... in the Touch Screen Industry

Published: November 15, 2011
Category: Advanced Materials Electronics and Devices

Glen Allen Virginia: Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets announced the release of its latest market report on transparent conductors titled, “Markets for Transparent Conductors in Touch Screen Sensors - 2012.” In this report, NanoMarkets identifies and quantifies the markets for both indium tin oxide (ITO) and emerging transparent conductors for the sensors used to provide touch-screen capabilities in systems ranging from smartphones and tablet computers to information kiosks and ATMs. This report analyzes the full range of touch-screen technologies, but focuses on the dominant projected capacitive and analog resistive technologies. It also discusses the impact on the transparent conductor supply chain of touch sensors being integrated into the display by display makers themselves using in-cell and on-cell technology.

The touch display sensor sector has already made significant moves beyond ITO. With this in mind, this report also provides a detailed assessment of the role of conductive polymers, non-ITO transparent conducting oxides, nanosilver inks and carbon nanotube inks in the touch sector. Among the firms that are discussed in this report are: 3M, Agfa, Apple, AUO, Cambrios, Carestream, Cima NanoTech, Dai Nippon Printing, Dow Chemical, Ferro, Fujitsu, Heraeus, Hitachi, Kodak, LG, Nissha Printing, Nitto Denko, Oike, Optomec, PolyIC, Saint-Gobain, Samsung, Sigma Technologies, SKC Haas, Sumitomo, Sun Chemical, Solutia, Synaptics, TE Connectivity, Teijin, Toyo Baseki, Toray, and Unidym. The report also contains eight-year forecasts, broken out by application and type of material used.

Additional details about the report are available at the NanoMarkets website at http://www.nanomarkets.net

From the Report:

Transparent conductive oxides, conductive polymers and nanosilver inks have already penetrated the touch sensor market. Buoyed by this success, new transparent conducting materials firms are rushing into the touch sector. However, this report warns that there will not be room in this sector for all new entrants as consumption of transparent conductors by display touch sensors in 2016 is unlikely to exceed $300 million.

Success will go to transparent conductor firms who have built strong partnerships with powerful touch sensor makers in Asia and especially those transparent conductor firms who can (1) demonstrate total costs of deposition and/or patterning that are lower than ITO or (2) transparency and conductivity performance that are improvements on ITO. Until recently a selling feature of some non-ITO transparent conductors was that they were not as easily damaged by pokes from styluses and fingers than ITO. With the rise of projected capacitive touch and the decline of analog resistive touch, this message is less important.

The report notes that while today touch sensors are provided by third party firms, in the future touch sensors will be built into displays by the display makers themselves. In turn, this means that transparent conductor firms will be selling to large Asian LCD manufacturers; notoriously hard customers to reach. On the other hand, for those who succeed the touch sector may well create an entrée into the huge market for transparent conductor material used in the LCD displays themselves.

(thanks to a_bella of the RB private apnt board)