Printed Electronics Assignment on Unit V

Rutuja Mahindrakar
B.E Printing (6009)
Q.1. Discuss Identifying and Tagging Everything with upcoming changes in
technology.
 Ans: Printed Electronics promises to revolutionize the existing electronics field by enabling the
mass production of low-cost, flexible digital devices in a wide array of substrates, such as paper,
plastic or textiles. Electro-optical functional inks are used for this purpose, which are directly
deposited on the substrate, creating the various active and passive elements (e.g. transistors,
resistors, capacitors, antennas, and alike).
 Printed electronics offer many advantages to the printing industry. Among these advantages is
the possibility of creating printed intelligent packaging, brand awareness, smart cards, and brand
protection. It can also be applied in the medical field by telling the customer when a certain
prescription has to be taken. Harrop (2007) states that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
will replace 10 trillion barcodes yearly, mimicking the history of barcodes which were originally
applied as labels - now 90% are directly printed. “Medical tablets will be supplied in packages
that monitor which pill you took when, that prompt you by sound and vision - possibly even
vibration - and show instructions in large scrolling fonts. There is even one experimental
package that calls out ‘not now’ if you touch it at the wrong time of day.” Harrop also talks about
smart packaging and indicates that signage and packaging in 4 supermarkets will be in moving
color, the signage being changeable at the press of button in some remote office. It is also
important to talk about the historical aspect of printed electronics, in order to understand the
factors that contributed to this field. The printed electronics industry started in the 1920s with the
incorporation of graphite as one of the main components of conductive inks in order to transfer
energy through the different manufactured circuits.
 Klaus G. Schroeter states the following:
“Next, just about everything can get smarter, as combinations of printed
sensors, logic, memory, and communication appear in products that haven't
included electronics. Applications include RFID tags for inventory control,
interactive product packaging that talks or plays games, smart food
 packaging that changes the use-by date, drug packaging that monitors and
communicates patient compliance, and clothing that monitors the wearer's
vital signs and helps regulate body
temperature.
 Printed electronics could provide power as well. Flexible, high-efficiency
photovoltaics could power mobile devices and commercial/residential power,
while lightweight photovoltaics and thin film batteries could power printed
electronic devices” (Schroeter, 2007). The future of some of the most common place
electronics may be printed. A marriage between the electronic and print worlds is expected to
create low cost, lightweight components for everything from sensor-based skin patches, to radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags and printed solar panels. And while intelligent devices
printed in ink are still a rarity, now is the time to become aware of the process for any printers
interested in becoming part of this movement.
 The future of some of the most commonplace electronics may be printed. A marriage between
the electronic and print worlds is expected to create low cost, lightweight components for
everything from sensor-based skin patches, to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and
printed solar panels. And while intelligent devices printed in ink are still a rarity, now is the time
to become aware of the process for any printers interested in becoming part of this movement.
 Basically speaking, printed electronics (PE) consist of antennas, die, and various circuit boards
produced by way of screen printing, inkjet, or Aerosol Jet, with either conducting or
semiconducting inks. These components can be printed directly onto a paper, cloth, or plastic
substrates, or even on large structures like an airplane fuselage. By printing directly onto these
materials, manufacturers can create an electrically responsive object at a relatively low cost. And
that matters in several industries.
 PE is used to create resistors, condensers, transistors, and interconnects, among other electronic
components. It also is being used to develop sensors for skin patches, while RFID tags can be
printed onto packaging and respond to a wireless interrogation. Beyond those applications, PE is
also being developed for uses such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, lighting,
and organic solar cells, all with a goal of cutting costs in high-volume manufacturing.
 How it’s made?
The PE process started with plastic and organic electronics that leverage carbon-based ink
 compounds. But the demand — and therefore development — has been evolving due to the
growth in wearable devices, RFID tags to track goods or enable payment, ID cards, and wireless
Internet of Things (IoT) sensors.

