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Technologies, Business Models, Applications and Materials Management Strategies in Transition — SEMI reports.

August 22, 2012 — The $100B+ electronics materials industry is undergoing rapid metamorphosis as technologies, markets, business models, and materials management practices are all being restructured to meet the needs of a profit-hungry, environmentally-conscious and innovation-dependent world. The $50 billion semiconductor materials industry alone, for example, needs investment in new lithography resists, novel device architectures, and advanced interconnect and packaging while trying to maintain margins in a consolidating industry where manufacturers know how to leverage buying power. At the same time, advanced electronics materials markets in displays, LED, PV and power semiconductors — collectively larger than traditional semiconductors — are providing new, potentially higher-profit opportunities for suppliers. Both manufacturers and suppliers are responding to these dynamics through joint development agreements and other collaboration models, increasingly important resource recovery strategies, and capitalizing on the synergies between advanced materials requirements among different industries.

These and other issues will be the focus of 2012 Strategic Materials Conference (SMC) to be held on October 23-24 at SEMI headquarters in San Jose, CA. For more information on the conference, visit www.semi.org/en/node/41386. SMC is the only conference dedicated to exploring the synergies, trends and business opportunities in advanced electronic materials. Many of the developments, trends and collaboration in one industry are applicable to other industries, creating potential valuable synergies across the materials spectrum. With presentations by leading market analysts, academic researchers, industry consortiums, leading manufacturers, and top suppliers, SMC will serve as a valuable forecasting tool and accelerator for advanced materials usage in the electronics industry.

To provide a broad reach, the 2-day SMC will feature four 2-hour tracks in semiconductors, carbon-based materials for energy storage and ICs, LED/Power devices, and OLED/printed electronics. Each of these areas are characterized by significant opportunities and challenges. In LEDs and power semiconductors, for example, dramatic increases in solid state lighting and emerging markets for electric vehicles, Smart Grid, solar inverters and other areas have a driven a race in Si, GaN on Si, GaN on GaN, SiC, and sapphire-based technologies. In organic and printed electronics, OLED displays are quickly emerging as a replacement for LCDs even in large format displays, potentially creating opportunities for leveraged technologies in OLED lighting, thin film batteries, printed logic and memory.

Other portions of the conference will be devoted to critical trends and issues in materials usage and materials development, including rare earth supply dynamics, materials recovery, collaboration models and joint development strategies, investment opportunities, and more. Leading industry analysts will also provide market forecast and insights into application trends. Significant networking opportunities including a dinner reception will be included in the conference.

Figure source: SEMI Materials Market Data Subscription May 2012

One of the collaboration strategies explored in the conference will discuss how equipment OEMs, materials suppliers and major manufacturers can work more effectively together. Today, frequent R&D efforts can be distributed at research consortia, manufacturer process development labs, and at materials suppliers, each in conjunction with key equipment suppliers who have their own development programs. Speakers from Intel, Micron, Air Liquid and Applied Materials will discuss common development strategies and ways they can be improved.

Materials refining, recycling and recovery is also becoming a critical issue for many industries due to regulatory compliance and as a cost reduction imperative, with implications for fab design, intellectual property protection, onsite materials infrastructure and other areas. Experts from Envirodigm, Sachem, Intel and Air Products and Chemicals will discuss this “paradigm shift” in manufacturing and how it provides both opportunities and challenges.

SMC has provided valuable information and networking opportunities to materials and electronics industry professionals since 1995. SMC 2012 builds on that legacy, expanding the reach and focus of the conference to examine advanced electronics materials for the semiconductor and adjacent industries. SMC is organized by the Chemical and Gas Manufacturers Group (CGMG) is a SEMI Special Interest Group comprised of leading manufacturers, producers, packagers and distributors of chemicals and gases used in the microelectronics industry. For more information on the conference, visit www.semi.org/en/node/41386.

August 21, 2012 – FEI Co. and Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (HHT) have agreed to settle an ongoing dispute over focused ion beam (FIB) technology patents. Under terms of the deal, FEI will make a one-time $15M payment, while HHT will dismiss all pending claims and grant FEI future license rights to the FIB patents at issue. Both parties also will cross-license "various elements of intellectual property" under confidential terms.

"We are pleased to have come to agreement with Hitachi on these patent issues and bring to a close these various long-standing disputes," stated Brad Thies, SVP and general counsel of FEI. The licensing of the patents from Hitachi allows FEI to continue to enrich and improve the capability of our products for our customers."

