News

PCHEM IN THE NEWS:

07/07/2011 PChem high speed flexo benchmark:

New high speed flexo printing benchmark, PFI-722 on a conventional press fully cured at 660 ft/min.

06/30/2011 PChem presents at LOPE-C (Large-area Organic & Printed Electronics Convention in Messe Frankfurt, Germany

Michael Mastropietro of PChem presented on “Cost Effective Patterning of Conductors Utilizing Silver Nanoparticle Inks with Traditional Printing Processes”

PChem presented on the following:

With the price of silver doubling in the last six months there is increasing pressure on functional printers trying to maintain their profit margins while meeting their customers’ price targets. PChem’s silver nanoparticle based inks enable the cost effective printing of highly conductive patterns using traditional methods such as flexography and screen printing. The nanoparticles sinter into foil like structures with continuous metallic paths between the particles resulting in much lower volume resistivity compared to conventional polymer thick film (PTF) silver flake based inks. This makes it possible to minimize the amount of silver used relative to PTF inks while maintaining performance. Mild curing temperatures and short residence times are necessary to process the inks allowing the use of lower cost substrates and higher press speeds. These factors allow for reductions in manufacturing and materials costs for the printed conductor portion of smart packages and electronic devices.

Further, the ability to print very thin films which maintain uniform conductivity enables higher resolution patterning then previously possible with these print methods. Features sizes of 25 microns have been produced repeatedly under manufacturing conditions and the feasibility of higher resolutions demonstrated with flexographic printing. The ability to print much thinner films with significantly lower surface roughness while maintaining equivalent sheet resistance to PTF can also lead to mechanical performance advantages in the finished product constructions. All of these capabilities can be easily scaled to the production of large areas as these printing methods are commonly used for this purpose in graphic communication production.

The general properties and processing requirements of PChem’s silver nanoparticle based flexo and screen inks as well as printed results on various substrates will be discussed. The commercial advantages of using nanoparticle based conductive inks including process ability, electrical and mechanical properties, and economic viability will be presented.

06/10/2011 PChem presents at LOPE-C (Large-area Organic & Printed Electronics Convention in Messe Frankfurt, Germany

Michael Mastropietro of PChem presented on “Large Area Patterning of Conductors Utilizing Silver Nanoparticle Based Inks with Traditional Printing Processes”

PChem presented on:

Printing large format electronic devices cost effectively on flexible substrates will require the deposition of multiple functional materials utilizing multiple printing, coating, and patterning methods. PChem Associate’s silver nanopartilce based inks enable the printing of highly conductive patterns using traditional methods such as flexography and rotogravure. The lower volume resistivity of the cured conductor makes it possible to minimize the amount of metal used relative to conventional polymer thick film (PTF) inks. Mild curing temperatures and short residence times are necessary to process the printed inks allowing the use of low cost substrates and higher press speeds. These factors allow cost reduction for the printed conductor portion of large area electronics.

Further the ability to print much thinner films of silver while maintaining equivalent sheet resistance to PTF can lead to mechanical performance advantages in the finished product constructions. This ability to print very thin films which maintain conductivity also enables the ability to print with higher resolution patterns then previously possible with some of these traditional methods. This capability also could potentially enable the use of other traditional high speed large area printing methods in the future such as letterpress and offset printing.

The general rheological properties and processing requirements of PChem’s silver nanoparticle based flexo and gravure inks as well as printed results on various substrates will be discussed. The commercial advantages of using nanoparticle based conductive inks including process ability, electrical and mechanical properties, and economic viability will be presented. Finally the direction of future ink development aimed at producing unique enabling process capabilities will be discussed.

05/24/2011 Clemson University Printed Electronics Seminar:

Chris Wargo of Pchem Associates will be participating in Clemson University’s Printed Electronics 101.

Clemson’s Printed Electronics 101 workshop is set to take place this June. Experts will discuss the Printed Electronics markets, technology, practices, manufacturing and growth opportunities, all reinforced with engaging HANDS-ON printing activities, resulting in samples that you can take home.

