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According to a new report, the market for dielectric materials for thin-film, organic and printable (TOP) electronics is predicted to reach more than US$635 million by 2015.
The report from industry analyst firm, NanoMarkets, claims that offering the right dielectric materials will be critical to the future success of materials firms supplying the TOP electronics sector.
Key findings from the report, entitled 'Thin-Film, Organic and Printable Dielectrics', include:
- NanoMarkets predicts that 2010 is when the TOP dielectrics business will begin to take shape. The firm believes that in order for TOP electronics to reach its full commercial potential, materials firms will need to deliver novel dielectrics. These dielectrics will play a key role in enabling flexible backplanes to support more than just low-refresh rate e-paper displays and will also be critical to creating thin-film solar on metal foil substrates. In the future, OTFT-based UHF RFID may also depend on a better match between the semiconductor and dielectric materials used.
- Dielectrics are more than just a revenue source; they also provide leverage for sales of other types of materials. NanoMarkets believes that those firms which plan to offer dielectrics matched to the conductor and semiconductor materials in their portfolio will have a distinct market advantage over those that do not. BASF, Evonik, Merck/EMD and Polyera are well positioned in this regard. Customers will come to companies such as these to buy complete materials sets to ensure high performance of new thin-film transistor (TFT), memory and sensor devices.
- Today's most common dielectrics require high temperature deposition and are therefore not well matched with next-generation TOP electronics with its emphasis on solution processing on flexible substrates. As a result, there are intense development efforts for solution-processable dielectrics. This work involves highly novel materials such as water-based silicon oxides, barium titanate nanocomposites, and "hybrimers," and its importance is emphasised by the involvement of major firms such as DuPont, Dow Corning, and Honeywell.
The report provides a complete analysis of the commercial opportunities for dielectric materials in TOP electronics. Materials covered include silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, metal oxides, organic materials, and a wide range of hybrid materials, nanomaterials and self-assembled materials.
Applications covered include conventional TFT backplanes, various OTFT products (backplanes, RFID and smartcards), printed silicon devices, OLEDs, sensors and thin-film solar panels. The activities of private and university research institutes are also discussed. The global study also includes detailed eight-year forecasts of dielectric markets broken down by material type and application.
Source: NanoMarkets
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