Profit through Innovation - Future of smart paper

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Future of smart paper

Written by Graham Moore, 2007

Incorporating electronics could be one of the most important developments in the paper industry over the next few years. Graham Moore, Pira International, predicts the future of this exciting sector.

The continual development and evolution of electronic technology has provided an opportunity to create a range of new and exciting products for a wide range of applications. The application of new polymeric systems to a range of materials using processes based on printing technology has provided the route for the development of low-cost electronics. Incorporation of this functionality into paper and board products provides the potential for opportunities and enhanced functionality in existing products.

Market potential for smart paper

With so many smart paper products still in a conceptual phase or at the very initial stages of the product development cycle, no meaningful data exist as to the potential size and value of such a market. However, an estimation has been made on the likely overall market based on analysis of the feedback from respondents to a Pira survey and other research. This suggest that the market size in 2007 for smart paper is around €265 million. Around 80 per cent of this value relates to flexible displays and just over 10 per cent is generated through radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.

Table 1. Potential market value for smart paper products 2004-10: expected growth scenario (€ millions).

In all cases the RFID market value is based on packaging-related applications only, and the display market value is based on the organic light emitting diodes (OLED) share of the overall display market. Further opportunities beyond these applications are likely to exist, and will increase the market potential value overall for smart paper products.

The packaging category is assumed to be all RFID related. PoP producers are expected to be the first and largest group to embrace the display opportunities offered. The advertisers and publishers will follow, but are unlikely to embrace the technology much before the end of the decade. The overall market potential value for smart paper products could exceed €730 million by 2010 with the main applications remaining displays and RFID-related products.

Research findings

Pira has conducted a large-scale recent research project that investigated the potential of smart paper. These are some of the highlights of the findings.

Manufacturing smart paper

Production of smart paper products is likely to be achieved by a number of printing processes. It is expected that litho will become the dominant process, particularly for medium- to large-scale display applications, by the end of the decade. Further, it is assumed that inkjet will become the dominant low-volume process for use with RFID, smart labels and batteries. Many conventional printing processes can be used to lay down the ink and polymer systems. The principal issue relates to resolution, i.e. the spatial scale of the printed pattern.

Inkjet printing has great potential for the patterning of organic electronics, and is the subject of development and commercialisation by a number of companies. The technique is well suited for use with many different ink or polymer systems and does not suffer from any fundamental limitations. The only issues relate to further refinement of the process to meet the demands of the materials and the performance of the final product.

Gravure printing has not been widely investigated for the printing of electronics. It does have a good potential in that a wide range of ink systems could be used, and a reasonably thick ink film can be produced, especially at low speeds using higher-viscosity inks.

Flexo printing is well suited to printing electronics. It is capable of printing quite fine line work if the plates are made with the latest techniques and thin plates are used.

Litho printing is ideal for the printing of circuits as it offers excellent dimensional control and registration with substrate patterns. Litho printed circuits exhibit sheet resistivities comparable with thick film circuits produced by standard means.

Reel-to-reel printing is the subject of continuous development, and a number of successful trials have been undertaken. The development of a successful process will open up further product opportunities and potential reductions in unit costs.

Capability perceptions

A lack of appreciation of the capability of smart paper products predominates, and this is viewed as an impediment to development. If the full capability of such products is not demonstrated and appreciated by the potential customer base, cheaper, less innovative, more familiar alternatives will be favoured and will capture market share.

Cost-related factors

These are viewed as the major impediment to the development of smart paper. This relates very closely to the lack of knowledge of the capability of smart paper products - if the value offered by the implementation of such products is clearly demonstrated, unit costs for some applications will become less of an issue.

Research and development

Extensive R&D activity has led to a range of ink and polymer systems becoming available. For example, conductive inks and polymers and organic semiconducting polymers may be used for the laying down of electronics onto a range of substrates, including paper and board. Although many remain laboratory products, a growing number have been developed and commercialised by a range of companies. The commercial development of smart paper products is in its infancy. However, the scope of potential applications for printed electronics is wide. Many will use a plastic base as the substrate, but others can be based around paper and board substrates. Batteries created via screen-printing on a range of substrates are now available commercially. These are printed, pasted or laminated onto paper, plastic and other media. Smaller batteries printed via inkjet technology have also been developed.

Conclusions

The packaging sector is, and is expected to continue as, the dominant end-use sector for smart paper products. The principal product application is RFID. Such use is being driven by retailers and brand owners seeking improvements in supply chain performance. Although flexible display technology is still in its infancy, there is considerable interest from a number of groups.

The response to and development of the potential of smart paper products varies with different groups in the supply chain. However, dominating current thoughts are cost issues and a lack of appreciation of the capability of such products. An effective campaign to increase awareness of the capability and highlight the potential is required.

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