Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

JPCA SHOW 2015

The three-day JPCA 2015 trade show was held on June 3 at Tokyo Big Sight. This trade fair is an international event that attracts customers, vendors and manufacturers who are affiliated with the electronics industry. This show provides me an opportunity to discover any new market trends or new technologies.

The floor size for the exhibition was almost the same as last year, but attendance increased this year. Several exhibitors, mostly material and equipment suppliers, reserved exhibition space last year, but bowed out this year. A few rigid board manufacturers did not show up either, but I noticed an increased presence from flexible circuit manufacturers. There was also an increase in the number of vendors and manufacturers from other countries. Typically, these companies would not reserve booths; they usually just send their technical staff to discover any new products or technologies. This year, however, they reserved booths and sent sales teams to market and promote their new technologies and products.

There were no industry-shattering new products at this year’s show. However, I noted a few new technologies aimed at specific applications. In particular, many companies are gearing a lot of their research toward wearable electronics in hopes of attracting some business opportunities in this fast growing segment.

Elastic (stretchable) circuits are one of these new technologies in the wearable electronics category. Raw material suppliers displayed new elastic substrates for use in an elastic electronic product. They did not disclose any information about the material’s chemistry; however, many of us think it may include urethane-based polymer compounds.

A representative from an ink manufacturer explained that screen-printed thick film conductors are more elastic than metallic copper foils. Flexible circuit manufacturers presented many examples of elastic circuits for use with wearable electronic devices and medical devices.

There were a few new products with flexible circuits. A new manufacturer at the show promoted the use of an aluminum conductor circuit with a smaller weight and lower cost, targeted at automobile applications. The basic idea seems very appealing; however, the auto industry has very strict quality control guidelines, and most auto manufacturers are not very quick to introduce new products into their vehicles without extensive testing. I am not sure whether this manufacturer can last through the testing stage, or even if his product will meet or exceed their guidelines.

A mid-sized flex manufacturer has demonstrated extremely long double-sided flex circuits with microvias over 20 meters for medical and scientific applications. Meanwhile, the president of a flex circuit manufacturer spoke about a specially constructed flexible circuit—a four-layer flexible substrate with screen-printed conductors designed for a watch style wearable e-paper displays, with a flexible EL light source. There were no samples available, and he played his cards close to his vest. I think he is afraid that someone may copy his idea, as he wanted this product to be established in the market. He told me his company has begun prototype production, and they are now ready for volume production. The technology is not unique, but the product concept is very innovative.

A new material supplier introduced a transparent polyimide film for broad range of uses in optical flexible applications, including flexible displays and light source panels. Several film manufacturers have already developed transparent polyimide films, but many abandoned the prototype trials before ever applying them to product applications. This new supplier stuck with the concept and now has a volume production for transparent heat resistant films.

Of course, some companies in the circuit board industry are letting the grass grow under their feet. For some of the big circuit board makers, it is business as usual, but the small- and mid-sized companies, and even some new companies, are coming up with new ideas and creating new applications that do seem practical. All it will take is one spark to start their fire.

For back issues of the newsletter, please click here.

Headlines of the week

Sumitomo Electric (Major cable manufacturer in Japan) 6/4

Has developed a new power transistor with silicon carbide substrates for EV/HEV and solar power conditioners.

Obayashi (Major construction company in Japan) 6/8

Has launched large scale electric power generation business in Otsuki, Yamanashi using biomass materials.

Yokowo (Component supplier in Japan) 6/8

Has completed the building of the new plant in Gumma Prefecture to expand the manufacturing capacity of LTCC substrates for LED modules.

DNP (Major printing company in Japan) 6/8

Has developed a new microbiological measuring system for the safety of foods and drinks. It is much quicker and accurate than traditional methods.

Toshiba (Major electric & electronics company in Japan) 6/10

Has unveiled a new design platform for SSD (solid state drive). It analyzes the design simulation to optimize the process.

Taiyo Yuden (Major component supplier in Japan) 6/11

Has decided to terminate the business of optical memory devices because of shrinkage of the market.

Seiko Epson (Major electronics company in Japan) 6/11

Has developed a new small size 3D quartz acceleration sensor with high accuracies. It detects small amounts of vibrations and slants.

NEDO (R&D organization in Japan) 6/16

Has started an R&D project with colleges in Malaysia. The project will develop a recovery process of valuable metals from wastewater of the chemical plants.

Furukawa Electric (Major cable manufacturer in Japan) 6/16

Has co-developed a new CNT (carbon nano tube) conductor with the highest conductivity. The company plans to develop low weight cables with CNT.

Rohm (Major device supplier in Japan) 6/16

Has developed a new thermal printer head module with high resolution and high printing speed. 600 dpi, 300 mm/sec

To find full articles, click here.

For more news information, click here