Microelectronics International

Flexible electronics: silicon meets paper and beyond

J. Whitmarsh
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J. Whitmarsh, (2005),"Flexible electronics: silicon meets paper and beyond", Microelectronics International, Vol. 22 Iss 3 pp. 16
- 19
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 Flexible electronics: silicon meets paper
and beyond
J. Whitmarsh
ESL Europe, Reading, UK

Abstract
Purpose – To consider the various aspects of this emerging market and to query the traditional view of thick film deposition and processing for
successful flexible electronic production.
Design/methodology/approach – The current status of flexible electronics is reviewed with particular emphasis on emerging rather than established
technologies. New techniques and applications are also discussed. Material and processing developments are also required to meet the new challenges
and current developments and future needs are discussed.
Findings – Mass production of flexible electronic circuits using processing techniques that are more akin to the newspaper printing industry is under
way. Much development of both materials and processing is required but needs in the radio frequency identification, renewable energy and display
markets among others justify the investment.
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Research limitations/implications – Due to the wide range of new applications there is a lack of detail in this review that will necessitate further
reading.
Practical implications – There will need to be a change of thinking in the processing and material choice used in mass production of flexible
electronics by any large volume manufacturer of traditional circuits on rigid substrates. Existing, new materials need development for electrical
characteristics and ease of use. New materials will undoubtedly be required.
Originality/value – This paper raises awareness and technical issues surrounding emerging technologies.

Keywords Electronics industry, Printed circuits, Flexible manufacturing systems, Emergent strategy

Paper type General review

1. Introduction resistance during soldering processes (Russell and Kabe,

Screen printable conductors, resistors and dielectrics for use
on ceramic substrates have been with us for the best part of 50
years. These have been used to form the interconnection and
resistive elements of complex circuitry to which has been
added the required active devices to form hybrid circuits. The
level of complexity of these circuits has increased, not only
because of the increased processing power of each silicon
chip, but because of the ability to form fine line and multilayer
circuitry.
Polymer thick film pastes, in the form of protective coatings
used to seal trimmed, glazed resistors on ceramic, have been
produced in large quantities from earliest days. Organic
conductors and resistors were added to the polymer thick film
paste product list in the 1970s (Coleman, 1980). In many
ways these products were developed in the hope of a market
being found for them. The instability of polymer resistors
compared to their cermet counterparts meant that their use
was confined to high-value, pull-up resistors. Conductors had
to be electroless nickel-plated to give them any leach
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1986). It was also difficult to resolve via in multilayer circuits
that were made in the early 1980s. Various polymer matrices
were used for the polymer thick film pastes with various
degrees of success. However, a market for some of these
materials was found in technology areas like keyboards,
membrane switches and bio-sensing. Most of this work has
been done on substrates like FR2 and FR4 which are semi-
rigid, flame-retardant substrates.
There is an increasing number of portable electronic
devices available to the modern person. Whether this is due to
the undoubted awareness of security, identity theft and fraud
issues (the interest in smart cards for example) or for
convenience (mobile phones/cameras, roll up displays for
electronic newspapers, etc.) depends on the device but much
of electronics has moved from being remote, to being
remotely controlled and, these days, to being on hand.
This electronics revolution (particularly in wireless
technology and networking) has necessitated the
development of materials for flexible electronics such that
circuitry can be lightweight. There is an emerging market for
flexible materials for flexible substrates such as paper, plastic
and even cloth.
This paper considers the various aspects of this emerging
market and asks if the traditional view of thick film deposition
and processing needs to be queried for successful flexible
electronic production.

Microelectronics International
22/3 (2005) 16– 19
ESL wish to thank The Fraunhofer Institute IZM – Munich for the
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1356-5362] photographs and graphs used in this paper and to Gerhard Klink in
[DOI 10.1108/13565360510610495] particular for his revisions and comments.

