Abstract
Some observers now believe that thin film, organic and printed (TOP)
electronics will grow into an industry rivaling today' s semiconductor industry
in size within a couple of decades. For this to happen new types of
semiconductor device-transistors and memories-will have to be developed and
commercialized. At the present time, the most likely materials platform for
this type of device would seem to be organic materials.
Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are found in backplanes for e-paper
devices and games that one can buy today and they have been used in RFID
demonstrators. Organic memories were proposed as a flash memory replacement a
few years back, but are seeing a revival in a slightly different form for the
TOP environment. A handful of firms are pledged to take such devices to the
next stage and embed them in a wide range of novel devices and applications.
Meanwhile, there is extensive research being undertaken, especially in Asia,
to improve the performance of organic transistors and memories, which will
help to extend their market reach further.
And these devices certainly are in need of further development. Much of the
activity is still at the level of device architectures and showing that
devices can be manufactured in at least pilot plant quantities. While their
potential is huge, the reality is often far less impressive. Conductivity of
organic materials is low and this is reflected in their slow switching speeds
which in turn limits their applications. Most of the commercial products and
demonstrators that use OTFTs have, at best, very modest performance. A fairly
similar story can be told with regard to organic memories. Indeed, important
voices have been raised in support of an alternative future in which TOP
electronics will ultimately progress using inorganic devices made from printed
silicon, carbon nanotubes, etc. rather than OTFTs and organic memories.
This report analyzes and forecasts the market for OTFTs and organic memories
and assesses its likely future success and challenges. It provides an in-depth
review of current commercialization and research programs and provides a
roadmap for the development of both OTFTs/organic memories and the
applications/products in which they will be used. In addition, the report
contains detailed forecasts of both OTFTs and organic memories in both volume
and value terms, broken out both by application and by technology type. This
is an applications and device oriented technology assessment and is intended
to complement NanoMarkets' new market research report on organic electronics
materials. The report is based on extensive interviews with the movers and
shakers in the TOP electronics community, as well as extensive secondary
research including an analysis of patents filed by leading firms active in
this space.
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