In an interview with Print Matters, Michael L. Kleper, Paul and Louise Miller Distinguished Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology, N.Y., discusses how your company may be printing electronics in future.

1. What is printed electronics?

Printed electronics, for our working definition, is the process of using conventional printing technology to produce inexpensive printed components and devices. At this point in development, products have been limited to novelty types of devices, as typified by products produced by T Ink, and of course, RFID antennas, which are manufactured using silver-based conductive inks.

2. What do printed electronics mean to printers?

The opportunity for printers of all kinds may be significant if the right mix of inks, substrates and production processes are developed. Printers will want to use their existing presses, and this will be possible for certain kinds of work. Presses, of course, are built to produce human-readable graphic media, and the tracings required for electronics are considerably smaller, viewable only with magnification. The smallest line that we can print is about 20 microns, and this will be satisfactory only for relatively simple kinds of circuits. I expect that we will see new presses developed that meet the more stringent demands of printed electronics.

3. How long have printed electronics been around? How did they come into being?

The use of screen printing for the production of circuit boards (PCBs) and membrane keyboards, keypads, and switches, has been around for more than 50 years. It is only in the last three years or so that new inks have made it possible to use high-speed printing presses for the roll-to-roll manufacture of printed electronics.

If there is one event that ushered in the age of printed electronics it is the introduction of the Alien Technologies chip, which was developed as the controller for inexpensive RFID tags. The chip is extremely small, barely visible to the unaided eye, and requires very little power to work. It is the low power requirement of the chip that makes it possible to connect it to an antenna printed with conductive ink. Prior to this, chips required metal copper antennas.

4. What are the applications of printed electronics?

Today the applications are limited, due primarily to the fact that we are at the beginning of a new technology, and the material science to support it is in its early stages.

5. Which markets are they best suited for?

Part of the problem that we face today is defining the market. We are dealing with a new set of capabilities, and we are looking for the opportunities that will produce the greatest return. To date, the production of RFID antennas seems to be first reasonable product.

6. RFID experts say printers sometimes get too caught up in the technology part of RFID instead of focusing on how they can use it to enter new markets and benefit from it. Do you think printed electronics face a similar challenge?

I don't differentiate between RFID and printed electronics. Today we can print RFID antennas, which are a major component of an RFID tag, so tags, which are electronic devices, are partially printed. Eventually we will be able to print the entire tag.

RFID as a technology can be applied in a printing production environment, to keep track of inventory, and to monitor jobs as they move through production.

What products will be produced through the process of printed electronics, and what benefit they will have to printers, in terms of making their businesses more efficient and productive, remains to be seen.

7. In terms of how evolved the technology is, where do printed electronics stand?

We are in the early stages. I would advise printers to follow the market. There are likely to be significant developments.

Next week, Kleper will tell you how you can prepare to handle changes that printed electronics will bring.