TOFFEE - Transfer OF FlexiblE Electronics

Printed/thin-film electronics built on plastic and other cheap substrates (paper/card) can
enable new products in high volume markets such as consumer packaging and anti-counterfeit
labels. The printed electronics market is estimated to be £1.5B today, growing to £30B by
2021 and £200B by 2027 (IDTechEx). PragmatIC has developed printed logic (circuits built
from active devices such as transistors and diodes) corresponding to the printed equivalent of
a silicon chip for broad applicability in consumer packaging, security (identification and
brand protection) and novelty applications. Conventional electronics on PCBs is rigid,
difficult to distribute within products and over-engineered, resulting in high cost for these
applications. In conjunction with other thin-film components (displays, printed batteries)
printed logic can overcome these constraints and enable many new ultrathin form-factor
products. Integration methods to connect these thin-film components which provide power,
display/lighting, logic and circuitry are required to provide functional products to end-users.
To date existing integration solutions such as pick-and-place, already widely used in
electronics, have been adapted to printed electronics. This proof-of-concept project will
explore alternative integration techniques widely used within the printing community, for
thermal transfer of printed logic from its original substrate onto a target surface. This will
broaden the range of applications which can be addressed by PPL’s printed logic and other
printed electronics components, in addition to providing lower-cost and improved form-factor
for already addressable applications.