At a display conference last year, I visited the exhibitor booth of a company who has been a rising star in the printed electronics area. When they learned that I came from a graphic arts background, their comment was that ordinary printers won't be involved in printed electronics. My first thought was that this comment was interesting since the holding company who founded the exhibitor numbers among its member companies several printing firms. My next thought was that in more than 20 years working in the graphic arts field I am not sure if I have ever met an ordinary printer.

I've met printers who do high-quality work and those whose work makes you wonder how they stay in business. I'm also known printers who seem to work magic on a printing press. I suppose you could call them extraordinary, but again, I'm not sure that I have ever met their "ordinary" counterparts.

However, it does rather raise the question of the roll of the printer in printed electronics.

To me. there seems to be no doubt that the printer plays a critical role in this emerging market. In that respect, I feel that I am in good company. Many of the companies that are presently active and quite successful in the area of printed electronics, confirm that printing expertise is an important part of their process.

NanoIdent Technologies is one of the first firms to produce sensors-in this case optoelectronic sensors-using printed electronics technology in volume quantities. The company uses both inkjet and screen printing-the inkjet head is specially customized for NanoIdent from Dimatix; the screen press was also modified to suit the company specifications. Because the company management has a long background in semiconductor photodetectors, the company decided to target the semiconductor sensor market as its initial goal. NanoIdent acknowledges that it has a team of printing experts on staff to optimize the printing process.

PolyIC,& Co. KG was founded as a joint venture between Siemens AG and Leonhard Kurz GmbH & Co. KG. Leonhard Kurz is a large German printer, which is emerging as the major outsourced printer for both Konarka (organic PV) and PolyIC. The relationship has been touted as an ideal partnership, combining the expertise of electronics and printing, hot stamping and coating. This week at the Organic Electronics Conference (OEC) in Frankfurt, Germany, PolyIC will be announcing the roll-out of its first products-one in the field of printed radio frequency identification (RFID) with the brand name PolyID and the second product in the field of smart objects with the brand name PolyLogo.

These are just a few examples of the partnership between printing and electronics expertise that is needed for printed electronics to be a success.

There are examples of other roles that the printers are developing. GSI, formerly Graphic Solutions International, LLC, is a printing firm established as a print broker in Burr Ridge, Illinois. Until 1997, it was primarily a provider of both flexo and screen printed industrial graphics products. It examined the potential of functional printing, moved to new premises and began screen-printing conductive metal traces for the medical market. It is now actively involved in printing RFID antennas and batteries and integrating them into active RFID tags.

RSI ID Technologies was a label printer specializing in bar codes. Today it is one of the few vertically integrated manufactures of RFID labels in the United States, with sales over $10 million and a 40% market share in its technology area. It did what so many printers today are doing-it looked for different market opportunities outside the traditional printer model. Some printers today are offering value-added services such as database management and design or finishing services to their customers to increase their profitability. In this case, RSI ID turned to RFID as a market opportunity. It required challenge, but its success indicates it was worth the time and effort to learn the RFID process inside and out.

I could cite numerous additional examples, but I believe there is a vital role for the printer in printed electronics. Granted printing electronics requires insight into the electronics part of the equation. Equally important is that the electronics must be printed, which brings its own skill set to the table. Both are needed for success. And in the future, I believe that there will be more printers stepping up to become involved. For the printed electronics concept of electronics everywhere, I believe that is necessary.