Abstract
Silver inks occupy a unique position in the printable electronics industry at
the present time. They are the only inks for PE that are both widely available
from a fairly large number of suppliers and in use today to produce commercial
quantities of electronic products. It is fairly easy to understand why silver
has achieved this position. Silver is the ideal conductor, it is not only more
conductive than any other metal, but unlike other metals the oxides that
ultimately grow on its surface are also conductive. And, of course, since
silver has been used as a conductor since the beginning of electronics, there
is already a deep understanding of it use in electronics applications.
Finally, silver inks have been around for decades for graphics applications.
Admittedly, there is considerable difference between printing a greetings card
and printing an RFID. Nonetheless, this history has given ink makers some
useful experience in making inks from silver particles and flakes.
There may be as many as 20 firms currently supplying silver inks for
electronic applications. In the context of printed electronics, the most
important of the current applications for these inks is in printing RFID
antennas, since it provides one piece in the jigsaw puzzle for creating a
complete printed RFID tag. However, there are other applications for these
inks that are usually not considered part of PE, because printing is
inherently a minor part of the manufacturing approach used to create complete
functional electronic devices. These other applications include printing
contacts in membrane switches and printing conductive tracks for circuit
boards, intelligent packaging, greetings cards, games, etc. Printed silver may
also be used in EMI shielding, an application that hovers between PE and the
coatings business.
Until very recently, silver inks for PE and related applications represented a
tiny niche in the specialty chemicals market. However, as the PE business
takes off, silver inks show promise to become a product that will sell in
quantities measured in the metric tones. NanoMarkets' latest forecast show
revenues from these inks for major PE applications exceeding $1.0 billion by
2014. That' s a substantial business opportunity and it raises a number of
questions.
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