Overview of Flexible Electronics from ITRI’s Viewpoint

Jupiter Hu Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan

Flexible electronics covers a wide spectrum of applications including flexible display, flexible solar

cell, printed RFID, flexible lighting and others. Currently, it has been estimated that there are about 1500 worldwide research units working on various aspects of flexible electronics. Market analysis estimates the revenue of flexible electronics can reach 30 billion USD in 2017 and over 300 billion USD in 2028. Region-wise, the research activities in Europe cover a wide range of topics -- from materials, process, to system and applications. In the US, research is primarily driven by military applications. Asian companies invest heavily in flexible display.

Based on the potential product categories, flexible display is expected to have 40% of the market share in 2019 and e-paper is a major product therein. Flexible photovoltaic will have about 30% market share. Both the above product categories are based on existing industrial infrastructure, e.g. the FPD and PV industry. The market share of printed RFID will shrink to only 10%~15%, much lower than four-year ago’s optimistic estimation. Flexible lighting’s share will be about 10%, whereas the major part will be OLED lighting in which research centers and companies in Europe and Japan have heavily invested. The remaining part, about 10%~15%, will be on sensors and batteries which are quite important for enabling new business. Examples in this category include large area flexible speaker, printed battery, etc.

Based on the core technologies of flexible modules, ITRI’s R&D strategy focuses on the integration of system and application capabilities to quickly demonstrate feasible products and scenarios. One of the examples, a paper-thin speaker has won 2009 Technology Innovation Award of Wall Street Journal in the consumer electronics category and also won the best of best Red dot design. The thickness of the speaker can be made under 1mm with a wide sound spectrum and high sound quality. Owing to its ultra thin feature, we integrated this new sound module into ceiling audio, automobile and 3C products, which creates a highly differentiated market segment from the traditional speaker market.

Due to the immaturity of flexible electronics industry, venture capital has been approached to support commercialization in the early product stages. ITRI has designed a “virtual venture” mechanism which helps technical teams create new business. Although it is not yet mature, it has been expanding rapidly and dynamically. The keys to success include grasping the tempo, building up a complete value chain, and attracting the necessary entities to join the efforts and cooperate.

2010 28th IEEE VLSI Test Symposium

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