic chemistry is intrinsically very rich, enabling the exploration of a lim-itless library of materials having very diverse electrical, optical, rheological andchemical properties;

• Together with the chemical variety, a large spectrum of physically differentdevices based on organic materials is possible and has been developed in theyears, the most well-known being organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) [5],organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) [6, 7], organic photovoltaics (OPVs) [8],organic sensors [9], organic memories [10, 11], and organic MEMs [12]1.

Together with these strengths, functional organic materials and organic elec-tronics present a number of drawbacks:

• Organic semiconductors have a relatively poor mobility, with peak values forsingle-crystal materials in the range of 10 cm2/Vs [13], and typical values insolution-processed films of about 1 cm2/Vs at the state of the art. Under thispoint of view, other materials suitable for low-temperature and large-area pro-cessing, like metal-oxide semiconductors and carbon nanotubes, may offer anadvantage compared to organic semiconductors.

• Organic semiconductors (especially n-type) are sensitive to oxygen, moistureand other environmental aggressors, so that for long time organic electronicdevices have had poor shelf and operational lifetime. Organic materials are alsosensitive to bias stress, which tends to affect operational lifetime. Recentimprovements in the materials, their formulation and encapsulation, however,show that instabilities should not be a show-stopper for commercialization (seefor instance Sect. 2.3 in Chap. 2 and Sect. 4.4 in Chap. 4);

1 In this section a few early and significant papers have been selected as references.

vi Preface

• Organic semiconductors are difficult to dope in situ with highly controlleddopant concentrations as a process equivalent of the ion implantation dopingused in silicon has still not been developed for organic materials. This makesdifficult to manage key parameters like transistor threshold voltages and injec-tion barriers at the contacts.

Many more details on the state of the art and roadmaps of organic electronicsare given in Chap. 1 and in the other chapters of this book.

The capability to deposit organic materials from solution makes possible topattern functional materials using methods adapted from graphic printing, likeinkjet, gravure, slot coating and many others. This leads to the concept of ‘‘printedelectronics’’. The main strength of this approach is the high throughput thatcharacterizes printing production processes, which means that printing has thepotential to make possible very inexpensive large-area electronics, and thus toenable applications of electronics unthinkable till now. Moreover, printing is anadditive process, thus only the functional materials that are needed are effectivelyused, contrary to the traditional lithography-based subtractive approach. This hasthe potential to decrease material usage and thus further bring down the costs.Detailed information on printing electronics is available especially in Chaps. 1, 2and 6 of this book.

The strengths of printing are paired with the challenges that this technologyfaces: it is namely difficult and expensive to develop a new electronic technologyusing an approach that in a few minutes can generate rolls covered with hundredsof meters of electronics to be characterized and optimized. Uniformity, perfor-mance and yield are daunting tasks to be solved for future printed electronicsapplications.

The potential low cost, the compatibility with large flexible substrates and thewealth of devices that characterize organic and printed electronics will makepossible applications that go far beyond the well-known displays made withconventional large-area silicon electronics. Organic and printed electronics canenable a true revolution in the applications of electronics: this is the view thatbrought me, together with a large number of colleagues, to write this book. Thevolume offers to the reader an extensive overview of the different devices enabledby organic electronics, and reviews a large variety of applications that aredeveloping and can be foreseen for the future.

Chapter 1, written by Tampere University, the Organic Electronic Association(OA-E) and PolyIC, offers a complete Roadmap for Organic and Printed Elec-tronics spanning till the end of this decade. It is an ideal starting point to under-stand the complex application scenarios and the likely developments in this rapidlygrowing technology domain.

In Chap. 2 by Konarka, Cyprus University of Technology and Friedrich-Alexander-University, are discussed Organic Photovoltaics, with great emphasison the use of printing processes for their manufacturing. A wide overview of theprinting processes for organic electronics is given, together with the state of the artof their application to solar cells. Photovoltaic cells do not need fine patterning of

Preface vii

the structures in the plane of the device, and are thus an ideal candidate to exploitthe high throughput of printing processes. This chapter is an excellent readingfor the person willing to understand more about printing electronics. A roadmapfor organic solar cells concludes this contribution.

