CAMBRIDGE, UK – IDTechEx's report "3D Electronics/Additive Electronics 2024-2034: Technologies, Players, and Markets" analyses the technologies and market trends that promise to bring electronics into the 3D realm. Drawing from over 40 company profiles, the majority based on interviews, it assesses three distinct segments of the 3D electronics landscape: applying electronics to a 3D surface (partially additive), in-mold electronics, and fully additive electronics. Within each segment, the report evaluates the different technologies, potential adoption barriers, and application opportunities. It includes detailed 10-year market forecasts for each technology and application sector, delineated by both revenue and area/volume.

Motivation for 3D electronics

While partially additive 3D electronics has long been used for adding antennas and simple conductive interconnects to the surface of 3D injection-molded plastic objects, more complex circuits are increasingly being added onto surfaces made from a variety of materials by utilizing new techniques. Furthermore, in-mold electronics and 3D printed electronics enable complete circuits to be integrated within an object, offering multiple benefits that include simplified manufacturing and novel form factors. With 3D electronics, adding electronic functionality no longer requires incorporating a rigid, planar PCB into an object then wiring up the relevant switches, sensors, power sources, and other external components.

The report weighs the pros and cons of each approach against each other for multiple applications, with numerous case studies showing how the different manufacturing techniques are deployed across the automotive, consumer goods, IC packaging and medical device sectors. Furthermore, through detailed analysis of the technologies and their requirements, IDTechEx identifies innovation opportunities for both materials and manufacturing methods.

Applying electronics to a 3D surface

The most established approach to adding electrical functionality onto the surface of 3D objects is laser direct structuring (LDS). LDS saw tremendous growth around a decade ago and is used to manufacture hundreds of millions of devices each year, around 75% of which are antennas. However, despite its high patterning speed and widespread adoption, LDS has some weaknesses that leave space for alternative approaches to surface metallization. Valve jet printing or termed dispensing, a technique enabling wide range of materials deposition, is already used for a small proportion of antennas, and is the approach of choice for systems that deposit entire circuits onto 3D surfaces.

Aerosol jetting and laser induced forward transfer (LIFT) are other digital deposition technologies, which offer higher resolutions and rapid deposition of a wide range of materials respectively. Other emerging techniques such as ultra precise dispensing, electrohydrodynamic printing, impulse printing, pad printing, spray metallization are also benchmarked in this report, enabling new market potential of electronics on 3D surfaces. An advantage of digital deposition methods of the incumbent LDS technology is that dielectric materials can also be deposited within the same printing system, thereby enabling multilayer circuits. Insulating and conductive adhesives can also deposited, enabling SMD components to be mounted onto the surface.

In-mold electronics

In-mold electronics (IME), in which electronics are printed/mounted prior to thermoforming into a 3D component, facilitates the transition towards greater integration of electronics, especially where capacitive touch sensing and lighting is required. IME offers multiple advantages relative to conventional mechanical switches, including reduction in weight and material consumption of up to 70% and much simpler assembly. The IME manufacturing process can be regarded as an extension of the well established in-mold decorating (IMD) process, thus much of the existing process knowledge and capital equipment can be reused. IME differs from IMD though the initial screen printing of conductive thermoformable inks, followed by deposition of electrically conductive adhesives and the mounting of SMDs (surface mount devices, primarily LEDs at present). More complex multilayer circuits can also be produced by printing dielectric inks to enable crossovers.

Despite the wide range of applications and the advantageous reductions in size, weight, and manufacturing complexity, commercial deployment of IME integrated SMD components has thus far been fairly limited. This relatively slow adoption, especially within the primary target market of automotive interiors, is attributed to both the challenges of meeting automotive qualification requirements and the range of less sophisticated alternatives such as applying functional films to thermoformed parts. Along with greater acceptance of the technology, this will require clear design rules, materials that conform to established standards, and crucially the development of electronic design tools.

Fully printed 3D electronics

The least developed technology is fully printed 3D electronics, in which dielectric materials and conductive materials are sequentially deposited. Combined with placed SMD components, this results in a circuit, potentially with a complex multilayer structure embedded in a 3D plastic object. The core value proposition is that each object and embedded circuit can be manufactured to a different design without the expense of manufacturing masks and molds each time. Fully 3D printed electronics are thus well suited to applications where a wide range of components need to be manufactured at short notice. The technology is also promising for applications where a customized shape and even functionality is important. The ability of 3D printed electronics to manufacture different components using the same equipment, and the associated decoupling of unit cost and volume, could also enable a transition to on-demand manufacturing.