FEI already had recorded $5.4M in charges related to the patent dispute; the remaining $9.6M will be recorded as prepaid royalties and amortized over approximately seven years.

The dispute stems back to 2009 with a legal action filed by Hitachi in Japan regarding its "microsampling" technology for analyzing semiconductor devices. The dispute continued through 2010 and 2011 with HHT filing multiple damage requests and injunctions. An injunction on three specific FEI system configurations imported into Japan was upheld in Feb. 2011 (other HHT injunction requests were denied), after which FEI filed its own request to halt HHT’s "misrepresent[ation of] the facts in the case" regarding the multiple filings, and pointed out that no FEI products had been found to infringe the patents at issue.

Also read: FIB technology keeps pace with process and packaging developments

August 21, 2012 — A ranking of the forecasted top 2012 semiconductor foundries (pure-play and IDM) was released by IC Insights. TSMC is expected to remain the leading foundry, with sales almost 4x that of second-ranked GLOBALFOUNDRIES, which in turn is expected to have more than 2x the sales of the fifth-ranked foundry SMIC. Samsung is expected to be the largest of only three IDM foundries in the 2012 ranking with almost 8x the sales of IBM, its closest IDM foundry competitor.

Table. Top 12 IC foundries of 2012. SOURCE: IC Insights, company reports.

2012F rank

2011 rank

Company

Foundry type

HQ

2010 sales ($M)

2011 sales ($M)

11/10 change (%)

2012F sales ($M)

12/11 change (%)

1

1

TSMC

Pure-play

Taiwan

13307

14600

10

16720

15

2

3

GLOBALFOUNDRIES

Pure-play

US

3510

3480

-1

4285

23

3

2

UMC

Pure-play

Taiwan

3965

3760

-5

3775

0

4

4

Samsung

IDM

South Korea

1205

2190

82

3375

54

5

5

SMIC

Pure-play

China

1555

1320

-15

1625

23

6

6

TowerJazz

Pure-play

Israel

510

611

20

655

7

7

7

Grace/HHNEC (2012 merger)

Pure-play

China

630

565

-10

605

7

8

8

Vanguard

Pure-play

Taiwan

508

519

2

540

14

9

9

Dongbu

Pure-play

South Korea

475

500

5

540

8

10

10

IBM

IDM

US

430

420

-2

435

4

11

13

WIN (GaAs)

Pure-play

Taiwan

221

298

35

425

43

12

11

MagnaChip

IDM

South Korea

405

350

-14

375

7

In total, the top 12 foundries in the table are expected to represent 89% of the total foundry sales (IDM and pure-play) in 2012. This share is eight points higher than the 81% figure the top 12 represented in 2009 (before Samsung dramatically ramped up production for Apple). With the barriers to entry (e.g., fab costs, access to leading edge technology, etc.) into the foundry business being so high and rising, IC Insights expects this “top 12” marketshare figure to steadily rise in the future.

For the second year in a row, Samsung is expected to be ranked as the fourth largest IC foundry. However, IC Insights believes that the company will challenge UMC for the number three spot in the ranking in 2013. Samsung has the ability (i.e., leading-edge capacity and a huge capital spending budget) and desire to become a major force in the IC foundry business. It is estimated that the company’s capacity dedicated to its IC foundry business reached 130K 300mm wafers per month in mid-2012. Using an average revenue per wafer figure of $2,500, Samsung currently has the potential to produce annual IC foundry sales of about $3.9 billion.

In 2Q12, Samsung was by far the largest supplier of smartphones in the world, shipping an estimated 54 million handsets with Apple coming in second after selling about 26 million iPhones. Thus, in total, Samsung and Apple represented almost half of the total worldwide smartphone shipments (168 million) in 2Q12. As a result, Samsung is enjoying a tremendous amount of synergy by supplying application processors to the largest (i.e., itself) and second-largest (i.e., Apple) suppliers in the world of one of the hottest electronic system products in the world — smartphones.

After surging by 82% in 2011, Samsung’s IC foundry sales are forecast to jump by another 54% in 2012, which would make it the fastest growing top-12 IC foundry last year and this year. Moreover, Apple’s 2012 share of Samsung’s total foundry sales is expected to be 85%. However, as Apple begins to engage other foundries (e.g., TSMC) to produce its custom processors, Samsung will need to make up for these lost sales by signing up additional large-scale customers.

