Abstract
Until recently, the focus of materials development for thin-film, organic
printable (TOP) electronics was focused primarily on conductors and
semiconductors. However, as this rapidly growing area of electronics becomes
more sophisticated, there is a need for new or enhanced dielectric materials
for both processors and memories.
The drivers here are demands for higher performance TOP circuitry and
especially the need to match dielectrics to semiconductors in order to achieve
it. In particular, the considerable current interest in an organic version of
CMOS may well need novel dielectrics to make it work. Other factors that are
driving the need for new kinds of dielectrics include the special requirements
of flexible and printed electronics in its many forms.
Silicon dioxide has been the mainstay of the semiconductor industry when it
comes to dielectrics and will be used in TOP electronics too, but there is now
considerable research and commercial development of dielectric materials that
might be better suited to TOP electronics. These include various metal oxides
and nitrides, polymers, dielectric inks, nanomaterials and even novel high
k-materials. That such materials are important both strategically for the
future development of TOP electronics and as revenue generators is shown the
list of firms and research institutes working in this space. These include
BASF, DuPont, Evonik, Merck, Polyera, Cambridge University, Max Planck
Institute, North Western University, PARC and University of Groningen, to name
but a few.
This report provides a unique guide to the opportunities in this space. It
identifies and quantifies the opportunities for dielectrics in TOP
electronics. It discusses the various applications in TOP electronics that are
currently calling for novel dielectric materials. It also identifies and
compares the major candidate materials for this role and how they fit with
various system architectures, production technologies, and the semiconductors
used in TOP electronics. The report also includes the product strategies of
major firms that are involving themselves in this space and a complete review
of R&D and commercialization efforts of TOP dielectrics, as well as an
eight-year forecast broken out by types of materials and applications.
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