The emerging technology breakthrough of the Internet-of-Things is expected to offer promising solutions for packaging and interactive entertainment. The PING project anticipates on this evolution and aims to develop flexible, fully integrated metal-oxide Near Field Communication (NFC) tags seamlessly embedded in folded carton packaging and game cards. This will introduce NFC technology at lower cost and without substantial changes to product dimensions and mechanical characteristics. Moreover, one-time programmable memory (PROM) will enable additional functionality. NFC chip development will be ready for implementation in the “up-scaled” production facility at Pragmatic Printing (>100Mn chips/year). As a result, the PING consortium represents the value chain (design, manufacturing, integration, assembly and conversion) of NFC-enabled products in Europe and will secure follow-on commercialisation for volume production. More specifically the PING objectives are as follows: 1) Development of a Process Design Kit (PDK) for automated design of complex integrated circuits in scalable metal-oxide technology and compatible with standard simulation tools 2) Advancing the design of complex NFC circuitry with enhanced performance and functionality using the developed PDK 3) Implementation of scalable manufacturing processes to realize flexible, large area metal-oxide NFC circuitry 4) Evaluation of suitable antenna manufacturing processes and chip bonding technologies 5) Demonstration of flexible, fully integrated metal-oxide NFC tags in the existing products of two end-users scalable to high-volume markets The consortium is a well balanced mix of 1 SME (Pragmatic Printing), 3 industrial partners (Cartamundi, Smartrac, Van Genechten Packaging) and 2 major research institutes (imec, TNO) fully capable of achieving the ambitious PING goals. Moreover, this constellation enables the project to tackle the problem with an exhaustive approach, including researchers, developers and users. The main activities will focus on: • NFC chip design and processing • NFC antenna design and production • PROM design and processing • Assembly of chips, antenna and game card sheets

Our Flexible Integrated Circuits (FlexICs) are recognised by the likes of ARM as a disruptive innovation that will change the formation of the semiconductor industry significantly. We are PragmatIC Printing Ltd, pioneers of design, development and manufacture of non-silicon ICs on plastic. Our FlexICs are; thinner than a human hair; ultra-flexible and offered in flattering form factors and footprints that conventional silicon cannot offer. Our processes allow FlexICs to be produced on a large scale at a low cost; the marginal cost per IC in volume production can be <€0.1c. Non-silicon ICs bring many new potential market applications previously unattainable with conventional technology. FlexICs that are visually unobtrusive are ideal for integration onto goods packaging, controlled documents, and others. During Phase 1, we validated the market potential for our FlexICs. A conservative estimate shows a demand for 800bn FlexICs p/a, which is a fraction of the full 40trillion p/a potential. In order to facilitate this demand, we want to enable localised FlexIC production capacity for packagers, integrators and component manufacturers for immediate integration into end-products. Our solution is to develop a ‘factory-in-a-box’; a self-contained, modular and autonomous production facility containing all of our novel processes. This FlexLogIC plant will deliver the FlexICs required cost effectively at market accepted price levels. We have strong documented need and demand pull from market leading companies such as Crown Packaging, Cartamundi, Molex and SMARTRAC and others for an integrated solution such as FlexLogIC. Within 2 years, we will develop an entry-level module (ELMo) with capacity to produce upto 800m FlexICs p/a. The 5-year forecasts conservatively show a net cash inflow of €63.1m (mostly from license fees) by 2022 with an ROI of 47%. We are currently the only Company with the capability to supply an autonomous facility for high-volume manufacture of FlexICs.

We are Pragmatic Printing Ltd; we are pioneering the innovation in the field of flexible printed electronics. We are recognised by global firm ARM HOLDINGS for our disruptive and compelling solution for embedded connectivity in everyday objects. Our ‘flexICs’ are revolutionary integrated circuits manufactured on organic (plastic) substrates (instead of silicon) through our novel processes. Our flexICs are; thinner than a human hair; ultra-flexible; offered in flattering form factors and footprints that conventional silicon cannot achieve. Our processes allow flexICs to be produced on a large scale at a low cost; the marginal cost per IC in volume production can be <€0.01. Being silicon-free can bring many new potential applications. The flexible and visually unobtrusive flexICs are ideal to be integrated onto goods packaging, controlled documents and the like. Given the exponential growth in the demand for the ‘Internet of Things’ connectivity, our flexICs are ideal to fulfil the demand in a cost effective manner. In order to facilitate this demand, we want to empower packaging printers and manufacturers with the integrated ability to produce these ICs at the point of packaging manufacture and integration. There is a strong documented need and market demand pull from market leading companies such as Crown Packaging, Cartamundi, Molex and Smartrac and others for an integrated solution for the manufacture of flexICs onsite. We wish to take our existing production processes, and package them in an automated, modular and integrated self-contained ‘factory in a box’. This FlexLogIC plant will allow packagers to manufacture ICs onsite in an efficient and effective way. The FlexLogIC plants will help us to achieve our objective of generating €70 million turnover in year 5 post project. We are the only ones currently that have the ability to supply a self-contained, autonomous ‘factory in a box’ to facilitate the high volume manufacture of flexible printed ICs.

The project targets the incorporation of advanced functional materials to deliver customised conductive inks and flexible adhesives compatible with high volume manufacturing platforms. Specifically the development of these enabling materials will support high speed roll to roll integration of hybrid and large area electronics to address internet of things opportunities The consortium will integrate materials development with end application requirements in terms of technical performance (thermal/electrical conductivity, processing conditions, materials integrity and adhesion) and unit cost of production to facilitate market adoption. The project will utilise and build on existing CPI pilot facilities (R2R print line) to demonstrate technology integration, manufacturability and produce components for end user evaluation to enable the direct comparison of production techniques. The project delivers a supply chain to support future commercialisation: incorporating materials suppliers of inks and adhesives, supporting RTO in Formulation and nano-particle production, established high fidelity print equipment manufacturers, electronic device manufacturers, established pilot line facilities and potential end users from the apparel, packaging and healthcare sector – relating to the internet of things.

HIPERLAM is an SME driven Research and Innovation Action (RIA) well-aligned to the Factories of the Future (FoF) Initiative with a strong emphasis upon demonstrating superior cost and speed performance in end-to-end processes featuring laser-based additive manufacturing in two key applications requiring high resolution printed conductive metallic lines, namely laser printed RFID antenna and laser printed Fingerprint sensors. Existing subtractive top-down process will be replaced by HIPERLAM’s additive process for both Applications. Process maps illustrate the existing multiple processing steps compared to HIPERLAM’s significantly fewer steps. Real-time diagnostics are included and Modelling investigations will be undertaken to support optimisation. The promise of HIPERLAM’s high resolution laser based additive manufacturing solutions is to transform the manufacturing processing speed by 10x for laser printed RFID antenna (Application 1) and 5x in the case of the lead-time for laser printed fingerprint sensor design (Application 2). Similarly, HIPERLAM promises to reduce costs by 20x and 50% respectively for Application 1 and Application 2. HIPERLAM features high resolution LIFT Printing and Laser Sintering utilising novel high viscous inks to achieve printed conductive metallic structures down to 10 µm resolution over large areas (10 to 1000 cm2) suitable for scale-up to full production. The targeted applications address global market needs and will support mainstream adoption of AM processes in EU industry by displacing existing processes with smart, flexible, digitally enabled manufacturing technology. HIPERLAM business cases promise significant revenue growth in both application spaces and in the potential for consortium partners to establish themselves in pre-eminent positions in high resolution, low cost, high throughput AM technology.