02/08/2011 PChem presents at Flex Tech Conference in Arizona

Michael Mastropietro of PChem presented on “Cost Effective, Large Area, High Resolution Patterning of Conductors Utilizing Silver Nanoparticle Inks with Traditional Printing Processes”

PChem presented on the following:

Printing electronic devices cost effectively on flexible substrates will require the deposition of multiple functional materials utilizing multiple printing, coating, and patterning methods. PChem’s silver nanoparticle based inks enable the printing of highly conductive patterns using traditional methods such as flexography and screen printing. Mild curing temperatures and short residence times are necessary to process the inks allowing the use of low cost substrates and higher press speeds. The lower volume resistivity of the cured conductor makes it possible to minimize the amount of silver used relative to conventional polymer thick film (PTF) inks. These factors allow cost reduction for the printed conductor portion of flexible electronics.

Further, the ability to print very thin films which maintain conductivity enables higher resolution patterning then previously possible with printed conductors. Features sizes of 25 microns have been produced repeatedly and the feasibility of higher resolutions demonstrated. The ability to print much thinner films while maintaining equivalent sheet resistance to PTF can also lead to mechanical performance advantages in the finished product constructions. All of these capabilities can be easily scaled to the patterning of large areas as these printing methods are commonly used for this purpose in graphic communication production.

04/13/2008 PChem featured in Philadelphia Inquirer

“Nanotechnology: Getting small is getting big”

By Linda Loyd Posted on Sun, Apr. 13, 2008

Inquirer Staff Writer

Ian Harris (left) and Gregory Jablonski of PChem Associates.
PChem says it will soon double capacity at its plant near Interstate 95 and Street Road.

PChem makes silver nanoparticles slightly larger than a molecule for a water-based ink used on printed electronics – and soon on electronic scratch-off lottery tickets.

Walt Waurich at work at PChem Associates Inc. in Bensalem.

When a new interactive lottery game is field-tested this summer by the Pennsylvania Lottery, the ink on the electronic scratch ticket will come from something that may surprise you: nanotechnology.

The tiny Bensalem company that makes the ink, PChem Associates Inc., works in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology, which creates new materials as small as a nanometer, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

PChem is one of at least 15 companies in the Philadelphia area doing research and working on potential products based on nanotechnology. The Bucks County company is one of the few with an actual product.

Nanotechnology was an emerging field just five or 10 years ago. Researchers knew they could do new things with the ability to tinker with atoms and molecules.

Now their discoveries and technological innovations are beginning to pay off with products – ranging from high-performance sporting equipment to stain-resistant clothing, paints that aim to be antimicrobial and go on smoother, sunscreens and cosmetics containing nanomaterials, and computer chips.

Companies and research institutions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have generated 185 nanotechnology patents and published patent applications since 1998, according to Thomson Scientific, a research company with offices in Philadelphia.

PChem makes silver nanoparticles – slightly larger than a molecule – for a water-based ink used on printed electronics. At the nanoscale, PChem’s ink is highly electrically conductive and fast – printing 300 to 500 feet of paper a minute. The ink works at lower manufacturing temperatures that will not scorch paper.

Because of the miniature size of the silver particle and the surface shape, PChem says its ink also uses less silver than traditional larger-particle silver-based inks.

Revenues, $100,000 last year, are expected to increase four to six times this year, said co- founder Gregory Jablonksi.

That’s because Scientific Games, the world’s largest maker of scratch-off lottery tickets, is buying ink from PChem for a new electronic scratch-off ticket game recently sold to lotteries in Quebec, Oregon and Kansas. Pennsylvania plans to test-market the interactive game, possibly in June.

“Nanotechnology has incredible potential to solve some of the biggest problems we face as a society, whether that’s curing cancer, or providing renewable energy, clean water, whatever,” said Andrew Maynard, chief scientist for the Project on Emerging Technologies at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a nonpartisan public-policy institute in Washington. “But we have to learn how to use it wisely and safely.”