While Apple and Samsung are currently embroiled in a dramatic courtroom battle concerning various lawsuits and counter-lawsuits regarding system level patents, Apple is still very reliant on Samsung for advanced IC processor production for its iPad tablets, iPhone handsets, and iPod portable media players. It should be noted that TSMC was working at over 100% utilization in mid-2012 and essentially had no ability to allocate large amounts of leading-edge IC production capacity to Apple.

One important factor that is oftentimes overlooked with regards to the Samsung/Apple IC supply relationship is the large amount of memory, both DRAM and flash, that Apple buys from Samsung, the largest IC memory manufacturer in the world. Since Apple is such a big memory customer, Samsung is able to “bundle” its IC offerings to Apple and deliver a cost-effective high-volume supply of leading-edge flash memory, DRAM, and processors to the company. It should be noted that, as of mid-2012, no other foundry in the world could come close to matching Samsung’s total IC supply capabilities. Thus, while Apple and Samsung battle it out in the courtroom over system level issues, at the chip level, Apple must continue to endure its “marriage of convenience” with Samsung.

There is no doubt that Apple is looking to diversify away from being so reliant on its major system level competitor (Samsung) for the production of its advanced ICs. However, IC Insights believes this transition is likely destined to happen over a few years rather than a few quarters.

Overall, IC Insights believes that the leading-edge IC foundry business is going to be very competitive between the four major advanced technology suppliers—TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Samsung, and UMC. With the continued success of the fabless companies as well as the strong movement by many IDMs (Integrated Device Manufacturers like TI, Renesas, ST, etc.) to the fab-lite business model, IC Insights expects the IC foundries to witness very strong demand for their services over the next few years.

IC Insights recently released the 200+ page Mid-Year Update and 30-page August Update to the 2012 edition of The McClean Report. Learn more about IC Insights’ reports and events at www.icinsights.com.

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August 20, 2012 — With growing demands from smart phones, tablets and other applications, combined with the Taiwan’s developing foundry and device industry, the region has become the center of many important developments in micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. To meet the needs of the booming MEMS market, Taiwan has built a comprehensive supply chain and plays a critical role in the MEMS industry. SEMICON Taiwan 2012, held September 5-7 at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, will feature both Taiwan MEMS suppliers and global MEMS elites — including Asia Pacific Microsystems, Freescale, InvenSense, and STMicroelectronics — who will discuss innovation in MEMS design, manufacture, packaging, testing and equipment.

More on SEMICON Taiwan: SEMICON Taiwan to spotlight growing market opps in Taiwan and Second annual SiP Global Summit

The latest Yole Développement market research report pointed out MEMS reached a size of US$ 10 billion in 2011, a growth of 17 percent. The industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 percent over the next few years to reach $20 billion by 2017. Market research firm IC Insights reported that embedded applications including accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetic sensors and other IC-based sensors will see CAGR of 18 percent before 2016, indicating a bright future for the MEMS industry.

"In addition to the demands from the consumer market, MEMS has applications in other arenas including manufacturing, medicine, energy, optic communications and air defense," said Terry Tsao, president of SEMI Taiwan and Southeast Asia. "To meet these niche markets mentioned above, this year SEMICON Taiwan, along with related local and international companies, will showcase MEMS Pavilion, MEMS Forum, MEMS Innovative Technology Center, and University MEMS Research. The goal is to boost Taiwan’s MEMS industry, make inroads into the international market, and capitalize on the technology’s growth."

The SEMICON Taiwan 2012 MEMS Pavilion, organized by SEMI and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and co-organized by the Nanotechnology and Micro System Association, will feature Asia Pacific Microsystems, Ardic Instruments and Keyence, among others, and display the most advanced MEMS technology and solutions. In addition, to strengthen industry-academic collaboration, SEMI is organizing a University MEMS Research area showcasing the latest from academic institutions.

