PETeC ground-breaking marks start of North East plastic electronics revolution

Cenamps, in partnership with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for PETeC on 27th July 2007. PETeC, a unique plastics electronics technology centre, is set to establish North East England as a global leader in the application of plastic electronics.

The first spade was inserted into the ground starting construction of the £10m project at NETPark, County Durham, where the new facility is to be based.

PETeC will be established as a national prototyping operation providing world-class facilities, services and expertise at the hub of a UK-wide network in plastic electronics. The state-of-the-art facilities will include high-tech clean rooms and laboratories, as well as production and testing equipment which will be available on an open access basis to meet the needs of industry.

PETeC will offer space, resource and expertise for companies to research and develop new technologies and their applications, prototyping and pre-competitive stage mini-manufacturing of products based on plastic electronics. These will include smart packaging, real-time smart packaging, real-time newspapers, intelligent signage, point-of-care medical diagnostic devices, novel drug delivery devices, printed electronics for consumer products, flexible solar cells and solid state lighting.

Dr Mike Pitkethly, CEO of Cenamps commented: “This centre will provide a bridge between the lab and the factory to facilitate the commercialisation of new products. With ever-increasing competition from places such as India and China, it is crucial that the UK continues to offer the world class facilities for developing plastic electronic products, and PETeC will be integral to the UK’s competitiveness in this emerging group of technologies”.

The project has been funded by One NorthEast, The Northern Way and the European Regional Development Fund.

For further information contact: enquiries@uk-petec.com

Cenamps on YouTube: Stimulating Innovation and New Ventures

Plastic Logic Receives $100 Million in Funding

Plastic Logic, announced that it has secured $100 million worth of venture capital, one of the largest deals in European venture capital history.

The funding was co-led by Oak Investment Partners of Palo Alto and Tudor Investment of Greenwich. Plastic Logic intends to use the venture funds to build a manufacturing facility. This is a strategic shift in its business model away from a licensing strategy to manufacturing its own products. The company expects to begin manufacturing standalone flexible active-matrix display units that include connectivity hardware by 2009.

Mr Hauser, Director of Plastic Logic, believes they could achieve $1bn in annual sales within 5-10 years. The company's first products are to be a series of light, tough and flexible display screens the thickness of a credit card. Plastic Logic, based in Cambridge, is to build the factory by the end of next year in Dresden, Germany.

Plastic Logic, which was formed in 2000 previously received $50m investment rounds.

More information on Plastic Logic's website - click here

You can also view Plastic Logic's videos on YouTube - click here


Shak Gohir
Cenamps, Business & Programme Manager

University Researchers Announce Breakthrough in Flexible Electronics

At Cenamps we are leading and managing the establisment of a national polymer electronic facility, PETeC, in the North East of England. The facility is to be built at NetPark in County Durham.

So its interesting for us to note that Jennifer Rocha reports in Nano World News ...."this month that a team of university researchers reported that organic single crystals can be patterned over a large area, paving the way for manufacturing of truly flexible electronics.

“We have eliminated the handpicking process of fabricating single-crystal transistors," explains Alejandro Briseno, lead author of the study, and now a doctoral student at the University of Washington. Up to this point, organic transistors have not had the full performance or capacity of being mass-produced. The research team has not only developed a new technology of patterning single-crystal transistors, but has made the manufacturing of them possible--“in certain cases, we demonstrated that in as fast as 5 minutes in an area the size of a human fingernail," notes Briseno.

Mr. Briseno tells NWN, “We were motivated to investigate deeper into single-crystal transistors because their performance is much more superior than that of polycrsytalline films or polymers. But there was a major drawback; it was difficult to mass-produce transistors and very time-consuming as well. In addition, single-crystal transistors were mainly used for fundamental studies and for exploring basic charge-transport in single crystals. There was rarely any other application for them. So for the last couple of years Professor Bao [of Stanford University] and I have been committed in transforming single-crystal transistors to mainstream practical applications.” Briseno began his research collaboration with Dr. Bao several years ago, when she was at Bell Labs and he was an intern. The team for this research paper included researchers from UCLA (where Briseno received his master’s degree) and Stanford University (where Dr. Bao is a Professor). What are the potential applications of this novel technology and its use in flexible electronics? “The possible applications of our discovery include flexible electronics in general,” Briseno tells NWN. “But specifically, our transistors could enable low-cost sensors on product packaging and ‘electronic paper’ displays and even electronic rollable newspaper.” While it may be a while before the technology’s promise is fulfilled, Briseno believes discovery of patterned transistors promises a host of applications never before thought possible.” ..."