Some scientists suggest the unique properties of nanomaterials might pose health and environmental risks. “We really don’t know all the answers we need to know,” Maynard said.

There have been “no reported accidents anywhere in the world” caused by nanoparticles or nanotechnology products, said Mihail “Mike” Roco, the National Science Foundation’s senior adviser on nanotechnology.

Since 2000, when the federal government spent $270 million for nanotechnology, federal funding has grown steadily to $1.5 billion in 2008. About $70 billion worth of products incorporate nano components or devices in the United States, Roco said.

The only thing nano companies have in common is that the technology they work in is very, very small. Nanotechnology crosses a multitude of fields, from the semiconductor industry – and the Intel microprocessers in computers – to chemistry and biology, making particles small enough to circulate in the bloodstream, get into tissues, and treat and diagnose disease.

One local nano company, Sunstone BioSciences Inc., at the Science Center in University City, is working with scientists at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania on nano crystals that attach to medicines injected into the blood that target cancer tumors. Once inside tissue, the crystals emit visible light that activates the anticancer drug to shrink tumors. So far it has been shown to work in mice.

“Philadelphia is one of the emerging players in this field of nanotechnology and well-positioned to take advantage of the UPenns, Drexels, and the dozens of universities within a 20-mile radius,” said physicist Dale Pfost, Sunstone BioScience’s chairman and former chief executive of Acuity Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia in 2000, a Nanotechnology Institute was created as a partnership between the state-funded economic-development group Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania, and Drexel University. The group today includes 12 area research institutions, which have assisted or created 13 start-up companies and attracted more than $172 million in public and private investment.

“The idea was to break down barriers to commercialization,” said Anthony Green, Ben Franklin’s vice president of technology commercialization.

The institute now has a Nano Commercialization Group, which is working to bundle intellectual property involving nanotechnology inventions and create “packages” to license to outside companies, Green said. The universities whose technology is licensed will share in the proceeds, he said.

Since 2000, the state of Pennsylvania has given the institute $19.8 million for nanotechnology research and development, including $3.5 million announced last month.

In 2004, chemical engineers Greg Jablonski and Mike Mastropietro left a New Jersey printed-electronics firm where they worked with an idea to make an ink faster, cheaper, and at lower temperatures. PChem’s technology can print metal on such things as radio-frequency identification devices and display screens that filter out radiation.

Scientific Games consultant Ken Irwin discovered PChem by searching the Internet.

“We needed a highly conductive ink to go into this ticket. We were not even sure such a thing was available,” Irwin said. “I hit the Internet, did the usual research. We narrowed it down to five, six companies. PChem was by far the most cooperative and enthusiastic.”

PChem trucks 15 to 20 gallons of ink a month to Atlanta, where Scientific Games prints 1.5 billion lottery tickets each month on presses about the size of a football field. A gallon of PChem ink sells for $7,000 to $12,000. PChem sends employees to oversee the printing.

The new lottery game, Push Play, works by inserting an electronic ticket, which might sell for $5, or $20 for a ticket and a handheld game machine. The machines range in size but can be as small as a credit card.

“The lottery ticket is printed with an electronic circuit,” Irwin said. “We use laser beams to alter the circuitry on the printing presses. Each ticket is programmed. The ticket looks like a regular paper ticket. The machine will play out to whatever that ticket tells it to play out to.” Cards are activated by a scratch-off label.

Players choose among games such as Lucky Sevens, Five Card Stud poker, Battleship and Roulette. Winning tickets can be redeemed at the location where they were bought.

China is interested in the new lottery game, Irwin said.

PChem is gearing up to expand manufacturing, and said it will soon double its capacity – currently about 60 gallons a month – at its plant near Interstate 95 and Street Road.

The company is negotiating with a Japanese electronics materials company, Dowa International Corp., to manufacture the ink in Shanghai.

“We can manufacture enough ink here to keep Scientific Games going the next two or three years,” Jablonski said. “When they [Scientific Games] go to China, by itself that will be two billion new product tickets. We are in the process of setting up manufacturing there right now.”