 Common applications include:

 Hybrid Electronics: PE are beginning to be combined with conventional components to enable
high volume and fast manufacturing for custom form factors and design flexibility.
  A research group at imec in Belgium has recently carried out a study exploring the potential
of touchscreen interfaces for enabling the simple transfer of data to and from devices
connected to the internet. In a paper published in Nature Electronics, the team showed that
commercial touchscreens can be used as reader interfaces for capacitive coupled data transfer
using a 12-bit, thin-film identification tag powered by a battery or photovoltaic cell. The
researchers created an app that can visualize and detect touchscreen events (e.g., touch,
swipe, etc.) and report on the parameters it detects. Subsequently, they developed a thin-film
touchscreen identification tag, placed it on the screen of a smartphone device and read it
through their app. The touchscreen tag developed by the researchers is a 12-bit, thin-film
capacitive identification tag with a 0.8cm2 monolithic antenna, employing 439 transistors
and with an asynchronous data rate of up to 36 bps. Interestingly, the tag is powered
using a thin-film photovoltaic cell that derives energy directly from a smart phone or
tablet's display, dissipating only 31 nW of power at a supply voltage of 600 mV. "If the
industry picks this technology up, we may have the opportunity to introduce new flexible
touchscreen tags that can communicate to everyday objects with a touchscreen, such as
smart fridges, cars with touchscreens, or tablets.

 Health Care: Sensors can be worn by patients to eliminate the need for wires. The health care
industry is actively pursuing PE for medical implants, smart skin patches, medical wearables,
stretchable sensors, and biodegradable circuits.
 Automotive: Electric vehicle manufacturers are demanding flexible PE. That’s in part due to the
rise in demands for smart electronics such as thin film photovoltaics built into the vehicles.
 Intelligent Packaging: RFID and NFC solutions are being used for everything from
pharmaceuticals to medical devices, high value luxury goods, perfumes, and even posters. And
intelligent labels and packaging applications will be more commonplace. Printed electronic
labels and cartons or containers would provide efficient brand protection when printed directly
on packaging. Companies such as Samsung, LG, Jabil, Printed Electronics Ltd., Konica Minolta,
DuPont, BASF, Cicor Group, Thinfilm Electronics, and Molex are some of the biggest players in
this burgeoning market.
 Dynamic newspapers, magazines, and signage applications: By taking advantage of the
combined benefits of paper with dynamic digital content, companies can create novel formats to
present information and publicize their products. This will likely include the incorporation of
animated advertisements in magazines and newspapers, or the creation of dynamic signage and
billboards. Other possibilities include, but are not limited to, posters, business cards, bumper
stickers, and product labels.
 Intelligent packages / Smart labels: Printed Electronics systems can be incorporated into products
packages with the aim of making them more useful and helpful as well as more visually
appealing and attractive. For example, sensors can be printed directly into product packages or
attached in the form of smart labels allowing the tracking of movement and as well as the
monitoring of variables such as temperature and humidity in real time of item-level products.
This would allow companies to easily check the conditions of a product and can, for instance,
prevent its spoilage or validate its freshness. Also, simple printed displays can be used in
packaging to improving the legibility and detail of the information available about the product,
and thus improving the information that consumers have access in the act of purchase, or can be
used to show notice messages about the conditions of the product, highlighting changes that
occurred in the surround environment and that are incompatible with the preservation of the
product. Furthermore, smart labels can also be used as an anti-counterfeiting measure that can be
implemented directly into the products, validating its authenticity and preventing or at least
complicating its falsification.
 Electronic labels: Electronic labels can be low-cost, low-power and remotely updated electronic
shelf labels and pricing tags in supermarkets and stores.
 Smart cards: The implementation of Printed Electronics systems in smart cards could allow users
to rapidly access information contained in the card, wherever and whenever they wanted. This
would enable, for instance, customers to easily check the amount of credits still remaining in a
public transportation smart card, or the validity of their subscription. Frequent flyer card, or in
any other type of loyalty system cards could indicate the fidelity points gathered, or alert the user
for promotions. Healthcare smart cards could also be enhanced, allowing users to easily check
certain information on their medical file, such as the blood type, whether the vaccines are up to
date, when it was the last time he went to the doctor or when he is supposed to have is the next
medical visit. Furthermore, Printed Electronics solutions could also be used to improve the
security of smart cards, especially of debit and credit cards (e.g. by implementing digital
watermarks).
 Healthcare diagnostic devices: The disruptive potential of Printed Electronics can be enormous
in the healthcare sector. By enabling the fabrication of disposable printed biosensors at a fraction
of the cost of equivalent non-printed solutions, they can make complex healthcare examinations
not only cheaper but also faster to do. These biosensors are traditionally used in medical
 monitoring, diagnostics, and drug delivery. Examples include biosensors for monitoring vital
signs (e.g. heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure); for testing metabolic variations (e.g.
blood glucose, cholesterol, lactate); and for detecting pathogens elements (e.g. bacteria and
virus).