Shak Gohir

Cenamps secures funds for Plastic Electronic Technology Centre

ONE NorthEast today approved a £10m project that will put the region at the forefront of revolutionary plastic electronics technology. "Flexible" technology only previously seen in science fiction movies like Minority Report could soon be manufactured in the region with the creation of the Plastic Electronics Technology Centre (PETeC).

One NorthEast and County Durham Economic Partnership is investing a combined £6.2m with ERDF making up the rest of the investment for the facility, based at NETPark in County Durham and managed by Cenamps - a national centre for emerging small-scale technologies. The DTI is contributing a further £2.1m to be invested in the first platform installation in the Centre.

The centre, the first of its kind, will establish the region as a global leader in the application of plastic electronics research, making specialised facilities and expertise available to companies seeking to develop new products and services for use in a wide range of markets.
PETeC is a major facility that will provide hi-tech clean room, prototyping facilities and laboratories for a range of projects emerging from Newcastle Science City and for companies and universities carrying out pioneering work in the field of plastic electronics, a revolutionary new technology that independent forecasts predict will be a £30bn industry by 2015 and balloon to a £250bn industry by 2025.

PETeC also provides space-enabling companies to engage closely with the universities, conducting collaborative research as part of Science City.

The research and development facility will house scientists developing innovative printing technologies including "inkjet" and "screen printing" technology - techniques that enables electronics to be printed directly onto paper thin plastic sheets, which are manufactured locally by DuPont Teijin Films in the Tees Valley.

This technology will complement the work being carried out by the Centre for Process Industries (CPI) in the Tees Valley and form the basis of a new generation of thin flexible display monitors and televisions, the development of low energy organic lighting, large-area electronic displays, low cost flexible solar cells and even disposable small-scale technology for children's toys.

One NorthEast Director of Business and Industry, David Allison, said: "North East England is home to many established and growing advanced manufacturing companies in electronics, substrates, photonics and materials, and the creation of PETeC will add to the support provided to these businesses.

"This project ensures the region is a world leader in the research and development of plastic electronics. Exploring this exciting new technology for market-led research and development, and strengthening the regional skills and knowledge base through shared research and networking opportunities, are some of the key aims of One NorthEast."

The first phase of the project will involve the construction of a 3,000sqm facility at NETPark, Sedgefield, equipped with state of the art class 10 and 100 clean room, laboratories, offices and seminar rooms. The project will see the recruitment of a 10-strong staff to operate the facility and the creation a business development and planning team.

Chief Executive of Cenamps, Mike Pitkethly, said: "Identifying and supporting the development and adoption of new emerging technologies is one of the core activities of Cenamps, and plastic electronics is a technology that will revolutionize many aspects of peoples' lives.

"International interest in plastic electronics is growing rapidly and Cenamps is extremely pleased that the North East will now host the UK Centre for the prototyping and scale-up of the technology and have the opportunity to compete on the world stage."

Key partners with Cenamps in PETeC will be the CPI, another of One NorthEast's Centres of Excellence and the Universities of Durham and Newcastle.

Chief Executive of CPI, Nigel Perry, said: "This is an extremely important project for both the North East and UK Plc. The UK has a world-leading position in this technology, and PETeC will transform our ability to drive this exciting technology toward commercial exploitation. I am delighted that the Centre for Process Innovation is a partner in the project: our existing work has already achieved international renown in the industry and this project considerably enhances the ability for the North East to work with the industry".

The University of Durham plans to develop organic displays and lighting based contract research activities of the Photonics Materials Institute over to PETeC. Professor Andy Monkman, Director of Photonic Materials Institute, University of Durham, said: "As part of our growing activities in organic displays and lighting we are being asked more and more to provide state of the art measurement services for industry.

"These contract research activities would be ideally situated at PETeC and will add to the growing activities and metrology we plan to put in place to support research and development activities in organic displays at PETeC."

The centre will also provide a base for Newcastle University. Prof. Nick Wright, Dean of Business Development, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, at Newcastle University, said: "PETeC provides an excellent opportunity to increase the interaction between Newcastle University's world-class research teams in electronics and industrial companies.
"There are many exciting research and commercialisation possibilities unlocked by the centre and the Newcastle University research teams are delighted to be involved in such a major way with this very exciting project."

Dr Roger Carline, Deputy Director of the UK MNT (Micro and Nanotechnology Network), said: "PETeC is an important strategic addition to the UK MNT infrastructure. Technology of this type will be seen in many consumer products on the high street as well as in medical and industrial systems within the next decade. This makes access to the capabilities unique to PETeC essential for UK companies to compete in the future."

The centre, which forms part of the DTI's Technology Strategy, will boast facilities to allow companies to develop prototypes and then "mini-manufacture" products to test manufacturing processes.

Cenamps Press Release
Shak Gohir