In the third and fourth chapter light emitting diodes (OLED), the most advancedorganic electronic devices available at the moment, are discussed. Chapter 3,written by Kyung Hee University and Samsung, gives a detailed overview ofOLED Displays, a booming application that has reached the market since someyears already, and is rapidly growing to become the standard emissive technologyfor flat displays. This section informs the reader about the different types of OLEDpixels in commercial use and in development, and gives insight into the mostrelevant display and backplane issues.

Chapter 4, by Philips, gives a nice overview of OLED for Lighting applications.The section begins with an insightful description of the materials, physics,architecture and benchmarking of OLED lighting devices, to continue with anoverview of fabrication methods, reliability and commercial applications.

Chapter 5 by University of Tokyo gives an interesting vision for future organicelectronics: it will complement silicon ICs to create new applications enablingunprecedented ways of interaction between electronics and people. In this visionare included a variety of different organic devices (TFTs, sensors and actuators)providing a stimulating view on how different types of organic electronics can beintegrated to enable revolutionary applications.

The sixth and seventh chapter deal with organic TFTs. Chapter 6 focuses onapplications of Printed Organic TFTs. This section, written by PolyIC, describesthe devices and technology needed to print transistors and circuits, the charac-teristics of printed TFTs, and what this revolutionary technology can mean interms of applications (RFIDs and Smart Objects). Chapter 7 by IMEC, KUL,KHL, TNO and Polymer Vision focuses on the application of Organic TFTs tolow-cost RFIDs. This section explains how organic RFIDs are developing towardsbecoming fully-compliant to existing standards for RFIDs based on silicon ICtechnology. Compatibility with standards would mean that the same infrastructurecan be shared between silicon and organic RFIDs, enabling a seamless transitionbetween the two technologies and an easy market uptake. This does not mean,however, that silicon and organic should serve the same markets: the character-istics of printed electronics lend themselves naturally to the dream of enablingitem-level identification of retail items, which is still out of reach for siliconRFIDs, due to the high costs and cumbersome integration of silicon ICs with theitems to be identified.

Chapter 8, contributed by University of California Berkeley, reviews the stateof the art of Chemical Sensors based on organic electronic devices and demon-strates the specific competitive advantage that these sensors have, namely the easeof creating matrices of sensing elements with different sensitivity to diverseanalytes, thus enabling the extraction of unique analyte signatures and greatlyimproving both specificity and versatility of use.

viii Preface

This book can be read at different levels of insight by beginners as well as byexperts in the field, and is specifically conceived to address a wide range of peoplewith technical and scientific background. I am deeply grateful to all contributors: Ihope you will appreciate their effort and I wish you a pleasant and fruitful reading.

Eindhoven, The Netherlands, January 2012 Eugenio Cantatore

References

1. Moore GE (2003) No exponential is forever: but ‘‘forever’’ can be delayed! In:ISSCC 2003 digest of technical papers, pp 20–23

2. ITRS Roadmap (2011) Available at http://www.itrs.net/Links/2011ITRS/Home2011.htm

3. Jacobi W (1949) Halbleiterverstärker, Patent DE833366, 15 April 19494. Cantatore E (2001) State of the art electronic devices based on organic materials.

In: Proceedings of the 31st European solid-state device research conference(ESSDERC), pp 25–34

5. Tang CW, VanSlyke SA (1987) Organic electroluminescent diodes. ApplPhys Lett 51:913

6. Koezuka H, Tsumura A, Ando T (1987) Field-effect transistor with poly-thiophene thin film. Synth Met 18:699–704

7. Brown AR, Pomp A, Hart CM, de Leeuw DM (1995) Logic gates made frompolymer transistors and their use in ring oscillators. Science 270(5238):972–974

8. Sariciftci NS, Smilowitz L, Heeger AJ, Wudl F (1992) Photoinduced electron-transfer from a conducting polymer to buckminsterfullerene. Science258(5087):1474–1476

