Category Archives: Touch Technologies

June 5, 2012 – PRNewswire — The Society for Information Display (SID), a global organization dedicated to the advancement of electronic display technology, announced the winners of its 17th annual Display Industry Awards. The honorees will be recognized during a special luncheon as part of Display Week 2012, SID’s annual International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, taking place this week in Boston.

According to DIA chair, Robert L. Melcher, "Over the past five decades since SID was founded, we have witnessed new technology developments that would have been unimaginable even 10 years ago. This year’s crop of DIA winners is no exception, representing an exciting array of products that continue to advance the ‘state of the art’ in the display industry, and the consumer electronics industry at large. On behalf of SID, I want to congratulate each of these companies in winning the display industry’s top honor.  It’s great to see the impact that these products are already having in the commercial marketplace."

To qualify for consideration for a 2012 Display Industry Award, a product had to be available for purchase during the 2011 calendar year. The six winners, two in each of three main categories, were chosen by a distinguished panel of experts who evaluated the nominees for their degree of technical innovation and commercial significance, in addition to their potential for positive social impact.  The winning products and a brief description of each are listed below. A more comprehensive description of the award winners is included in the Display Week 2012 Show Issue of Information Display magazine.

Display of the Year: Granted to a display with novel and outstanding features such as new physical or chemical effects, or a new addressing method.

Gold Award: AU Optronics 55-in. 4K x 2K 2D/3D Switchable Glasses-Free TV Display

This year’s gold display winner is not only the world’s first 4K x 2K (or "quad-HD") TV display, but is also the currently the largest commercially available glasses-free 4K x 2K 3-D TV display.  Its 3840 x 2160 resolution delivers vivid, lifelike 2D images, while a simple switch by the viewer converts the image instantly into 3D format.  Thanks to the display’s lenticular lens 3D technology, no 3D glasses are necessary to view outstanding 3D images. Viewers can simply choose their preferred viewing positions and enjoy a pleasant and comfortable experience, without requiring additional eyewear or having to compensate for viewing "dead zones."  In addition, its glasses-free technology facilitates design-in of the display by AUO partners into their current systems.

Silver Award: Qualcomm mirasol Display Technology

Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc. designed mirasol displays to provide consumers with a display that delivers colorful and interactive content unfettered by lighting environments, including bright sunlight, while simultaneously significantly extending battery life. Already featured in e-readers currently in the market, mirasol display’ benefits can extend to other commercial applications. The MEMS-based technology mimics optical resonant cavities found in nature to create color via reflective interference and switching speed that makes mirasol displays video capable. Moreover, mirasol displays consume near- zero power when the display image is unchanged, making it highly energy efficient and especially well-suited for mobile devices.

Display Application of the Year: Granted for a novel and outstanding application of a display, where the display itself is not necessarily a new device.

Gold Award: Samsung Galaxy Note

A portable communication device designed with a 5.3-inch display using HD Super AMOLED technology, the Galaxy Note features a high-resolution (800 × 1280 pixel) screen that provides a dynamic, colorful, and comfortable viewing experience for content such as videos, photos, documents, and Web sites. Super AMOLED can depict more vibrant images since it has deeper blacks than LCDs and covers 95 percent of all natural colors. Also, depending on the screen’s white area, the AMOLED display adjusts its luminance for eye comfort.  With its large, dynamic screen and unique input technology, the Galaxy Note enables mobile communications in a more personal, creative way.

Silver Award: Perceptive Pixel 82-in. Projected-Capacitive True Multi-Touch and Stylus LCD

In August 2011, Perceptive Pixel introduced the first large-scale pro-cap interactive display that achieves the level of fidelity and performance necessary for real productivity. It is the world’s largest projective-capacitive multi-touch and stylus display, featuring true full-frame unlimited-finger touch and precision stylus sensing at 120 Hz across a proprietary sensor that is optically bonded to an 82-in. LCD panel. The display utilizes novel state-of-the-art projective-capacitive controller electronics with an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), specifically designed for application at these large dimensions and in optically bonded sensor stack-ups. The unit’s proprietary 82-in. transparent conductor sensor is constructed on a thin 2-mm Gorilla Glass substrate, which Perceptive Pixel then optically bonds onto the LCD cell. Optical bonding greatly enhances the ruggedness of the system, serving as a protective cover glass to the cell against the focused force of a stylus tip. Perceptive Pixel’s 82-in. display can be frequently seen on CNN as well as other networks being used to cover this year’s historic presidential primaries and election.