The challenges for fully 3D printed electronics are that manufacturing is fundamentally a much slower process than making parts via injection molding since each layer needs to be deposited sequentially. While the printing process can be accelerated using multiple nozzles, it is best targeted at applications where the customizability offers a tangible advantage. Ensuring reliability is also a challenge, considering different material properties; additionally, with embedded electronics post-hoc repairs are impossible - one strategy is using image analysis to check each layer and perform any repairs before the next layer is deposited.

Comprehensive analysis and market forecasts

IDTechEx has been researching the emerging printed electronics market for well over a decade, launching our first printed and flexible sensor report back in 2012. Since then, we have stayed close to the technical and market developments, interviewing key players worldwide, attending numerous conferences, delivering multiple consulting projects, and running classes and workshops on the topic. This enables us to provide a complete picture of the 3D electronics technological and market landscape, along with the entire field of printed electronics.

ATLANTA – ECIA is pleased to announce the 2024 Executive Conference theme, ‘Navigating the Tides of Change.’ Conference Chair Ken Bellero expands on the concept. “As chairperson of this year’s ECIA executive conference, I am both humbled and exhilarated to stand at the helm as we Navigate the Tides of Change together. It is through our collective wisdom, resilience, and innovation that we will chart a course to thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of the electronics industry. Our plan this year is to push the boundaries of our comfort zones and dare to dream of a future where we not only survive but thrive in the face of change.”

“Each year the conference theme serves to guide the committee and stimulate our imaginations as we plan activities and select speakers,” continued Stephanie Tierney, ECIA Director of Marketing Communications and Member Engagement. “The committee agreed that we wanted to build off the momentum from last year’s ‘Making Waves, the Power of You’. This theme takes that idea one step further as the industry evolves to address current and future challenges.”

The ECIA Executive Conference is a senior management level conference for the electronics industry's leading companies - representing the entire supply chain. The date for the 2024 Executive Conference is October 20-22 at the Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel. Registration is now open.

For more information, go to https://www.eciaexecconference.org/ 

CAMBRIDGE, UK – Integrated sensors digitizing physical interactions are vital in everyday life. From personalized user experiences to warehouse inventory management, data-driven insights are driving demand for smarter sensors — and lots of them.

Some believe that printing sensors is key to meeting this demand. Using established printing methods, sensors capable of measuring pressure, force, touch, light, gas, temperature, and more can be manufactured in large areas at high volumes. While printed sensors have historically struggled to compete with conventional sensing solutions on cost alone, the tides are turning. Mass digitization demands greater, more seamless digital integration, and large-area printed sensors are positioned to empower the next generation of smart sensing solutions behind this.

Large Area: Printing sensors is the key to large area sensing

Mass digitization will see data captured across more surfaces, and large-area sensors naturally represent a solution to meet this need. Large-area sensors mapping surface interactions offer greater spatial information and enhanced data granularity than using single-point sensors alone. To obtain sufficiently large-area sensors, printing becomes somewhat necessary, offering production in vastly expanded dimensions than what is possible using subtractive manufacturing processes.

Large-area printed sensors are witnessing sustained growth in consumer electronics applications for mapping surface interactions. Major PC manufacturers have begun employing large-area printed force sensors within laptop trackpads, offering dynamic 3D touch functionality to enhance the user interface experience. Printed photodetectors are emerging within OLED display stacks to provide multi-touch fingerprint authentication with minimal impact on overall device thickness. Multi-touch authentication using printed photodetectors promises up to 700 million times greater security than current single-finger methods.

It is unsurprising that smartphone and laptop products represent strong routes to market for printed sensors. These devices contain pre-existing large-area user interfaces that easily benefit from the added functionality printed sensors offer. Crucially, the fast development times and bespoke nature of consumer electronic sensing requirements complement the capabilities of printed sensor technology providers, who are well suited to co-develop custom sensing solutions.

