Currently, we do not get around technology presentations without the Internet of Things (IoT) praised as one of the drivers of future growth. There are billions of units of devices used in every part of our private and working life. These devices will have some kind of input (sensor) including a small portion of logic inside. Further there needs to be a wireless building block enabling the drive to hook up to the net. But what will be the manufacturing business resulting from these new applications? Which technology would allow a required very low cost manufacturing of these devices? It could likely be that Plastic Electronics (or Printed Electronics) will play a major role in this new business due to the enormous cost pressure on the IoT business model.

Electronic Functions Implemented by Organic Materials Instead of Silicon

This has been the vision of technologists and researchers for more than ten years now. Organic electronics are based on carbon (hence the term "organic") and open the door to a world of cheap, flexible devices - in theory. In contrast to the classically silicon-based devices, organic "chips" are not manufactured in extremely capital-intensive semiconductor wafer fabs with sophisticated and expensive lithography machines, with dozens of consecutive processing steps of exposure, deposition, removal, patterning and so on. Silicon-based devices are manufactured in cleanrooms meeting extreme requirements whereas organic electronic circuitry, at least according to the vision of scientists, can be produced quick and easy in simple printing processes, much like today's inkjet printers we encounter in many office environments.

This used to be the vision of plastic electronics protagonists. However, it turned out to be much more difficult to actually produce operating devices that could be used in real-world applications. Now, after many years of intensive research, it seems like the polymer electronics (another term for the same thing) is gradually reaching a point where researchers can start discussing questions of manufacturability, where business joins science. This rating is reflected in the program of the upcoming Plastic Electronics Conference 2014 (PE2014), one of the most important meetings of the organic electronics scene in Europe. As part of the Semicon Europa 2014 event in Grenoble, PE2014 brings together experts and practitioners of both - the traditional silicon-based technology as well as the proponents of polymer-based electronics. And this is what makes this event so interesting for applications for the IoT.

In 2014 the level of maturity reached by organic and large area electronics, or plastic electronics in general, shows a clear and important shift from the research level to industrial relevance. Mass manufacturing of applications in areas such as OLEDs for display and lighting, flexible photovoltaics and organic and hybrid based integrated smart systems, has definitely become reality and is projected to expand very rapidly in the consumer market sector, as well as in other markets, such as healthcare, automotive, home and industrial manufacturing. The real opportunities and challenges in organic and large area electronics are in the co-integration of proven semiconductor technology and plastic electronics into new applications and products with higher functionality at a lower price-point.

Heterogeneous Integration

Heterogeneous integration is an important enabling technology to achieve the performance levels that are needed and to facilitate commercialization - or in other words "to choose the best of two worlds". By joining forces and overcoming the challenges of electronic co-design and manufacturing, commercialization can be accelerated and solutions which are meeting the needs from today's applications for the mass market can be developed.

Meeting Point of the Organic and Semiconductor Worlds

Fiddian Warman, who is the founder and managing director of SODA, a company developing creative tools that help schools, communities and businesses to work, play and learn together, will give the first keynote at the conference. John Heitzinger, president of Soligie will, in a second keynote, elaborate about Advances in Additive Manufacturing of Electronics. Soligie is a company that provides custom, robust, repeatable manufacturing solutions for printed electronics by leveraging multiple printing platforms and a deep materials knowledge and experience.

The conference will further have high level speakers looking into business cases, manufacturing aspects, materials and technologies of the plastic electronics industry. The list also includes the following companies and organizations: Applied Materials, Arizona State University, Arkema, Beneq, CEA, CEA LITEN, Corning, DuPont Teijin Films, European Commission, Fraunhofer IZM, Ghent University, imec, ISORG, Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft, Philips Research, Robert Bosch, Roth und Rau, STMicroelectronics, Sunchon National University, Universal Laser Systems, University of Cambridge, Valeo, VTT, Ynvisible and Yole Développement.

With 400 exhibitors Plastic Electronics Conference and Semicon Europa will take place from 7-9 October, 2014 in Grenoble/France. 4,000 visitors from more than 40 countries are expected to join the event.