ICONIC (Imprinted CONfigurable logIC)

Increasingly there is global appetite for printed electronics built on plastic and other cheap substrates (paper/card) as they can enable new products in high volume markets such as consumer packaging and anti-counterfeit labels. The printed electronics market is estimated to be $2.2 billion today, growing to $45 billion by 2021 and $330 billion by 2027 (IDTechEx). Within this substantial and rapidly growing market, logic is predicted to become the largest individual sector at 38%. Printed Logic is the branch of printed electronics focused on circuits built from active semiconductor devices corresponding to the printed equivalent of a silicon chip. PragmatIC Printing Ltd (PPL) is pioneering the development of printed logic, for broad applicability in consumer packaging, security (identification and brand protection) and novelty applications. PPL has developed unique technology for producing ultra-thin and flexible electronic logic, scalable to very low cost using novel device architectures with a simplified fabrication process. PPL has a fundamental platform for technology licensing, underpinning a staged roadmap of increasingly sophisticated electronic capabilities. The benefits and viability of PPL’s approach have been demonstrated through a combination of lab-based proof-of-principle, device modelling, and experimental integration into prototype product concepts. This development-of-prototype project builds on previous TSB support to develop printed logic supply-chain and fundamentals of printed programmable logic, and supports PragmatIC’s plans to establish pilot production of its printed logic and will specifically address issues relating to production of imprinted programmable logic arrays.