The MEMS Forum held on September 6 will be co-hosted by Min-Shyong Lin, honorary chairman and founder of Asia Pacific Microsystems; Chih-Kung Lee, president of Institute for Information Industry; and Robert Tsai, director of TSMC MEMS Program.  In the morning session, Jean-Christophe Eloy, president and CEO of Yole Développement, will speak on MEMS industry trends and outlook; Steve Nasiri, chairman, CEO and founder of InvenSense, will address tracking systems; Benedetto Vigna, MEMS group executive vice president and general manager of STMicroelectronics, will speak on mobile applications; Stéphane Gervais-Ducouret, Global Marketing director for Sensors at Freescale, will talk about MEMS at all levels; and Heinz Ru, vice president of Marketing and Innovation at Tong Hsing Electronic Industries, will focus on MEMS packaging.

In the afternoon session, Yii-Tay Chiou, Cloud Service Application Center executive assistant at  ITRI, will introduce MEMS applications in personal care; Chii-Wann Lin, professor of National Taiwan University, will discuss MEMS applications in biotech; Markus Wimplinger, Technology Development and IP director at EVG will speak on mobile applications from a manufacturing perspective; Michael Hornung, technical marketing manager of SUSS MicroTec and Andreas Bursian, product manager of Multitest, will address challenges in MEMS production and testing respectively.

Register SEMICON Taiwan 2012 at: www.semicontaiwan.org. SEMI is a global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains. For more information on SEMI, visit www.semi.org.

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August 17, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Big data, 3D printing, activity streams, Internet TV, Near Field Communication (NFC) payment, cloud computing and media tablets are some of the fastest-moving technologies identified in Gartner Inc.’s 2012 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies.

Gartner analysts said that these technologies have moved noticeably along the Hype Cycle since 2011, while consumerization is now expected to reach the Plateau of Productivity in two to five years, down from five to 10 years in 2011. Bring your own device (BYOD), 3D printing and social analytics are some of the technologies identified at the Peak of Inflated Expectations in this year’s Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle (see the figure).

Gartner’s 2012 Hype Cycle Special Report provides strategists and planners with an assessment of the maturity, business benefit and future direction of more than 1,900 technologies, grouped into 92 areas. New Hype Cycles this year include big data, the Internet of Things, in-memory computing and strategic business capabilities.

The Hype Cycle graphic has been used by Gartner since 1995 to highlight the common pattern of over-enthusiasm, disillusionment and eventual realism that accompanies each new technology and innovation. The Hype Cycle Special Report is updated annually to track technologies along this cycle and provide guidance on when and where organizations should adopt them for maximum impact and value.

The Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies report is the longest-running annual Hype Cycle, providing a cross-industry perspective on the technologies and trends that senior executives, CIOs, strategists, innovators, business developers and technology planners should consider in developing emerging-technology portfolios.

"Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies targets strategic planning, innovation and emerging technology professionals by highlighting a set of technologies that will have broad-ranging impact across the business," said Jackie Fenn, vice president and Gartner fellow. "It is the broadest aggregate Gartner Hype Cycle, featuring technologies that are the focus of attention because of particularly high levels of hype, or those that Gartner believes have the potential for significant impact."

"The theme of this year’s Hype Cycle is the concept of ‘tipping points.’ We are at an interesting moment, a time when many of the scenarios we’ve been talking about for a long time are almost becoming reality," said Hung LeHong, research vice president at Gartner. "The smarter smartphone is a case in point. It’s now possible to look at a smartphone and unlock it via facial recognition, and then talk to it to ask it to find the nearest bank ATM. However, at the same time, we see that the technology is not quite there yet. We might have to remove our glasses for the facial recognition to work, our smartphones don’t always understand us when we speak, and the location-sensing technology sometimes has trouble finding us."

Although the Hype Cycle presents technologies individually, Gartner encourages enterprises to consider the technologies in sets or groupings, because so many new capabilities and trends involve multiple technologies working together. Often, one or two technologies that are not quite ready can limit the true potential of what is possible. Gartner refers to these technologies as "tipping point technologies" because, once they mature, the scenario can come together from a technology perspective.

Some of the more significant scenarios, and the tipping point technologies, need to mature so that enterprises and governments can deliver new value and experiences to customers and citizens include:

Any Channel, Any Device, Anywhere — Bring Your Own Everything

The technology industry has long talked about scenarios in which any service or function is available on any device, at anytime and anywhere. This scenario is being fueled by the consumerization trend that is making it acceptable for enterprise employees to bring their own personal devices into the work environment. The technologies and trends featured on this Hype Cycle that are part of this scenario include BYOD, hosted virtual desktops, HTML5, the various forms of cloud computing, silicon anode batteries and media tablets. Although all these technologies and trends need to mature for the scenario to become the norm, HTML 5, hosted virtual networks and silicon anode batteries are particularly strong tipping point candidates.

