Thinfilm Extends Relationship with PARC to Accelerate Delivery of Integrated Printed Electronic Systems

Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm) announced it has extended its relationship with PARC, a Xerox Company, for the delivery of integrated printed electronic systems. The two companies are now working together on the physical prototypes of a fully printed temperature sensor. The project begins extending Thinfilm’s Addressable Memory to support the integration of sensors and batteries.

“By entering into this phase of our successful relationship with PARC, Thinfilm is taking yet another significant step in the delivery of commercially available printed systems,” said Davor Sutija, Thinfilm CEO. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate and innovate with PARC on the evolution of printed electronics.”

“PARC is delighted to be expanding our long-term partnership with Thinfilm which is leading the development of printed devices into a very promising commercial direction,” said Ross Bringans, vice president, director of electronic materials and devices laboratory at PARC. “Thinfilm’s vision of delivering integrated printed electronics systems for a wide variety of applications including toys and games, logistics, sensors, and ID systems is going to have a big impact on the world and enables an eco-system of which we are a proud member.”

Since the initial demonstration of the Thinfilm Addressable Memory, the two companies have completed joint design studies for temperature sensor integration and have agreed to extend their co-development work to the prototyping stage. The sensor platform Thinfilm and PARC are developing is expected to be extensible to additional types of sensors, creating the opportunity for a number of new low cost applications using printed electronics.

Sutija has also been named to the PARC Innovation Council, where he will join representatives from leading companies such as Boeing, P&G and Panasonic. These two milestones come on top of the significant momentum that Thinfilm has gained during the last quarter in moving its memory systems to market.

In October 2011, the company and PARC demonstrated the first working prototype of a printed non-volatile memory device addressed using PARC’s complementary organic circuit technology, the organic equivalent of CMOS circuitry. Thinfilm Addressable Memory, which combines rewritable memory and logic, is expected to be a large part of the printed electronics market as it enables the creation of new integrated systems for the Internet of Things.

Among the recent milestones reached in the delivery of integrated systems, Thinfilm has:

• Received international recognition by winning both the FlexTech Alliance Innovation Award for 2012 and the IDTechEx Product Development Award, PE Europe 2012 for the Thinfilm Addressable Memory. In awarding the IDTechEx award for Best Product Development, a member of the jury concluded “The Thinfilm product is very significant for Printed Electronics.”

• Announced it will jointly develop printed temperature tags with PST Sensors to monitor food and other perishable goods.

• Created an ecosystem of technology partners to further support printed sensor tags, including Acreo, which develops printed displays for a variety of applications, and Imprint Energy, which is developing an innovative printed battery technology.

• Been named as one of 18 companies “pushing the boundaries of imagination when it comes to future retail,” by Impact Lab.