PORTLAND, Ore. — Despite a slumping semiconductor market, nanomaterial adoption will accelerate as vendors seek to increase margins by lowering manufacuring costs, according to a market researcher.
Nanomaterials will grow at a compound annual rate of more than 40 percent through 2015, according to a report by The Information Network (New Tripoli, Pa.).
Next year, nanomaterials for semiconductor applications could grab as much as 63 percent of the $800 million market. By 2015, semiconductor market share will have declined to 58 percent of the nanomaterial market which is expected to grow to $7 billion, according to the report.
Sensors and RFID tags will will gain market share at the expense of semiconductors, Information Network President Robert Castellano. "After 2010, nanotubes and nanowires will begin to gain market share," said Castellano.
Near-term winners include polycrystalline thin-film solar cells, which use nanoparticle ink to lower manufacturing costs by printing devices onto rolls of conductive substrate material.
