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An emerging technology field for electronic devices.
Electronic devices can be produced very efficiently, in high volume, at low cost and aimed at new applications which have not be addressed today by traditional silicon-based electronics.
Solvay is seeking to position itself as a supplier of high added value materials for electronic devices applications, with a clear emphasis on active materials that are suitable for solution processing.
Key segments of the Organic and Printed Electronics
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Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) with:
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Displays, offering better technical performance, energy efficiency and viewer comfort than the incumbent technologes (LCD and plasma);
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Solid State Lighting, with new possibilities for diffuse, low energy light sources.
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Organic Field Effect Transistors (OFETs) for use in particular in display backplanes, flexible electronic paper and radio labels (RFID = radio-frequency identification), etc. This segment also includes printable memories for storing data for various applications such as intelligent chipcards, active labels.
In 2010, collaboration continued with Plextronics, in which Solvay is a shareholder.
Work focused on developing new inks for producing lighting surfaces based on organic light emitting diodes (OLED). Several new materials have been developed and patents applied for.
Solvay's research programs with outside partners continued apace and produced their first patentable results.
Solvay's “Corporate Venturing Unit” took a minority stake in Polyera Corporation, based in Illinois (USA), a leading developer of materials for the printed electronics market.
Polyera develops and markets semiconductors and organic dielectrics for organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) and organic photovoltaics (OPV).
These can be used to produce flexible display backplanes, RFID (radio frequency identification) labels and organic solar panels.
Open innovation: shared innovation strategy
To accelerate the development of new organic electronics materials, Solvay has implemented an extensive network of partners involving world class academic institutions, open innovation centers and technological start-ups :
- Solvay's cooperation with the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. Since 2008, the R&D network around Georgia Tech has been considerably enlarged to include the universities of Princeton and Washington (USA), Imperial College London (UK) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China). Solvay has also worked for many years with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland).
- Solvay is an active partner of the Holst Centre (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), a joint open innovation center founded by TNO (The Netherlands) and IMEC (Interuniversity MicroElectronics Centre, Belgium)
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