Abstract
As printed electronics emerges as a force to be reckoned with, its future will
be dependent on high-performance semiconductor inks. At present, most of the
focus is on organic inks but these present serious mobility, stability and
cost challenges. As a result, a few companies are on the verge of
commercializing silicon inks based on nanocrystalline silicon or on other
silicon compounds. At the same time, the semiconductor industry is looking for
new materials as they increasingly face scaling issues. It also investigating
the potential for nanocrystalline silicon, especially in the memory area. With
so much understood about the electronic properties and manufacturing of
silicon devices, silicon-based materials have a natural advantage in all
electronics markets. Firms that are now looking at these materials include
Freescale, Innovalight, Micron, Samsung and Seiko Epson, to name but a few
There is also important work on silicon inks and nanomaterials being done in
the lab, especially in Asia
This is the first report of its kind that analyzes and forecasts the market
potential for silicon inks and nanocrystalline materials in electronics
applications. The report examines, what firms are doing in this space today
and how these important new silicon materials are likely to evolve
commercially in the future. The report also includes a detailed discussion of
how and when these materials will be used in applications such as
photovoltaics, lighting, RFIDs, display backplanes and computer memory. It
also discusses the technical issues around making nanocrystalline materials
and inks and how these materials are likely fair in the marketplace in
competition with other semiconductor materials.
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