Germany an Organic Valley is building near Dresden

Since a few weeks, Paris NSWFB tests a combination with sensors of rhythms cardiac and respiratory of GPS, accelerometer, a tag Visual and sound of a gas detector, not to mention a Wi - Fi connection. Objective: track the movement of soldiers of fire and trigger alarm if one of them is in difficulty. For the moment, this prototype electronic components are silicon, and therefore fragile. But ultimately this combination, developed under the European programme Proetex, use of organic electronics.

Organic electronics What transistors, sensors, RFID chips, photovoltaic cells, or even batteries, made in Silicon, but organic materials, compounds of carbon and hydrogen (read below). They have several advantages: they are flexible where, for example, the possibility of slip them into clothes. Most importantly, they are easier to produce and therefore less expensive than conventional components. Some of them may even... print!

"Organic electronics will not replace the classical electronic," says Gilles Horowitz, Professor of physics and chemistry at the University of Paris Diderot Paris - VII. But it will make on large surfaces and cheap electronics. "In Sofileta, a French company specialized in textile techniques (for firefighters, military, workers of chemistry...), who participated in the Proetex program, it soon realized the benefit of this technology. "Printed organic electronics will allow a break in terms of design and use." One can imagine a bracelet containing any medical record of patients from a hospital, or even a mobile phone that would be a wrist... ", said Laurent Jamet, responsible for the development of Sofileta.

Foldable solar collectors

But, of course, others are interested. Several companies announce for the next months of the organic electronics products. Konarka, in the United States, uses European patents developed by a professor from the University of Linz, Austria, to develop the foldable solar collectors. PolyIC, installed in Fürth near Nuremberg, Germany, wants to print the RFID chips by whole rolls. Germany, an "Organic Valley" is building near Dresden. This is, for example, that Plastic Logic, a US company of original English (it uses of patents filed by the University of Cambridge), opened last September a plant from which should come out in the first half of 2009, its first electronic readers, each containing one million of organic transistors. It is also in Dresden that have found Novaled, specialist in the Oled (organic light emitting diodes). In Finland, the paper industry hopes to find new opportunities with organic electronics: sensors, medical or industrial, can be printed directly on the paper. At Oulu, North of the country, and the University, a public lab, are working on these applications.

In France, companies are rather timid. "It is a job that involves both electronics, chemistry and printing skills: it is normal that the Germans to there are interested before us", explains Laurent Jamet, of Sofileta. This family SMEs, installed in Bourgoin-Jallieu, between Lyon and Chambery, is launched in the organic adventure for nearly two years: it is part of the integrated competitiveness Grenoble Minalogic cluster Printronics programme. Its purpose is to develop a chain of printed organic electronics, developing production printing lines that would cost a few tens of millions of euros, against several billion for any components in Silicon factory. Printronics project, with a budget of EUR 20 million, brings together, in addition Sofileta, the Commissioner of Atomic Energy (in two of its laboratories in Grenoble and Chambéry, the Liten and Leti), STMicroelectronics (flexible electronics), Nanoident Biometrics (biometrics sensors) and Infiniscale (electronic design software).

Discretion of the industrial

For the moment, all the rows of printing of organic components are only drivers. "We launched our line of demonstration in the fall of 2007, but we do not sell our RFID chips", recognizes Wolfgang Mildner, Managing Director of PolyIC, a company still regarded by his peers as one of the most in advance. The subject matter is so sensitive that all industrial keep secret their research work. When it asks Rick Hess, CEO of Konarka, announced for 2009 the commercial launch of its first flexible photovoltaic sensors, boot into touch in replying: "technology Konarka can be printed using different methods, including flexographic printing, etching, silkscreen and inkjet: we must just adapt the formulation of materials.".

Although there is several technological locks to unblock (read below), the consultants are enthusiastic. Several studies firms believe that printed organic electronics will "explode" in the next few years. "We expect that this segment represent in 2015 a $ 15 billion market in the world," says Harry Zervos, analyst with Idtechex, a French organization.