Printed Electronics

Classical electronics offers a huge variety of solutions for all areas of life. Many years of systematic development led to a value added chain of very specialized players and a highly efficient production community.

Fast end cost effective production of passive and active elements and a highly complex assembly process lead to electronic products of all sophistication levels.

Printing is a very old technology. The development of printing throughout centuries led to half a dozen of mature printing technologies. Some of them are able to deliver incredible volumes, others offer highest precision

The Printed Electronics idea aims to combine both technologies: to merge the functional performance of electronics with the volume and cost advantages of printing.

It is obvious, that some compromise is necessary - at least at the beginning

But in the meantime promising progress has occurred, showing that printed electronics will be one of the growth areas of both, the printing and the electronics area

Many applications and functions are targeted and partly already realized:

printed solar cells,
batteries,
circuitry,
transistors and diodes,
sensors,
push buttons,
connectors,
lamps,
displays,
resistors,
capacitors,
inductors,
speakers
and microphones.

Printed electronics does not only produce single elements, but combinations of these elements to offer more complex functionality or stand alone function.

You can learn more about this topic under "printegration".