The Printed Electronics Conference USA2015 (PE2015) which is billed as “The World’s Largest Conference and Exhibition on Printed, Organic and Flexible Electronics will be held November 18-19, 2015 in Santa Clara, CA.
I have followed and attended the meeting in years past and have seen it evolve into a very diverse but highly interrelated set of technical and business presentations, masterclasses, and company tours. The exhibition has also grown to substantial size and delivers up a wide array of exhibits of technologies, materials, processing equipment, end products, and more.
In 2015, Flexible Displays continue to be a key element of the conference program. Dr. Erica Montbach of Kent Displays will describe the firm’s efforts on Flexible, Roll-to-Roll eWriter Displays and Applications. After touring Kateeva’s Menlo Park, California facility last year, and speaking with CEO Alain Harrus and President and Co-Founder Conor Madigan, I look forward to an update on Kateeva’s Inkjet Technology for RGB OLED Mass-Production and on the firm’s new headquarters facility in Newark, CA.
Another firm presenting at PE2015 is Royole Corporation founded in Shenzen China in 2012. Royole is developing flexible AMOLED displays. Royole has demonstrated flexible AMOLED displays with thickness of 0.01 mm and a bending radius of 1.00 mm (see photo below). Royole has posted a video illustrating the extreme thinness and light weight of its flexible AMOLED display. In addition to AMOLED flexible display, Royole also offers flexible touch panel modules.
Source: Royole
OLED development, particularly for lighting, is another topic covered at PE2015 with presentations from Osram Sylvania, Acuity Brands, Konica Minolta, and Universal Display. I particularly look forward to the Konica Minolta presentation on “Recent Progress in Flexible OLED Lighting Panels”. Konica Minolta has been developing flexible OLED lighting for some time now. Of interest at PE2015 will be what Konica Minolta has to say concerning the manufacturing and shipment status of its OLED lighting products.
After covering wearable and flexible display development at SID 2015 in June in San Jose, CA, I am also looking forward to PE2015 coverage of technologies for wearable devices. While the SID 2015 Wearable-Flexible Market Focus Conference focused primarily on wearable hardware and software product design, PE2015 is directed primarily toward technologies for wearables. The event includes a total of five sessions organized around “Printed Electronics Meets Wearable Technology”, “Sensor Technologies for Wearable Electronics”, “Wearable Technology for Healthcare”, “Wearable Technology Systems and Innovations” and “Wearable Electronics Devices”.
PE2015 also offers business and technical sessions on several additional display-related technologies including sessions on transparent conducting films, flexible barrier encapsulation films, and quantum dots. Additional sessions on several material technologies including electroactive polymers, conductive inks, and stretchable and textile electronic materials are also on the program. Combine all the above with additional talks on Flexible Batteries, Sensors, Advances in Manufacturing methods and more, and I think I will have a busy time of it in Santa Clara next month. – Phil Wright