9. Torsi L, Dodabalapur A, Sabbatini L, Zambonin PG (2000) Multi-parametergas sensors based on organic thin-film-transistors. Sens Actuators B 67:312

10. Reed MA, Chen J, Rawlett AM, Price DW, Tour JM (2001) Molecularrandom access memory cell. App Phys Lett 78(23):3735–3737

11. Ouyang JY, Chu CW, Szmanda CR, Ma LP, Yang Y (2004) Programmablepolymer thin film and non-volatile memory device. Nat Mater 3(12):918–922

12. Sekitani T, Takamiya M, Noguchi Y, Nakano S, Kato Y, Hizu K, Kawaguchi H,Sakurai T, Someya T (2006) A large-area flexible wireless power transmissionsheet using printed plastic MEMS switches and organic field-effect transistors.In: IEEE int. electron devices meeting (IEDM), pp 287–290

13. Jurchescu OD, Popinciuc M, van Wees BJ, Palstra TTM (2007) Interface-controlled, high-mobility organic transistors. Adv Mater 19:688–692

Preface ix

Contents

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic and Printed Electronics . . . . . . . . . . 1Donald Lupo, Wolfgang Clemens, Sven Breitung and Klaus Hecker

2 Solution-Processed Organic Photovoltaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Claudia N. Hoth, Pavel Schilinsky, Stelios A. Choulis,Srinivasan Balasubramanian and Christoph J. Brabec

3 High-Performance Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays . . . . . . 57Jang Hyuk Kwon, Ramchandra Pode, Hye Dong Kimand Ho Kyoon Chung

4 High Efficiency OLEDs for Lighting Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Coen Verschuren, Volker van Elsbergen and Reinder Coehoorn

5 Large Area Electronics with Organic Transistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Makoto Takamiya, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Koichi Ishida,Takao Someya and Takayasu Sakurai

6 Printed RFID and Smart Objects for New HighVolume Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Wolfgang Clemens, Jürgen Krumm and Robert Blache

xi

7 Organic RFID Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Kris Myny, Soeren Steudel, Peter Vicca, Steve Smout,Monique J. Beenhakkers, Nick A. J. M. van Aerle, François Furthner,Bas van der Putten, Ashutosh K. Tripathi, Gerwin H. Gelinck,Jan Genoe, Wim Dehaene and Paul Heremans

8 Printed Organic Chemical Sensors and Sensor Systems . . . . . . . . . 157Vivek Subramanian, Josephine Chang and Frank Liao

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

xii Contents

Chapter 1OE-A Roadmap for Organicand Printed Electronics

Donald Lupo, Wolfgang Clemens, Sven Breitungand Klaus Hecker

Abstract The roadmap for organic and printed electronics is a key activity of theOE-A, the industrial organisation for the young organic, printed and large areaelectronics industry. Organic electronics is a platform technology that enablesmultiple applications, which vary widely in their specifications. Since the tech-nology is still in its early stage—and is in the transition from lab-scale and pro-totype activities to production—it is important to develop a common opinion aboutwhat kind of products, processes and materials will be available and when. Thischapter is based on the third version of the OE-A Roadmap for organic and printedelectronics, developed as a joint activity by key teams of experts in 9 applicationsand 3 technology areas, informed by further discussions with other OE-A membersduring association meetings. The resulting roadmap is a synthesis of these resultsrepresenting common perspectives of the different OE-A forums. Through com-parison of expected product needs in the application areas with the expectedtechnology development paths, potential roadblocks or ‘‘red brick walls’’ such asresolution, registration and complementary circuitry are identified.