Smarter Things

A world in which things are smart and connected to the Internet has been in the works for more than a decade. Once connected and made smart, things will help people in every facet of their consumer, citizen and employee lives. There are many enabling technologies and trends required to make this scenario a reality. On the 2012 Hype Cycle, Gartner has included autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, Internet of Things, big data, wireless power, complex-event processing, Internet TV, activity streams, machine-to-machine communication services, mesh networks: sensor, home health monitoring and consumer telematics. The technologies and trends that are the tipping points to success include machine-to-machine communication services, mesh networks: sensor, big data, complex-event processing and activity streams.

Big Data and Global Scale Computing at Small Prices

This broad scenario portrays a world in which analytic insight and computing power are nearly infinite and cost-effectively scalable. Once enterprises gain access to these resources, many improved capabilities are possible, such as better understanding customers or better fraud reduction. The enabling technologies and trends on the 2012 Hype Cycle include quantum computing, the various forms of cloud computing, big data, complex-event processing, social analytics, in-memory database management systems, in-memory analytics, text analytics and predictive analytics. The tipping point technologies that will make this scenario accessible to enterprises, governments and consumers include cloud computing, big data and in-memory database management systems.

The Human Way to Interact With Technology

This scenario describes a world in which people interact a lot more naturally with technology. The technologies on the Hype Cycle that make this possible include human augmentation, volumetric and holographic displays, automatic content recognition, natural-language question answering, speech-to-speech translation, big data, gamification, augmented reality, cloud computing, NFC, gesture control, virtual worlds, biometric authentication methods and speech recognition. Many of these technologies have been "emerging" for multiple years and are starting to become commonplace, however, a few stand out as tipping point technologies including natural-language question answering and NFC.

What Payment Could Really Become

This scenario envisions a cashless world in which every transaction is an electronic one. This will provide enterprises with efficiency and traceability, and consumers with convenience and security. The technologies on the 2012 Hype Cycle that will enable parts of this scenario include NFC payment, mobile over the air (OTA) payment and biometric authentication methods. Related technologies will also impact the payment landscape, albeit more indirectly. These include the Internet of Things, mobile application stores and automatic content recognition. The tipping point will be surpassed when NFC payment and mobile OTA payment technologies mature.

The Voice of the Customer Is on File

Humans are social by nature, which drives a need to share — often publicly. This creates a future in which the "voice of customers" is stored somewhere in the cloud and can be accessed and analyzed to provide better insight into them. The 2012 Hype Cycle features the following enabling technologies and trends: automatic content recognition, crowdsourcing, big data, social analytics, activity streams, cloud computing, audio mining/speech analytics and text analytics. Gartner believes that the tipping point technologies are privacy backlash and big data.

3D Print It at Home

In this scenario, 3D printing allows consumers to print physical objects, such as toys or housewares, at home, just as they print digital photos today. Combined with 3D scanning, it may be possible to scan certain objects with a smartphone and print a near-duplicate. Analysts predict that 3D printing will take more than five years to mature beyond the niche market.

Additional information is available in "Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2012" at www.gartner.com/hypecycles. Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT) is a leading information technology research and advisory company.

August 16, 2012 — Wedge and wire bonder company Hesse & Knipps Inc., the Americas subsidiary of Hesse & Knipps Semiconductor Equipment GmbH, will demo a new 3mil wire bonding capability on its BJ935 automatic heavy wire bonder for back-end semiconductor packaging at the 45th International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS).

Packaging professionals can watch the wire bonding tool in action at IMAPS booth 210, September 9-13 in San Diego, CA.

Hesse & Knipps enhanced the capabilities of its BJ935 heavy wire bonder to process gold, aluminum and copper semiconductor die bonding wire with diameters from 3 to 20mil (75 to 500

August 16, 2012 — Despite overall weaker shipments in 2012, new display and touch technology in small/medium devices continues to drive demand, especially in the smartphone sector. According to the NPD DisplaySearch Advanced Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report, an increased demand for higher-performing smartphones is driving production of combined flat-panel display (FPD) and touch panel technology. In addition to the trend of display makers bonding touch panels to their displays for shipment to their customers, there has been dramatic growth in integration of touch into the display itself.

