1. Future markets for 3D printed electronics
Dr Jon Harrop
Director, IDTechEx

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3. 3D printing: price vs speed

4. Introduction
3D printed electronics (3DPE) combines two existing technologies:
Printed Electronics
3D Printing
3DPE is not yet commercially significant with a tiny ≪$10M market size.
3DPE has the potential to revolutionise:
The ~$100bn PCB industry.
Educational/prototyping tools, e.g. the breadboard.
The Maker community.
Antennas.
Heaters.
Several companies will bring 3DPE products to market in 2015.
IDTechEx are following the 3DPE market and trying to create a forecast.

5. Printed Electronics

6. Printed Electronics: materials
Metallic ink
Organic and inorganic semiconductors
Dielectrics
Carbon nanotubes and graphene
Conductive polymers
Glass, polymer, paper and steel substrates
Flexible barrier films, adhesives, encapsulants
Quantum dot materials

7. Printed Electronics: features
Mass customisation
Bendy
Wearable
Transparent
Biocompatible and even edible
Environmentally friendly
Thin
Large area
Cheap substrates

8. Printed Electronics: today
$9bn market in 2015 → $16bn in 2025
Conductive ink fingers on solar cells was 75% of the entire PE market.
Now $2.4bn conductive inks and $6.5bn printed sensors (mainly glucose).
Cost of silver recently dipped so the silver ink market also dipped.
Lots of research on inket printed electronics but manufacturers use mostly screen printing and slot-die coating.
Many equipment vendors seeing 80% of revenues from EU-funded R&D projects.

10. Printed electronics: the struggle
Many giant corporations frustrated by common answers from the printed electronics industry:

11. 3D Printing

12. 3D printing: processes and materials
Welding
Selective laser sintering/melting
Blown powder
Extrusion
Valve/Laser/Maglev
Jetting/spraying
Stereolithography/DLP
Metal
Thermoplastic
Concrete
Ceramics
Biomaterials
Binder (plaster/sand)
Photopolymer

13. 3D Printing: features Rapid prototyping Mass customisation
Design freedom
Biocompatible and even edible
Low-cost manufacturing
Manufacture on-demand in remote or hostile locations
Material choices

14. 3D Printing: broad spectrum
Printer prices range from $300 to $1,500,000
Build volumes range from 0.001m3 to 8m3.
Deposition rates range from 6mm3/s to 34,200mm3/s
Precisions range from 5mm to 10μm.
Material prices range from $5 to $330 per kg

15. 3D Printing: today $2.5bn market in 2015 → $20bn in 2025
Three technologies dominate:
Thermoplastic extrusion ($540M)
Stereolithography ($614M)
Selective Laser Sintering ($555M)
Vendor lock-in materials keeping prices high.
Mainly used by automotive, aerospace, consumer products, medical, dental, oil and gas, hobbyists, education and jewelry.
Mainly used for prototyping, tooling and just now for large-scale production.

16. 3D Printed Electronics

17. 3D Printing Hype Cycle (2014)
Expectations
Dental
Critical aerospace
Architecture
Home
Sports
Education
Prototyping
Bioprinting
Non-critical aerospace
Medical research
Orthopaedics
Clothing
Jewelry
Construction
Military
Electronics
Technology
Trigger
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Trough of
Disillusionment
Plateau of
Productivity
Slope of Enlightenment
Time

18. Conductive filaments Still high resistance. Only suitable for:
Static dissipation.
Maybe sensors.
Readily available but unable to solve any real problems.

19. Conductive inks Better conductivity Suitable for: Signalling Low power
Can be UV curable => ideal for inkjetted photopolymers
Took years to formulate reliable inks for printed electronics.

20. Potential applications
Prototype PCBs
Antennas
Heaters

21. Competing tech: in-mold electronics
Ford Motor Company used screen printed conductors on a plastic film formed into a 3D shape to replace the mechanical switches in overhead panels in cars. The capacitative switches kept tripping when they were not touched so Ford pulled it. The underlying technology is good and could provide switches for white goods in the future.

22. 3D printed electronics forecast
Over the next few years the most successful technologies will be the simple ones, i.e. laying down conducting and insulating materials.
Companies that provide a complete product by moving down the value chain will succeed.
The most successful applications will either be completely novel or improvements to components but not drop-in replacements.
Platforms for 3D printed electronics will profit by facilitating the internet of things, wearable technologies and structural electronics.
3D printed electronics could well be a multi-billion dollar industry by 2025.

23. For more on 3D printing see… www.IDTechEx.com/research/3D

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