 Energy harvesting and storage devices: Various printing technologies are already being used as
fabrication tools for manufacturing photovoltaic cells and batteries. As printed photovoltaic cells
become more efficient and more reliable as a power source, they will eventually become more
widespread. Low-cost printed photovoltaic cells (Figure 3) will allow energy to be generated
where it is needed. Considering their flexible nature, they can be easily integrated into building
structures, such as wall coverings, or made into window shades. Likewise, printed batteries
provide lightweight, flexible power sources that can be integrated into mobile electronic devices,
or in any other type of low-power consumer application or Printed Electronic system.
 Dynamic walls and lighting panels: Printed Electronics systems can be integrated into walls and
be used as information screens or, alternatively, as dynamic wallpapers or lighting panels.

 Active/smart clothing: Printed Electronics systems can also be integrated seamlessly into textiles.
They can be used to improve the functionality of clothes, for instance, by using embedded
biosensors and displays to monitor and show the user vital signs, or instead, in a more
fashionable way, to simply display dynamic patterns in the fabric. The physical flexibility of
Printed Electronics devices provides a favorable form factor that can translate into new and more
fashionable wearable products.
 Naturally, the development of these applications is greatly conditioned by the formulation of
suitable functional inks as well as of adequate substrates where they are printed. After all, the
practicality of Printed Electronics relies primarily on the development of novel inks used to
create the electronic components. The inks used must provide a print film with an adequate
cohesion and adhesion to the printing substrate whilst maintaining the electro-optical properties
of the functional elements. In fact, the formulation of adequate and cost-effective functional inks
is one of the main limiting factors to the widespread adoption of Printed Electronics. As for
substrates used, so far the most common ones are polymer films, ceramics, glass and silicon.
Printing of functional inks on paper is also possible, but can present some challenges due to the
paper’s rough, fibrous surface at a microscopic scale. The optimization of current printing
technologies for real mass-manufacturing of Printed Electronic systems also has to be
undertaken. As Schmidt et al. points out that printing technologies were developed for visual
output and therefore classical printing products undergo completely different requirements when
 compared to electronic devices. Significant modifications in processes and materials are
necessary.

Q.2. Discuss use of printed electronics as Point Of Sale.

