Industry Overview

    Printed Electronics is an exciting industry that is potentially disruptive to the existing electronics field in that it may create new markets that have not yet been envisioned. At it’s core, printed electronics uses printing as the main manufacturing technique.

    The roots of the printed electronics industry stem from the membrane switch and EL lamp markets where printing is a primary manufacturing method. Because of significant advances in materials, many more electronic components can now be manufactured creating significantly more opportunity for novel products. In addition to using printing as a manufacturing method, printed electronics also differentiates itself from traditional electronics in that components and interconnects can be fabricated on flexible substrates such as plastic, paper and foil. The components and systems are thin, lightweight and rugged. Printed electronics can also enable the manufacture of wide-area and distributed components such as sensor networks and large-area displays. Together, these attributes are attractive for disposable electronic products such as physiological monitoring patches and environmental/biochemical sensors, large-area sensor networks (i.e. temperature, pressure and strain monitoring), and other products where thin, flexible and rugged form-factors are an added value. Because of the methods involved in manufacturing printed electronics, both high volumes and low level prototyping are feasible for low-density circuits.

    What can you expect from Printed Electronics? Watch the video below for more information.

    Printed Electronics is still an emerging industry and the technologies are rapidly changing. Soligie is uniquely positioned in this industry to provide design and manufacturing services to companies that seek to leverage these exciting technologies in their products. Soligie has the expertise and experience to consult with companies on what is and is not possible in printed electronics, source relevant technologies for your unique applications, provide design services on printed components and be your source for prototyping, early commercialization and volume manufacturing.