Printed electronics and nano technology are revolutionizing the product identification and inventory management industry. RFID tags provide a multitude of information to manage the inventories of giants retailers like Wal-Mart. Of course, these devices needed to get to a certain price point, especially for the big W.

Tags today are being manufactured and sold by the millions and at a profit because their manufacturing process has been streamlined. Roll-to-roll, direct deposition of conductor traces (DDCT) utilizing nano particle conductive ink and ink jet printing methods have made this possible.

Lately, many companies have introduced - or will soon introduce - a number of innovative conductive inks, largely as a result of R&D efforts fostered onward by the energy crisis. Some of these firms are large players who see the potential market: Inks used to cover areas larger than football fields in the quest of harnessing solar power.

PEC and our Industry

The PCB industry produces millions of square feet of boards every year, yet we are overlooked by these same companies because we are considered a commodity that generates no profits.

Ironically, without the PCB there would be no electronics industry.

Ever since the demise of the large captive PCB producers, we have as an industry lost most of our R&D efforts. The formation of giant EMS firms also did little to push PCB innovation. These companies are too busy with moving the technology to Asia, making carbon copies of the US plants they once occupied.

Equipment manufacturers with little resources today are satisfied with simply fine-tuning existing equipment to meet performance demands. Personally, I wonder why the plug hasn't been pulled on the large publically-owned consumables suppliers with divisions that cater to our industry.

 PEC can and will change the way that "printed" circuits are made. It is inevitable. The questions remain: Will our PCB industry grab hold of this opportunity or will we simply disappear and be an anecdote in Wikipedia? Will the printed electronics industry become the PCB manufacturers of tomorrow?

PEC Technology

PEC is a technology that can provide existing PCB shops the required R&D products to form tomorrow's interconnect manufacturing process with little investment. The technique itself is relatively simple, and thanks to nano technology, the proper ink formulations needed to produce the PEC are now available.

PEC, as opposed to inkjet deposition, can create ultra-fine-line conductors with a cross-sectional value, reducing the conductor's resistance. Using a base unclad laminate, the first component of PEC is applied using silk screening equipment. This specially formulated LPI dielectric ink is deposited at about 1-1.2 mils thickness, depending on screen mesh selections. Extra layers of the dielectric, if desired, will provide for thicker conductor lines.