Are organic semiconductors poised to be the next new thing?

The discovery of organic material - 'plastics' - that are capable of exhibiting similar electrical properties to silicon semiconductors has opened up the possibility of creating a range of electronic devices that have the characteristics of being thin, smart, flexible, low cost and eventually completely disposable.

Organic semiconductor technology has evolved to the point where not only is it now technically feasible to manufacture beautiful displays, as demonstrated by companies such as Cambridge Display Technology, Kodak, Philips and others, but it is now possible to build solar cells, electronic circuits, bio-sensors, memory and lighting. Essentially – we are beginning to see a whole new industry emerging for 'plastic electronics'.

Over that past 18–24 months more than $132 million has been invested in a range of companies focused on developing the technologies that will enable the industry to move into the next phase of commercialisation. Companies such as:

  • Konarka Technologies – solar cells - $13.5m
  • Nanosolar - solar cells - $6.5m
  • Opticom - memory - $35m
  • Coatue - memory - $9.3m
  • Plastic Logic - transistors - $13m
  • Ormecon - materials - $7.0m
  • Lumera - materials - $1.6m
  • Elecon - materials - undisclosed
  • QTL - bio-sensors - $10m (estimated)
  • Sensera - bio-sensors - undisclosed
  • Agave - bio-sensors - undisclosed
  • Symmorphix - encapsulation - $7.0m
  • Nanolayers - deposition - undisclosed
  • Novaled - displays - $5.5m
  • MicroEmissive Displays - displays - $7.5m
  • Universal Display Corp. - displays - $16.5m

Nor are these start-ups alone in their endeavours. Many large corporate research labs such as – Philips, Infineon, Siemens, Avecia, Lucent, IBM, Xerox, Motorola, GE Global Research, Bayer, 3M, DuPont, PARC, and Dow are actively involved and committing significant resources to this emerging technology.

Last year alone more than 1,000 patents were filed worldwide on organic semiconductor technologies.For comparison purposes more than 1,000 nanotechnology patents where also filed  in the same period. Which opens up the question – "Are we about to witness a step change in industry activity?"

Craig Cruickshank, principal analyst at cintelliq, said "Before products, built with 'plastic electronics' can be fully developed and commercialised they require the availability of stable, mature and reliable; materials, substrates, deposition and encapsulation systems."

Pioneering companies leading the way are HC Starck, Covion, Sumitomo and Dow in materials, Aixtron, Applied Films, Ulvac, Litrex, and Spectra in deposition equipment, OTB Engineering, Symmorphix and Vitex System, in encapsulation and finally flexible substrates from companies like DuPont Teijin Films and Ferrania.

"The basic components are now accessible, and have reached a performance level that is deemed 'good enough' to enable the next phase of technology development and commercialisation of organic semiconductor technologies", said Cruickshank.

That next phase in the evolution of the industry has already begun. It is being built by companies such as Plastic Logic, Opticom, Coatue, and Nanolayers. These innovative companies are defining the initial design rules and manufacturing techniques necessary for making simple logic gates, memory cells and sensors from organic semiconductors.

Given the rapid pace of device and process technology development currently being reported by leading research institutions such as MIT, University of Cambridge, Fraunhofer Institute, Cornell University, Acreo, Princeton University, University of St. Andrews, Penn State and University of Santa Barbara coupled with corporate research activities raises the probability of further spin-outs over the next two to three years.

While some will retain their technology choosing to exploit it themselves, others will seek to license it. This latter approach will, for the first time, put into the hands of the application developers the means to manufacture components consistently and reliability and with it opening the next phase of technology development and commercialisation of organic semiconductors. This third phase will see the introduction of new and novel applications based on 'plastic electronics' from roll-up displays and e-paper to disposable intelligent sensors that monitor the condition of food and drinks as they travel through the supply-chain.

September 5, 2003