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The conductive inks and paste business will generate a demand for 1800 tonnes.
The new IDTechEx Research report ‘Conductive Inks 2016-2026: Forecasts, Technologies, Players’ provides the most comprehensive and authoritative view of the conductive inks and paste market, giving detailed ten-year market forecasts segmented application and material/ink type. The market forecasts are given in tonnage and value at the ink level.
This report is based upon years of research, in which analysts were at the forefront of the conductive inks/paste business, playing an important role in creating a multi-billion dollar industry.
Photovoltaics
Everything in this sector is changing. At paste level, the initial group of suppliers that came to dominate the market are losing leading position to those who were once low-cost and low quality. This trend will continue in the short term, whilst in the long term it will become a Chinese business entirely.
At the powder level, recent factory interruptions have convinced the end users to force through a more diversified supplier base despite the dominant supplier having a distinct quality advantage.
Touch screens
This is a changing and declining market. The adoption of narrow bezel designs in premium phones has pushed the performed requirements beyond the limits of standard PTF and screen printing thereby opening the market to photo-curable pastes. Standard PTFs will continue losing share but will remain substantial thanks to their cost advantage and the rise of low-cost devices. Intense cost competition will continue in the end of the market, eroding the margins even further.
3D antennas
Aerosol deposition for 3D antenna is gaining traction. This technique enables antennas to be directly deposited on 3D surfaces helping save space. In addition, it accommodates a change in design by a change in software.
In-mould electronics (IME)
The process combines electronic and graphical printing on a 2D sheet which then formed or moulded into a 3D shape. IME offers an elegeant and attractive way to structurally integrate simple electronics in 3D-shaped objects, particularly for high-volume production. It will find use both in the automotive and consumer electronic segments.
Strechable electronics
The interconnects and sensors are critical elements of all emerging e-textile products. Printing here can deliver value as it is a post-production process familiar to the textile industry. This is why the number of e-textile products and prototypes with printed conductive lines is rapidly increasing.
3D printed electronics
3D printed electronics can become a platform technology for creating arbitrarily-shaped and customized smart and electronic objects. This can transform standard plastic-based 3D printing. The interest is rising as evidenced by the recent increase in numbers of approaches, machines, ink supplier and prototypes.
Desktop PCB printing
Printed electronics wants to bring back ‘printing’ to the printed circuit board (PCB) industry. The recent trend has seen a rise in desktop PCB printers, aimed both at the hobbyist and professional ends of the market. the hobbyist machines are simple system capable of creating crude wide-track single or double-sided PCBs. The compete with, and will ultimately lose to, simple CNC million machines In contrast, professional dekstop printers target complex multi-layer PCBs boards. They seek to cut down the prototyping time and to enable designers to keep circuit IP in house, whilst also becoming cost competitive with standards process at low volumes.
RFID
Silver prices have fallen, bringing down the BoM whilst the industry is projected to near full capacity utilisation soon, opening way for investment in new industrial process. UHF and HF RFID firms have already started adopting RFID antenna printing en masse, and IDTechEx forecasts that this trend will continue.