Multifunctionality: printed sensors offer hybrid functionality in a compact form factor

In many sensing applications, measuring more than one metric at a time is required. Take, for example, 3D touch laptop trackpads, where high-accuracy touch detection must be accompanied with force input recognition. Printing sensors as sheets allows different sensing layers to be stacked and combined with minimal impact on form factor or weight. Printed sensors, therefore, offer a relatively straightforward way of integrating multifunctional sensing into existing products.

Automotive sector interest is driving multifunctional printed sensor growth opportunities in applications such as the thermal management of electric vehicle batteries. Hybrid printed temperature sensors can detect cell hot spots, while pressure sensing layers monitor battery swelling indicative of cell failure. Moreover, printed sensors augmented with printed heater layers provide the additional means to address these measurements, offering a complete active thermal management solution. Deployment, charging and discharging optimizations all increase battery capacity and prolong lifetime, and could be worth up to US$3000 in savings per vehicle.

The automotive sector is immersed in a period of sustained technological redefinition, with electrification and autonomy meta-trends molding the future of mobility. So, too, are automotive sensing requirements evolving, which lead printed sensor growth opportunities for enabling multifunctional technology solutions. If key cost, weight, and energy efficiency thresholds are met, printed sensors have the potential to define future electric vehicle sensing requirements before battery chemistry and design convergence invites more standardized solutions.

Flexibility: Balancing form and function with flexible sensors

Rigid sensors and detectors are often poorly suited for applications that require conformal sensing across non-planar surfaces – for example, X-ray medical imaging where, ideally, detectors would conform to limbs. Printing sensors on flexible substrates, such as PET, polyurethane, or polyimide, offers a conformable sensing solution that non-printed sensors struggle to replicate. The variety of elastic, thermal, and even biodegradable properties available means that sensing solutions are highly customizable and easily tailored for end-use applications.

Emerging growth opportunities for flexible photodetectors target displacing incumbent sensing technologies that would clearly benefit from greater flexibility and non-planar measurement. One such example includes large-area photodetectors for X-ray imaging. Flexible X-ray sensors that conform to the body offer the potential to improve medical diagnosis, while in industrial applications, the ability to image in confined spaces promises more time-efficient non-destructive component testing.

Flexibility is only desirable in a handful of photodetection applications, with more promising prospects residing with printed sensor technologies such as force, strain, and temperature sensing. Yet, some flexible photodetectors show the rare potential to compete on cost with existing image sensing solutions, for example, in X-ray and SWIR detection. However, growth prospects for printed photodetectors displacing incumbent image sensors will be contingent on overcoming steep and well-defined performance criteria.

Conclusions and outlook

Previously, printed sensors’ inability to meet critical cost, performance, size, and reliability thresholds stymied penetration into key product markets. But with mass digitization driving the need to capture data across more and more surfaces, large-area sensing is quickly emerging as the higher-valued market differential for printed sensor technology.

Saturation in consumer electronics product markets is driving interest in large-area sensors that offer innovative new functionality, and printed sensor technology providers are well-positioned to keep pace with fast development cycles. Multifunctional and flexible printed sensors are also increasingly desirable for use in the medical and electric vehicle industries. While conventional sensors can individually achieve large-area sensing, multi-functionality, and flexible form factors, the most efficient way to combine all three is with printed sensors.

Looking forward, IDTechEx predicts that the printed sensor market will reach US$960M by 2034. The growth anticipated will be driven by new opportunities unlocked by flexible large area and multifunctional sensors in applications such as battery health management, biometric authentication on flexible displays, and even flexible X-ray medical and industrial imaging.

For more information on IDTechEx’s research on this topic, please see their report, “Printed and Flexible Sensors 2024-2034: Technologies, Players, Markets”. Downloadable sample pages are available for this report.

ATLANTA – ECIA is pleased to announce that Adam Osmancevic, VP, Supplier Development of the Global Components business at Arrow Electronics, has joined the Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC). The GIPC works to identify common global problems and issues, organizes subject matter experts to research, provide guidance and drive adoption to increase efficiencies throughout the global authorized channel for electronic components.

“Adam will be a valuable addition to the very talented team of industry professionals already on our current committee,” Don Elario, ECIA’s VP of Industry Practices added. “Adam began his career in 1995 and he has great experience on the component manufacturer and distribution side of the table. I look forward to working with him to create new efficiencies in the component supply chain.”