Active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays are using on-cell touch, while thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) makers are focusing on in-cell touch technology for high-resolution low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS). Currently, the top two global smart phone brands — Apple and Samsung — are leading adoption of these approaches. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3, AMOLED technology is being coupled with on-cell touch, and Apple is expected to incorporate in-cell touch in combination with LTPS TFT LCD on the iPhone5, which is expected in 2H’12.

As more smart phones are produced with some form of combined touch-panel FPD technology, NPD DisplaySearch anticipates that the cost, size, and brightness of these smart phones will change. NPD DisplaySearch forecasts a reduction in cost for the process of bonding touch panels with displays, eventually decreasing the cost of smart phones for consumers. NPD DisplaySearch also predicts smart phones developed with this combination technology will become thinner, as consumer demand for a more lightweight device continues to rise. In addition, NPD DisplaySearch predicts these smart phones will feature a higher brightness as the glass sheets used for the outer touch panel are removed.

Touch panel combination technology is expected to provide a major revenue stream for small/medium FPD applications. In fact, by next year, the majority of panel shipments are expected to use touch panels combined with FPD, incorporating both in-cell and on-cell touch. This segment is forecast to grow to 70% by 2015.

Figure. Touch Panel Combination Shares in High Value FPD (2011-2016). Source: NPD DisplaySearch Advanced Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report

“While this combined technology is expected to drive future demand, shipments are fairly stagnant because of a wait-and-see mentality that’s occurring in the marketplace at this time,” noted Hiroshi Hayase, NPD DisplaySearch Vice President of Small/Medium Display Research. “In Q2’12, NPD DisplaySearch found that shipments of small/medium displays have tapered off as both consumers and competitors wait for the release of the iPhone 5 in the second half of the year.”

In terms of expectations for the iPhone 5, LTPS TFT LCD production will increase with new fabs added in 2H’12. AMOLED production is increasing in expectation of expanding sales of the competing Galaxy S3. Furthermore, shipments of medium-sized LCDs in the 7“-class could increase due to new tablet PC models launched later this year.

The NPD DisplaySearch Advanced Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report covers the entire range of small/medium (=9.0") displays shipped worldwide and regionally. Backed by more than 40 suppliers of data and our own team of industry analysts, this report analyzes historical shipments and projects forecasts that provide decision makers with the insights they need to support procurement and product plans.

New Advanced Features: The Advanced Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report now allow users to track data by viewing-angle and 3D capabilities.

NPD DisplaySearch is a global market research and consulting firm specializing in the display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. For more information on DisplaySearch analysts, reports and industry events, visit us at http://www.displaysearch.com/.

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August 14, 2012 — Printed electronics is a set of printing methods used to create electronic circuits, sensors, devices, and various electronics products. Printing is emerging as a technology that can replace traditional photolithography processes for electronics manufacturing, reducing costly material use, very complex processes, and expensive equipment. Printing enables direct patterning of desired materials on the desired location without complex processes, and production is cleaner and more productive, according to Displaybank, an IHS analyst business.

Figure. Steps in printing electronics compared to steps in current electronics manufacturing methods.

Printing devices can lead the creation of new industries through technology fusion.

Printed electronics can be classified as substrate and printing material-related technology: various technologies that allow functional materials to be deposited at a desired position, equipments and parts that can run these technologies, and methodologies.

Printed electronics process technology includes material technologies of printed electronics inks such as conductive inks, insulating materials, and metal nano-inks, new printing process technologies such as inkjet printing, µ-contact printing, and imprinting to print materials, and various equipment technologies to support these.

Table. Printed electronics technology applications.

Area

Detail

Applicable processes

Displays and Lighting

LCD

-Color filter, alignment film, spacer: Inkjet, roll printing.

-TFT backplane: Semiconductor layer, gate, S/D electrode, insulating layer, printing.

PDP

-Wiring: Inkjet printing

-Electromagnetic waves shield: Ag conductive film filter screen printing

OLED

-organic light-emitting layer: Inkjet and nozzle jet when polymer-method OLED.

-Transparent electrode layer: Conductive polymer inkjet, slot die coating.

e-Paper

-Frontplane: Septum in wetting, inkjet and roll printing in solution injection.

-TFT backplane: Active layer and insulating layer imprint, inkjet.