16
 Flexible electronics
J. Whitmarsh
2. Applications using silicon and printed wires
Two applications that use existing polymer conductor
technology (albeit with the need for increased conductivity)
and flexible silicon chips (sub 50 mm thick) are smart cards
and labels.
2.1 Smart cards
These are credit card sized devices that are more powerful
than magnetic stripe cards in that they have a memory/
computing chip. The amount of information that can be
stored on the chip on smart cards is up to 100 times greater
than that which can be stored on regular magnetic stripe
cards. Many of these cards are contact versions and have to be
physically placed into a reader to retrieve or add to the
information contained on the chip. Contactless versions have
antennas that allow the card, when in the proximity of a
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suitable reader, to be energised and for information to be read
and updated. The frequency for such devices is 13.56 MHz
(high frequency) and the reading distance, depending on
conditions, is up to 1 m. Etched copper or wound copper can
be used as the antenna in such devices but some companies
are using polymer thick film pastes for the manufacture of the
looped antenna for these devices that are used as electronic
tickets, etc. Chip assembly is performed using techniques that
are well known to the hybrid circuit manufacturer but is time-
consuming and expensive.
2.2 Smart labels
These are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices
that are used for tracking of goods in warehouses and even
within shops themselves (Figure 1). They are often referred to
as RFID tags. These tags tend to be much smaller than the
smart cards. Three or four different frequencies are used for
these labels – 125 kHz, 13.56 MHz, 868-968 MHz
(depending on which part of the world) and 2.45 GHz. The
use of ultra high frequency (UHF) means that a more resistive
antenna can be used compared to the 13.56 MHz devices and,
as a single loop antenna is all that is required, printed silver is
Figure 1 Smart label from the Fraunhofer Institut Zuverlässigkeit und
Mikrointegration (IZM) in Munich, Germany
17
Microelectronics International
Volume 22 · Number 3 · 2005 · 16 –19
often used in preference to copper antennas to enable a reel-
to-reel process to be employed.
2.3 Wearable electronics
The interest in flexible, wearable electronics has arisen out of
the need to tag expensive clothing items in the retail chain for
stock control and traceability. Laundry companies have also
sewn tags into clothes and hospital/hotel laundry to be able to
track their whereabouts in the cleaning/delivery process.
Smart labels have been used for that purpose but clothing
manufacturers could make a lot of design changes if polymer
conductors could be incorporated into clothing without
degradation after a number of low temperature (up to 608C)
wash cycles. Out of sight electronic devices (MP3 players,
etc.) could be switched on and off at the touch of an
accessible panel within a person’s clothing.
3. Applications using polymer transistors and
printed wires
3.1 Smart cards and smart labels
Conductive and semi conductive polymers are being formed
into basic Field Effect Transistors (FET). Their mobilities are
nothing like those of silicon but performances should be
enough to work as an electronic identification system as a
replacement for barcodes. Compared to silicon ICs, polymer
electronics offers the advantage that circuits can be directly
fabricated onto flexible substrates by printing technologies.
Therefore the time-consuming assembly process becomes
unnecessary and gives rise to the hope that the 1-cent tag can
be realised. Development circuits, like ring oscillators, with 14
transistors have been made (Knobloch et al., 2004; Klink,
2005), whereas only a single transistor could be deposited on
flexible substrates some 18 months ago. To convert a smart
device (card or label) into a truly printed device (all
conductors, insulators and transistors) needs some work yet
but only 200 transistors are required for a working device.
Printable, conducting materials will play a key role in a
successful development.
3.2 Flexible displays
Electroluminescent materials like poly-p-phenylene vinylene
(PPV) are being ink-jet printed to form light emitting diodes.
Modern electronic devices need screens and displays that can
give a clear view of information/picture in the brightest
sunlight. In order to achieve this, these organic light emitting
diodes (OLEDs) have been developed to create bright, full
colour. As portable devices get smaller and smaller there is
still an obvious need for displays to be seen. The answer to
this discrepancy is flexible, roll-up displays where a light-
emitting matrix is integrated on a flexible display without the
need for back lighting. The backplane, which drives the
pixels, will require some ambitious wiring of flexible
conductors to connect them to the outside world.
3.3 Solar cells
Photovoltaics made with organic materials are another
application for flexible electronics. This technology requires
print processes and continuous reel-to-reel fabrication in
order to give the cost advantages over conventional
technology (Brabec, 2004). Siemens has already made
printed solar cells and efficiencies are as high as 6 per cent.
A dye sensitised, reel-to-reel process for the formation of
 Flexible electronics Microelectronics International
J. Whitmarsh Volume 22 · Number 3 · 2005 · 16 –19

plastic solar cells that was developed at EPFL in Lausanne, Figure 2 Fraunhofer IZM reel-to-reel process
Switzerland is being commercialised in America. Other
American companies are also receiving funding to set up
organic solar cell lines.

