Mark Glenny - Resene

ABSTRACT
What did the coating say to the circuit board? Not the start of a bad joke but the start of a journey.

Combining coatings and electronic circuitry is not new. At the most basic level, many PCB’s are protected from the environment with conformal coatings. When electronics are combined with conductive coatings, however, things get a lot more interesting. For example, some specialised circuit boards use highly conductive coatings as “trace” wires and printed circuits combined with flexible substrates are set to transform what designers can do with devices. The ubiquitous modern touch screen also relies on electronic circuits connected to transparent conductive layers which are typically formed by depositing indium tin oxide (ITO) onto glass or suitable plastics. Transparent conductive polymers, although currently expensive, are now replacing ITO in some applications. With advances in electronic circuitry and mass production, the reduced costs associated with sophisticated devices make the interface between functional coatings and electronics an attractive space to explore. Resene are actively involved in this exploration with current emphasis on sensing environmental changes with conductive coatings, even over large areas. Numerous applications are possible based on various sensing methodologies and the use of capacitive sensing to detect touch in architectural applications will be presented.

BIO
Mark Glenny
Innovation Research Manager
Resene Paints Ltd
Mark has been with Resene for 13 years in various product development roles, primarily involving architectural and protective coatings. More recent activities include exploring the interface of functional coatings, electronics and optics with the aim of introducing new features to coated surfaces. Mark holds a PhD in chemistry and prior to entering the coatings industry, he carried out 3 years Postdoctoral research at the University of Nottingham and then joined Infineum (a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Shell) developing low friction and antiwear additives for the automotive lubricants market.