D. Lupo (&)Department of Electronics, Tampere University of Technology,PO Box 692, 33101 Tampere, Finlande-mail: donald.lupo@tut.fi

W. ClemensPolyIC GmbH and Co.KG, Tucherstrasse. 2, 90763 Fürth, Germanye-mail: wolfgang.clemens@polyic.com

S. Breitung � K. HeckerOE-A (Organic Electronics Association), c/o VDMA, Lyoner Street 18,60538 Frankfurt am Main, Germanye-mail: sven.breitung@vdma.org

K. Heckere-mail: klaus.hecker@vdma.org

E. Cantatore (ed.), Applications of Organic and Printed Electronics,Integrated Circuits and Systems, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-3160-2_1,� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

1

Keywords Organic electronics � Printed electronics � Roadmap OE-A applica-tions � Red brick walls � Organic electronics association

1.1 Introduction

Organic and printed electronics is based on the combination of new materials andcost-effective, large area production processes that open up new fields of appli-cation. Thinness, light weight, flexibility and environmental sustainability are keyadvantages of organic electronics. Organic electronics also enables a wide range ofelectrical components that can be produced and directly integrated in low cost reel-to-reel processes.

Intelligent packaging, low cost RFID (radio-frequency identification) tran-sponders, rollable displays, flexible solar cells, disposable diagnostic devices orgames, and printed batteries are just a few examples of promising fields ofapplication for organic electronics based on new, large scale processable, elec-trically conductive and semi-conducting materials.

The following pages present a short overview of organic electronics applica-tions, technologies and devices, as well as a discussion of the different technologylevels that can be used in manufacturing organic electronic products, based on thethird edition of the roadmap developed by the OE-A. Since the second edition wehave added further applications that we expect to play a key role in the com-mercialization of this emerging technology and taken account of the excitingtechnical progress made recently.

In the applications section which follows, the market entry on larger scales forthe various applications is forecasted. The key application and technologyparameters relating to these applications and the principle challenges (so-calledred brick walls) to achieving these have been identified. In the subsequent tech-nology section we summarise the projected development of relevant technologiesand take account of recent progress in new materials and improved processes.

A White Paper explaining the current edition of the roadmap in more detail canbe downloaded [1].

Organic electronicsOrganic electronics is based on the combination of a new class of materialsand large area, high volume deposition and patterning techniques. Oftenterms like printed, plastic, polymer, flexible, printable inorganic, large areaor thin film electronics or abbreviations like OLAE or FOLAE (Flexible and/or Organic Large Area Electronics) are used, which essentially all mean thesame thing: electronics beyond the classical integrated circuit approach. Forsimplicity we have used the term organic electronics in this roadmap, butkeep in mind that we are using the term in this broader sense.

2 D. Lupo et al.

1.2 Applications

Organic and printed electronics is a platform technology that is based on organicconducting and semi-conducting as well as printable inorganic materials. It opensup new possibilities for applications and products. A number of key applications oforganic and printed electronics have been chosen to demonstrate the needs fromthe application side, identify major challenges, cross check with the possibilities ofthe technology and to forecast a time frame for the market entry in large volumes.

Below, we continue to look at applications discussed in the second edition of theroadmap. i.e. organic photovoltaic cells (OPV), printed RFIDs, organic memories,organic sensors, flexible batteries and smart objects. We also expand on the pre-vious application area of organic thin film transistor (OTFT) display backplanes tolook at flexible displays, and look at two new application areas, electroluminescence(EL) and organic LED (OLED) based lighting and smart textiles.

The growing list of applications reflects the complexity of the topic and the widepossible uses for organic electronics, and it is likely that the list will even grow inthe future. The application fields and specifications cover a wide range, andalthough several parameters like accuracy of the patterning process or electricalconductivity of the materials are of central importance, the topic cannot be reducedto one single parameter at the time being, as is known from the famous SiliconRoadmap (Moore’s law). Regardless, we will watch the trends and find out whetherit will be possible to find an analogue to Moore’s law for organic electronics.

The question whether there is one ‘‘killer application’’ for organic electronicscannot be answered at this moment. There are many different fields in which theadvantages of organic electronics might result in the right product to become thekiller application, but at this point, it is too early to define which one it is. Pastexperience with new technologies has shown that the predicted ‘‘killer applica-tions’’ are frequently not the ones that really open up the largest markets.Therefore, one has to continue the work on the roadmap, as is planned, follow theactual trends and take account of new developments as they occur.