4. Needs
4.1 Materials
There are many good ideas based on the general applications
as described in Sections 2 and 3 but there is a need for new
materials. Conductivities and flexibilities of polymer
conductors need to be increased so that they can compete
with copper in smart card/label applications and be wear and
wash resistant for clothing applications.
Increased stability polymer resistors that have minimal shift
in resistance value when processed at lead-free soldering
temperatures are required for buried resistors in flexible
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multilayer circuits. These circuits are different from the tags

that are being made. This is a major challenge as the stability
of polymer resistors at the lower temperature 62Sn/36Pb/2Ag
soldering process was always poor.
The limiting factor for the true reel-to-reel processing of
electronics (Section 4.2) is the absence of a suitable, printable
transistor. The electronics world awaits the development of Figure 3 1901-S microstructure showing the silver particles – courtesy
printed transistors with interest. of Fraunhofer

4.2 Processing
Furthermore the need to make tags in particular at a very low
cost (there is a perceived need for a 1 cent tag) requires a
major shift in the traditional methods of thick film deposition.
There has to be a quicker method of depositing thick film
pastes onto flexible substrates. Whether other processes –
intaglio, gravure, rolling, and lithography – will be used in
such mass production is unknown and being tested. There is a
vision within the burgeoning flexible electronics market of
“silicon meets paper.” The idea is to make as much of flexible
electronics processing resemble the paper printing industry so
that large flexible sheets/rolls of electronics could be processed
in a similar way to that of newspaper production. There will
be a need for a set of quick dry materials if the length of the
printing presses is not going to be prohibitive. At the moment
partial reel-to-reel processing of electronics is carried out in
many places throughout the world. Some solar cells are
formed this way but the example shown in Figure 2 is a smart
label production process.
that there is a greater spread of resistor values on tracks that
are printed at 100 mm width compared to those at greater
5. Developments widths. 200 mm appears to be the sensible limit for track width
ESL has developed a flexible conductor for use in these using a screen print process. The resistivity of ,25 mV/A is
applications. The structure of this product, 1901-S, is shown achieved at 20 mm cured print thickness. Laminating can
in Figure 3 and shows the use of flakes in the manufacture of compress the polymer conductor which overall leads to
the product. Claims are made that smaller, nanoparticles are increased conductivity.
the preferred way to make these polymer pastes but all
experiments so far have yielded lower conductivity. At the 6. Conclusions
moment there appears to be no advantage gained by using
nanopowders. Flexible electronics is with us to stay. This has placed greater
The stability of this conductor in thermal cycling tests up to demands on organic conductors, resistors and dielectrics.
1,000 cycles of 2408 to þ858C is presented in Figure 4. The The need for new materials to meet new processing methods
resistance of tracks printed at various thicknesses does not used in the push to get flexible electronics produced by reel-
change by more than ,5 per cent after 1,000 cycles. This to-reel processing is evident. There is a need for the scientists
conductor is used for printed antennas on smart label/card involved in making the new generation polymer transistors
applications where the temperature range experienced is to collaborate with companies within the printing industry
much lower than that used in this test. This graph also shows (both electronics and paper).

18
 Flexible electronics
J. Whitmarsh
Figure 4 1901-S Thermal cycling tests
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References
Brabec, C.J. (2004), “Organic photovoltaics: technology and
market”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 83 Nos
2-3, pp. 273-92.
Coleman, M.V. (1980), “Screen printed conductors and
resistors on alternative substrates to alumina”, Proceedings of
1980 International Microelectronics Symposium, New York,
NY, p. 104.
Klink, G. (2005), private communication to be published.
Knobloch, A., Manuelli, A., Bernds, A. and Clemens, W.
(2004), “Fully printed integrated circuits from solution
processable polymers”, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 96
No. 4, p. 2286.
19
Microelectronics International
Volume 22 · Number 3 · 2005 · 16 –19
Russell, K. and Kabe, A. (1986), “Advanced polymer materials
and new manufacturing methods to create high density
circuits for microelectronics”, Proceedings of 1986
International Microelectronics Symposium, Atlanta, GA, p. 610.
About the author
John Whitmarsh obtained an HNC in Applied Physics in
1975. After spells working in the production of II-VI
semiconductors (with Mining and Chemical Products Limited)
and research into platinum group metals (with Johnson Matthey)
he spent a short period producing thick film hybrid circuits for
Waycom (now Corintech Hybrids). For the past 20 years he has
been Technical Service Manager at ESL Europe.
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