Mar 19 2019
Although books have been available for almost 3,000 years, they were rare and hard to produce until Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century. Text and illustrations were crafted by hand, a very laborious task, and only the rich could afford them. But in a few decades Gutenberg’s innovation spread, which enabled literacy to grow. Today, the benefits of print—such as scalability, simplicity, lower cost, and speed—can also be used in the manufacture of advanced electronics. This sector is facing a robust megatrend to create high-tech devices using economical and scalable techniques. XTPL has put together a unique technology of ultra-precise printing to enable that progress.
XTPL is entering an exciting period of its intense growth. We have chosen the first key application areas for our nanoprinting. These include displays, semiconductors, and smart glass – fast growing sectors that are extremely absorbent to innovation. In these areas, our additive technology for ultra-precise deposition of conductive structures can be an absolute breakthrough.
Filip Granek, PhD, CEO, XTPL.
The company’s revolutionary solutions are already garnering interest among possible investors and clients from the US and China. XTPL has recently made its entry on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, just some months after its entry on New Connect (an alternative trading market to the WSE). During this period, the company has gained the trust of investors and has more than tripled its capitalization. This has also been a time of rigorous business and R&D activity. The company has put together a solid series of projects and expanded its patent cloud, thus confirming globally revolutionary nature of the technology it is creating. At present, thanks to the recently founded XTPL Inc. (a US-based entity), the company is going to reinforce its presence in the US even more.
XTPL enables international manufacturers of new-generation electronics by delivering ultra-precise printing technology to be setup on their production lines. The company plans to supply unique printing heads—each time engineered and dedicated for a particular application field—as well as well-matched, in-house formulated, precisely attuned nanoinks.
“US market have always embraced deep science and pioneering technologies such as one being developed by XTPL. The attribute of this team is that they have been able to develop such impressive innovation at a fraction of capital investment that is now required in other regions. They have big opportunities to partner with large industrial companies, bringing key innovations to the market that should have significant impact on many sectors, in particular entering and expanding the printed electronics segment. XTPL’s unique technology is being developed by a group of extremely smart engineers and scientists from multiple disciplines, which is their recipe for success”, says Amir Nayyerhabibi, serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist, presently a partner with Benhamou Global Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC fund and a member of the XTPL Inc. Board of Directors.
The key competitive advantage and the revolutionary nature of the XTPL solution are embedded in the fact that it allows printing with unparalleled precision—at a level current printing technologies cannot keep up. For instance, microdots which are commercially available at present have typically the diameter of about 50 μm with the minimum being 20 μm. On the other hand, XTPL already reaches dots of 1 μm in diameter and plans are in place to go further below this limit. XTPL’s novelty may add to technological revolution, which will allow the production of very advanced devices using economical and scalable printing techniques. Similar to the current scenario where newspapers and books are printed cheaply and quickly, in the future XTPL will print displays, solar cells, processors, biosensors, and other elements.
“XTPL is a company with unique technology that may be interesting for several serious industry players, including those from Silicon Valley. Breakthrough solutions are rare, even among American innovators. That’s why we actively support this company. I can already see how XTPL's direct contacts with companies from the Valley allow it to develop new ideas around their solutions, sometimes with the potential to bring significant advances”, adds Harold Hughes, former CFO of Intel and CEO of Rambus, and now also a member of the XTPL Inc. Board of Directors.
XTPL is presently concentrating on marketing its technology in the flat panel display sector, where it can deliver, among others, a groundbreaking solution for open defect repair (repairing broken, very fine metallic connections in electronic circuits). For producers of a new group of electronics, where miniaturization matters are of key significance, XTPL technology can strongly add to the increase of yield. It is worth emphasizing that XTPL solution for open defect repair does not require voltage to form conductive lines, which completely eliminates the risk of damage caused by high electric field to the substrate and other electrically active constituents. The company will be showcasing its technology at the forthcoming Display Week in San Jose.
XTPL is a company creating and commercializing on global market innovations in additive manufacturing that facilitate ultra-precise printing of nanomaterials. The exclusive XTPL printing system enables precise deposition of in-house formulated nanoink on a range of substrates. Shape, spatial density, and length of the micron-scale features obtained using its method (from 1µm) can be tailored and adapted to several research and industrial applications. The technology will facilitate the production of, for example, monitors, photovoltaic cells, touch screens, and displays—where XTPL can deliver innovative technology for open defects repair (repairing of broken, very fine metallic connections in electronic circuits) and precise quantum dots dispensing. The XTPL solution may also act as the sought-after substitute for photolithography used, among others, in the semiconductors industry. The technological innovation being developed by XTPL has all the potential to first transform and then to become the standard in numerous areas of the printed electronics industry. In the near future, the company will be able to solar cells, print displays, biosensors, and other advanced elements just as economically and quickly as they print newspapers and books now. This is not just a vision. This is an imminent reality.