Lighting

OLED

-Organic light-emitting layer: Inkjet and nozzle jet when producing polymer-method OLED.

Smart products

RFID

Antenna: Roll printing

-Others: Roll-to-roll to capacitors and chips

Packaging

Sensor: Inkjet, roll, and screen printing in sensor layer.

Energy

Solar cells

-CIGS, CdTe, DSSC absorber layer: Spray, screen.

OPV active layer: Inkjet, slot die, roll method.

-Si electrode layer: Screen printing, inkjet, AD method.

Battery

-Electrode layer: Slot die to electrode layer.

Others

Touchpanels

-Wiring: Screen and roll printing to electronic wiring.

-Transparent electrode layer: Jetting and roll printing to replace patterned ITO.

Flexible PCBs

-Wiring: Roll printing when forming high-density wiring.

 

The report, “Printed Electronics Technology Trend and Market Forecast (2011~2020)” from Displaybank talks about printed electronics material technology, issue, process technology issue, and applicable areas throughout chapter 3~5, and chapter 6 and 7 summarize trends of companies and research institutes that are developing technologies in their fields. Lastly, chapter 8 forecasts and analyzes the size of printed electronics-applicable application in the next 10 years, and speculates the size of market, which can be created as printed electronics is introduced, for the first time in the world.

This report will help printed electronics-related technologies developing companies, companies reviewing new businesses, and companies that want to innovate through printed electronics process to understand an industry-wide trend and forecast future prospects. Learn more at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=847&cate=6

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August 14, 2012 — Following a sharp 30% drop during Q1 2012, worldwide shipments of flat-panel televisions returned to growth in Q2, according to a preliminary estimate from the new Worldwide Monthly TV Tracker issued by Displaybank, a business of IHS.

Worldwide shipments of flat-panel televisions, a category consisting of liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma sets, rose to 48.9 million units in Q2, up 3.6% from 47.2 million from Q1.

Figure. Preliminary IHS estimate of quarterly flat-panel television shipments, based on data from the Worldwide Monthly TV Tracker.

“After an unusually weak start to 2012, global television shipments showed some signs of life,” said Tom Morrod, senior analyst and head of TV technology at IHS, adding that the seasonal post-holiday TV sales drop was “unusually sharp” in 2012 because of “tentative consumer spending.” Q2 is following normal seasonal patterns, with likely growth continuing in Q3.

Q2 started off on a strong note, with shipments in April rising by 4% from March to reach the highest levels of the year up to that point. While shipments declined slightly in May and June, the increase in April was sufficient to drive growth for the entire quarter.

Worldwide LCD TV shipments increased 3.4% in the second quarter, following a 29.3% drop in Q1. While worldwide plasma shipments are generally declining, they enjoyed a 6.6% bump in Q2, compared to a 39.5% plunge in the previous quarter.

In the LCD segment, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of flat-panel display (FPD) shipments, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. remained the leading brand in the Q2, according to the preliminary estimate. Samsung was responsible for 19.2% of unit shipments, down just slightly from 19.3% in Q1. LG Electronics held its second-place ranking with a 13.2% share of shipments, unchanged from Q1.

Table. Preliminary global Q2 LCD TV ranking (Percentage market share based on unit shipments). SOURCE: IHS Displaybank, August 2012.

Q2 Rank

Brand

Q1 Market Share

Q1 Market Share

1

Samsung

19.3%

19.2%

2

LG

13.2%

13.2%

3

Sony

8.4%

7.9%

4

TCL

5.9%

6.5%

5

Toshiba

5.7%

5.8%

 

Others

47.6%

47.4%

 

Grand Total

100.0%

100.0%

Samsung has “shrewd marketing, global distribution and efficient production” in its corner, Morrod observed. “Both Samsung and fellow South Korean brand LG are able to undercut their Japanese rivals on pricing, allowing them to retain their leadership. And with the Japanese market contracting dramatically, the companies based in the country have struggled to find new volume sales opportunities elsewhere.”

The strongest performance among the Top 5 was posted by No. 4-ranked TCL Corp. of China, which increased its share of shipments to 6.5 percent, up from 5.9 percent in the first quarter.

“TCL is prospering both because of overseas sales, which were up by about 150,000 units in the second quarter, and due to domestic Chinese sales,” Morrod said. “The company is taking advantage of capitalizing on rising sales in China in addition to upping its stature abroad.”

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