Ans: Printed Electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electrical devices on various
substrates. Electrically functional electronic or optical inks are deposited on the substrate,
creating active or passive devices, such as thin film transistors; capacitors; coils; resistors.
 Printed electronics is expected to facilitate widespread, very low-cost, low-performance
electronics for applications such as flexible displays, smart labels, decorative and animated
posters, and active clothing that do not require high performance.
The most important benefit of printing is low-cost volume fabrication. The lower cost enables
use in more applications. An example is RFID-systems, which enable contactless identification
in trade and transport. In some domains, such as light-emitting diodes printing does not impact
performance. Printing on flexible substrates allows electronics to be placed on curved surfaces,
for example, putting solar cells on vehicle roofs.
 “Existing applications of printed electronics tend to be of a promotional nature—pizza boxes that
speak and logos that wink on FMCG goods like biscuits and rum. But advances in technologies
such as e-beam curing of conductive inks, which would ensure adherence of printed electronics
to the substrate, mean that high-speed roll-to-roll printing could, through economies of scale,
lower the cost enough for printed electronics to be more broadly used, even on milk packaging,”
 However, you define printed electronics, one thing is certain: it's a fast growing industry.
 IDTechEx, a UK-based market research, consulting and events group, predicts that the total
business for printed, flexible and organic electronics will grow from $16.04 billion in 2013 to
$76.79 billion by 2023. Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, explains that printed electronics is a
broad term involving many technologies at different states of maturity: "The topic covers
printed, flexible and organic electronics, which may or may not be used with conventional
electronic components. Some devices have been in development for more than twenty years,
others are just emerging now. So far printed, organic and flexible electronics has enabled four
billion-dollar market segments – OLED displays, glucose sensors, e-readers and conductive ink
for PV."
 The majority of that business is in OLED displays used mainly in the form of illuminated
displays for smartphones, as well as conductive inks employed for a wide array of applications
such as PV "bus bars", touch screen bezels and antennas. There are many more emerging
technologies and components, from stretchable electronics such as those used in sportswear, as
well as memory and thin film transistors to printed and flexible sensors such as those used in
biotechnology.
 Elaborating on the actual applications that printed electronics can be used to create in addition to
displays, Das points out glucose test strips and solar panels as some of the most popular and
successful applications. Broadly speaking, consumer goods, healthcare, mobility, electronics,
media and advertising are some of the areas that can benefit from printed electronics, which
creates opportunities for companies who already have the technologies needed to produce printed
electronics. "Companies operating in commodity segments have the opportunity to use printed
electronics to offer high value products such as interactive toys and animated packaging. The
benefits of printed electronics are numerous - ranging from lower cost, improved performance,
flexibility, transparency and stretch ability, to reliability and better environmental credentials."
 An outstanding example of a printed electronics application in branding can be seen in some
unusual packaging created for Bacardi's high-end Bombay Sapphire gin. Karl Knauer KG, a
German company specializing in the development of innovative packaging, used its proprietary
technology 'HiLight - Printed Electronics' to create a folding box with printed, actively
luminescent surfaces for Bombay Sapphire. A mechanism activates a light animation on the front
side of the packaging as soon as it is picked up, and a five-stage light sequence is shown to the
potential buyer. First the bottle image and then the fine luminous design elements are shown.
The cycle lasts a total of eighteen seconds. It then stops, starting again when the package is
moved.
 This example shows how printed electronics can set new standards for packaging and for brand
promotion at the point of sale, positively influencing marketing and sales opportunities. End
users are more likely to be drawn to luminescent than conventional boxes on the shelves; in
addition, the brand can be enhanced through association with an interactive and more memorable
experience.
 Another interesting application of printed electronics is the radio-frequency identification (RFID)
tag, which is used to store information and transfer it wirelessly via electromagnetic fields. These
 'smart tags' can help to verify the authenticity of a product against counterfeiters or detect
whether food stays cold throughout its journey from the journey of seafood from boat to
fishmonger. They can even link potential buyers to a product's backstory. A bottle of wine, for
instance, might virtually introduce enthusiasts to the region, vineyards, and even the growers that
created the wine by linking stored data on the label to the buyer's mobile device. It's also worth
mentioning that some electrically conductive inks can be printed on clothes to make 'smart
fabrics' such as sportswear that tracks a runner's heart rate.
 "The business opportunities opened up by printed electronics are enormous," summarizes Das.
"However, a more system-integrated approach should be encouraged and pursued. There are
many companies that are able to print displays, batteries and transistors, but there are few who
can take advantage of these items and integrate them into complete solution aimed at creating
and commercializing novel products to generate new revenue streams," he concludes.
 In this we will be noting the technological advances worth watching in the future.
1. Luminous Printing and Packaging

2. Smart Printing and Packaging

 3. Interactive Printing and Packaging

 A no. of products can have packaging that interacts with consumers and transforms a
one-way monologue on the package or label into a two-way conversation offering useful
information, entertainment or both.
 Eg. Interactive games on cereal boxes.
 Cooking timers on frozen or prepared food packages that flash or beep signal when
time is up.
 Recipes available at a touch in an easy-to-read scroll down display screen.
4. Functional Printing And Packaging

5. Haptics Printing and Packaging

 Attention-grabbing labels and cartons play a central role in the decoration of your
products.
 Add touch, connectivity and data to surfaces around us.
 Touching the print either triggers sounds from its surface or sends information to the
internet.
 Paper poster, when touched, plays music wirelessly through a Bluetooth enabled
smartphone or tablet.
 Box of tissues that feature a playable piano keyboard on the side of the packaging.

6. Flexible Printed Heaters

Printed flexible PTC heaters offer a wide range of compelling benefits in multiple applications.
Rapid & uniform heating, self-regulation, light-weight, sustainable, and highly customizable, to
name just a few.

7. Wearables
Through a process of ongoing research and development, we have developed the skills and
techniques necessary to integrate flexible printed electronics into wearable product such as
gloves, shoe insoles, wrist bands and hats.

Gillette test:
Spotted at a Walgreen’s store in downtown Boston was a battery-powered Gillette Fusion
Proglide Styler whose plastic packaging would appear to involve an application of printed
electronics. Displayed alongside all of the other men’s grooming products, this package stands
out because it has a lighting component in it that builds to a deep dark blue, recedes to non-glow
status, and then builds again to blue. Gillette is choosing not to say anything about the package,
but considering how innovative the firm has been in any number of recent breakthrough
applications, observers are speculating that this is a test of printed electronics. The package
carried a suggested retail price of $28.99 but was marked on sale for $23.99. Inside the package
were one trimmer, one cartridge, three combs, and one battery.