First organic electronic products reached the market in 2005/2006. OLEDdisplays are not specifically covered as such in this version of the roadmap but arealso based on organic semiconductors, and are starting to see substantial marketpenetration in recent years. Passive ID cards that are mass printed on paper and areused for ticketing or toys were presented in 2006 [2]. Flexible Lithium batteries—produced in a reel-to-reel process—have been available for several years and canbe used for smart cards and other mobile consumer products [3]. Printed antennaeare commonly used in (still Si-based) RFID tags. Large-area organic pressuresensors for applications such as retail logistics have also been introduced, as haveprinted electrodes for glucose test strips. Recently, first OPV [4, 5] and OLEDlighting based products [6, 7] have become available and first user tests of smartcards with built-in displays for one-time password applications have been started.

Additional products, like glass-free high resolution e-readers or rollable dis-plays with organic TFT backplanes, printed radio frequency tags and organic

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic 3

memories, have already been demonstrated technically and have recentlyapproached the market. Within 2–4 years, it is expected that mass markets will bereached and that all the above mentioned applications, and several more, will beavailable in large volumes.

1.2.1 Applications Roadmap

Dye sensitised solar cell (DSSC) based organic photovoltaic products have beenproduced commercially since 2007 [8]. First polymer OPV products have beenshipped, with increasing commercial availability, e.g. as flexible solar cells (seeFig. 1.1) for a battery charger for mobile phones. For the next few years OPV willprimarily address consumer, outdoor recreational and initial off-grid markets, butas efficiency and lifetime improve the target is to move into building integrated PV(BIPV) and off-grid power generation mid-term and, in the long term, enter the on-grid power generation market. This will require significant technical progress inmaterials and processes to deliver high efficiency, highly stable products. In thisbook organic photovoltaics are further discussed in Chap 2.

Flexible displays are starting to enter the market, with roll to roll producedsegmented electrophoretic price labels already being used in stores and rollablee-reader devices with OTFT backplanes (Fig. 1.2) and large area unbreakableOTFT based e-reader products test marketed 2011. Displays based on electro-phoretic or electrochromic media or on OLEDs are currently getting aparticularly large amount of attention, but displays based on liquid crystals,electrowetting etc. are also possible. Further in the future, both reflective andemissive colour displays and large area products like rollable OLED TVs orelectronic wallpaper are anticipated. However, the move to colour, high resolutionand OLEDs will require significant improvements in backplane patterning tech-nology, display media and OTFT technology.

Fig. 1.1 Bag with integratedOPV battery charger. SourceNeubers

4 D. Lupo et al.

Electroluminescent (EL) and OLED Lighting is an application that is new tothe third edition of the roadmap. While OLEDs have been penetrating the displaymarket for some time now, only recently have significant improvements in effi-ciency, lifetime and large area devices made OLED an important potential source ofnovel large-area, energy efficient solid-state lighting. EL signage and backlightingis already commercial, first OLED designer lamps (Fig. 1.3) are already available,and in the future OLED lighting will move from being a technology for design anddecorative applications to technical lighting and general illumination; this willhowever, require both very high efficiency, colour purity and lifetime as well asdevelopment of processes, materials and architectures to cut production costs.Chap. 4 of this book further addresses OLED lighting and its applications.

Printed RFID (radio frequency identification) based on organic electronicsshowed significant technical progress since the last edition of the roadmap, withannouncements of advances such as roll to roll printed high frequency (HF) tagswith 1–4 bits, as well as first organic CMOS-like circuits [9], 128 bit transponders[10], and ultrahigh frequency (UHF) rectifiers [11], all based on organic semi-conductors. In addition, there has been progress with alternative approaches suchas chipless RFID concepts. Printed antennas are already common in conventionalSi-based RFID products. A further approach for printed transponders is based onSi nanoparticles on stainless steel substrates. These approaches are not furthertaken into account in the current roadmap discussion, as this roadmap focuses onorganic/printed chips on plastic substrates. The activities of printed RFID aretargeting towards Electronic Product Code (EPCTM) compatible tags in the longterm (see Chap. 7), even though the general performance of printed RFID will beon a lower level compared to standard RFID tags for a long time. Simple printed

