Dr Scott Watkins to present on flexible electronics at SMCBA conference

Kyung-In Synthetic Corporation’s Dr Scott Watkins will be presenting on flexible electronics at this year’s SMCBA Electronics Design & Manufacture Conference. The annual conference will be held in conjunction with the ElectroneX design and assembly expo from 9-10 September at Melbourne Park Function Centre.

Flexible electronics is an emerging area of technology that is based on using new materials, particularly organic-based compounds, as semiconductors in devices such as displays and solar cells. This enables these devices to be lightweight, low-cost and flexible, and they can be manufactured using processes such as roll-to-roll printing.

In his presentation, Watkins will describe how chemistry and physics are at the core of these new technologies and highlight some of the industrially focused research that is being done in this area in Australia. In particular, he will emphasise the work of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC). VICOSC is a research collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, BlueScope Steel, Innovia Films and Innovia Security. It is supported by the Victorian State Government and the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Watkins is business development director and technology developer, Melbourne, with Kyung-In Synthetic Corporation (KISCO). He was previously the stream leader for thin-film photovoltaics in CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship and was based in the Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Melbourne, Victoria. Watkins has a PhD in Chemistry from UNSW and has developed research interests which span the synthesis and analysis of new materials through to the fabrication and testing of devices. Between 2000 and 2004, Watkins worked on OLEDs with Cambridge Display Technologies in the UK. Watkins joined CSIRO in 2004 and led projects on both OLEDs and OPVs and coordinated CSIRO’s involvement in a number of national and international consortia aimed at developing applications of flexible electronics by linking industry with research.

The conference will also include presentations on: control of noise, signal integrity and EMI in high-speed circuits and PCBs; and enabling implementation of advanced technologies.