Posted on 09/06/2005 12:24:45 PM PDT by misterrob
LONDON The market for printable electronics is forecast to generate revenues of over $7 billion in 2010, according to NanoMarkets LC, a firm of analysts. The market is set to be driven by demand for printable displays, RFIDs, photovoltaics, computer memory and other printable products, the firm said.
NanoMarkets (Glen Allen, Virginia) said that the areas with the largest growth opportunities include printable displays, which NanoMarkets projects to be a market worth over $3 billion in 2010, printable RFIDs which will be worth $2.2 billion, and computer memory and photovoltaics which will achieve more modest, yet significant, market opportunities of almost $770 million and $580 million respectively.
The term printable electronics refers to circuitry created out of conductive polymer and nano-metallic inks using a wide variety of printing technologies. Such printable electronics can be used to mass produce products that could not be made using CMOS, such as RFID tags that are inexpensive enough to replace bar codes, roll-up displays or smart packaging.
Ink-jet printing offers the potential to create specialized circuits in very small runs and high volume consumer products and packaging embedded with intelligence or other features that will enhance revenue possibilities, according to NanoMarkets.
Skin.....?
Now that is something!
"These technologies have been in use within the rapid prototyping industry for many years now, and I predict it will make the transition to a consumer technology."
Saw some techs reproducing a 5000 year old spearhead the other night. They took some kind of X-ray of the spearhead (it was imbedded in a buffalo skull) fed it into the computer and the machine manufactured a spearhead out of sprayed plastic a stroke at a time. Amazing.
totally!
Wait, is it good to be a nerd now?
YO! Sounds like a Ballistic Printer; I believe it's so named because it actually shoots out the plastic necessary to build the object. The other major RP technology that I'm aware of is Stereo Lithography, which bounces a laser beam off a spinning disc and into a vat of liquid material. So cool.
MM
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