Fig. 1.2 Rollableelectrophoretic display fore-readers and mobile phones.Source Polymer vision

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic 5

RFID tags (Fig. 1.4) were piloted already in 2007 and should be in generalcommercial use within the next few years. The future is expected to bring a trendto larger memory, and to UHF as well as HF tags. The expected applications rangefrom brand protection into ticketing, identification, automation and logistics, as thetechnology advances. Despite some delays in market introduction of simple RFcircuits, the rapid technical progress in the recent past makes us optimistic thatmore advanced products will actually be available within the next years. Keys tothis progress will be mature high volume and low cost production processes, fastcircuits, smaller dimensions and CMOS-like circuit development, as well asappropriate standards for organic RFID products. RFIDs are the main subject ofChaps. 6 and 7 of this book.

Fig. 1.3 OLED designerlamp. Source OSRAM Optosemiconductors

Fig. 1.4 Printed RFID tag.Source PolyIC

6 D. Lupo et al.

Printed Memory devices have already been introduced to the market in theform of Read-only Memories (ROM) or Write Once Read Many (WORM)memories in ID or game cards. Recently reel to reel fabrication of printedrewritable non-volatile Random Access Memories (NV-RAM) was technicallydemonstrated [12], and first low-density polymer NV-RAM products are availableon the market (Fig. 1.5). Future generations of printed memory products will see atrend to higher bit density, faster reading and writing, on-board readout and a trendto more NV-RAM, though ROM and WORM will remain important. Key tech-nical issues to resolve in the future will include scaling of on-board readoutelectronics and memory cells.

Organic Sensor devices (Fig. 1.6) open up a variety of applications. The fieldhas developed more rapidly than expected, with prototype temperature, chemicaland pressure sensors already demonstrated. Temperature, pressure and photodiodesensors and sensor arrays will reach the market in the next few years. One trendwill be from yes/no sensors to analog sensors able to give a quantitative readout.For example, potentiometric sensors for chemical analysis are already starting tobecome available in a yes/no configuration but analog versions will be availablemidterm. In the long term, combination of sensor devices into embedded systemsincluding on-board (organic) circuitry and possibly on-board display-based read-out is expected to enable intelligent sensor systems. This will require significantadvances not only in the sensors themselves but also in the associated on-boardcircuitry, which will require high reproducibility, reliability, yield, etc. Sensors arefurther discussed in Chap. 8 of this book, while integration with circuits to enableintelligent sensor systems is addressed in Chaps 6 and 7

Thin and flexible batteries (Fig. 1.7) are already commercially available fordiscontinuous use, but there is room for improvement in price, capacity and ease ofintegration into some systems. Over the next few years a trend to commercialavailability of cost-effective low capacity batteries, then higher capacity batteriesfor continuous use and finally batteries that can be directly printed into electronic

Fig. 1.5 Game cards withorganic NV-RAM. SourceThin film electronics

1 OE-A Roadmap for Organic 7

systems or packages is expected. Key areas for development will be optimisationof cost-effective production and encapsulation of Li based thin batteries.

A big advantage of organic electronics is the combination and simple inte-gration of multiple electronics devices to create smart objects. As simpleexample, printed keypads, printed loudspeakers and smart cards incorporating thinfilm batteries and flexible displays (Fig. 1.8) have been shown [13]. In the futurethe trend will be towards inclusion of more different functionalities as well as morecomplex functionalities, moving from simple input devices, animated logos orsmart cards to objects with full displays, intelligent tickets and sensors, games, andsmart packages. The variety of smart objects will be limited only by the number oforganic electronic technologies available and the creativity of product developers.One of the key issues to look at will be taking care of mechanical and electricalcompatibility and connection between the different functions.

Another new application in the current roadmap is smart textiles, in whichfunctionalities such as communication, displays, sensors, or thermal management

Fig. 1.6 Large-area organicbased pressure sensor array.Source Plastic electronic

Fig. 1.7 Ultraslim primarybatteries for mobile devices.Source VARTA microbattery

8 D. Lupo et al.