Nectec forms a Plastic Electronics Consortium

Tag : plastic



Nectec's Nanoelectronics and MEMS Lab director Adisorn Tuantranontsaid the plastic-electronics, or the printed-electronics industryis an upcoming sector, which will create much-needed opportunitiesin Thailand and the global market in the near future.
Plastic electronics is a branch of electronics that deals withconductive polymers, plastics or small molecules.Plastic-electronic designs and produces an emerging, new generationof electronics - plastic thin-film hybrid electronics.
It will be applied to large areas, offering the ability tointegrate low-cost sensors, displays and passive or activeelectronic components.
Harrop & Das reported that the global market of theplastic-electronics industry last year was worth US$1.18 billion(Bt41 billion). The market will climb to $13 billion in 2012 andwill jump to $48.2 billion in 2017.
To capture a part of the new industry for Thailand, Nectec willcooperate with local universities and international and localprivate-sector organizations to set up a Plastic ElectronicsConsortium, which aims to transfer technology and develop newtechnology to support plastic electronics. It will enhanceproductivity and potential of upstream, idle-stream and down-streamindustries. It is also developing R&D relatedplastic-electronics technology.
Adisorn said in the initial step, the consortium will transfertechnology to develop radio-frequency-identification-relatedprinted antennae, followed by developing hybrid antenna chips andthe development of all printed RFID technology within three years.
Nectec has formulated a road map to support and develop theplastic-electronics industry in Thailand between 2007 and 2014.
The agency has divided the plan into three layers - applicationdevelopment, product development and technology development.
In the first layer, the agency will develop various applicationsrelated to plastics electronics, such as diagnostic sensors,logistic labels, e-papers or e-books and, display and textileapplications.
In the second layer, the agency will develop new products, such assmart packaging, Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) displays,sensors, RFID, solar cells, printed batteries, textile computingand e-papers.
Lastly, the agency will develop various technologies, such asconventional electronics/ microelectronics, plastic electronics,hybrid electronics, and role-to-role manufacturing to supportupstream, middle stream and down-stream industries.
"Plastic-electronics technology will play important role inThailand and the global market since it will create products tosupport various other industries. It will also enhancecompetitiveness of the country among other countries," Adisornsaid.
Strategy Research and Industry Indictors Division senior researcherKalaya Udomvitid said plastic electronics will enable localindustries, such as the logistics sector, to utilise new technologyand products, such as smart logistics and smart packaging in orderto reduce costs of business management.
"I think that Thailand will able to utilise plastic-electronicstechnology to develop new kind of products such as RFID, OLED andsmart packaging for the commercial market within the next 3 to 5years," Kalaya said.