Display Component of the Year: Granted for a novel component (sold as a separate part and incorporated into a display) that has significantly enhanced the display’s performance. A component may also include display-enhancing materials and/or parts fabricated with new processes.

Gold Award: Nanosys Quantum-Dot Enhanced Film (QDEF)

Color is the next major differentiator in the display market. A quantum dot, which is about the size of a water molecule, can emit any color of light at precise wavelengths. QDEF from Nanosys combines red- and green-emitting quantum dots in a thin, optically clear sheet that emits white light when stimulated by a blue LED light source. The result is lifelike, high-color displays that enhance the consumer experience, allowing more realistic digital viewing of photos, movies, and video games. Manufacturers that have invested billions in equipment for LCD production can simply slip QDEF into their manufacturing process, change their "white" LEDs to blue, and start producing LCD panels with OLED-like color performance and better energy efficiency, at a significant cost savings.

Silver Award: LG Chemical Film Patterned Retarder Incorporating Merck KGaA’s Proprietary Reactive Mesogen (RM) Layer

First commercialized by LG Chemical in 2010, this technology is 10 times thinner and 20 times lighter than glass-based patterned retarders, can be easily mass-produced, and makes enjoyment of 3D content more convenient. A film patterned retarder (FPR) is an optical component attached to a 3D LCD TV’s front polarizer to convert left- and right-eye images to left- and right-circular-polarized light, allowing viewers to enjoy 3D images through passive-polarized glasses. The reactive mesogen film used for LG Chemical’s FPR is made using Merck KGaA’s licrivue materials, formulated for coating onto flexible plastic substrates by using a roll-to-roll coating process. The coated licrivue RM materials align and follow the pattern of the photoalignment layer. This alignment is preserved by UV polymerization of the RM film to form the patterned retarder, delivering dimensional stability and superior performance in 3D displays.

The 49th SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, dubbed Display Week 2012, will take place this week through June 8, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Display Week is the premier international gathering of scientists, engineers, manufacturers and users in the field of electronic-information displays. For more information on Display Week 2012, visit www.displayweek.org.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Society for Information Display (SID) is the only professional organization focused on the display industry. In fact, by exclusively focusing on the advancement of electronic-display technology, SID provides a unique platform for industry collaboration, communication and training in all related technologies while showcasing the industry’s best new products. For more information, visit www.sid.org.

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June 4, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Multi-touch touchscreen display technology developer Stantum and film material supplier Nissha Printing Co., Ltd. introduced FineTouch Z pressure-based transparent touch-panel technology for next-generation displays.

FineTouch Z combines multi-touch capabilities with stylus input with a single sensor. It replaces projected capacitive (PCAP) sensors combined with either an electro-magnetic or a battery-powered stylus, and doesn’t require a dedicated active stylus.

FineTouch Z boasts optical clarity and works with any type of conductive or non-conductive object. The display technology also features unlimited multi-touch with neither ghost nor masking effects and offers high-resolution, smart touch capability, an ultra-fast scanning engine, and low-power consumption.

FineTouch Z is powered by Stantum’s Interpolated Voltage Sensing Matrix (iVSM) touch-and-write technology. iVSM technology supports Windows and Android operating systems on x86 and ARM-based platforms and lets OEMs design tablet displays that allow as many as 10 simultaneous touches combined with high-resolution handwriting input.

Engineering samples are now available on a limited basis; mass production will begin in Q4 2012.

The companies will demonstrate FineTouch Z for customers, analysts, and partners at SID Display Week, Booth 437.

Stantum develops multi-touch display technology. Internet: www.stantum.com.

Nissha Printing Co. Ltd. designs, manufactures and sells industrial materials and electronic-related products and also manufactures decorating films, input devices, molded products and dies. Learn more at www.nissha.co.jp/english.

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June 1, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel maker Hydis Technologies, a subsidiary of E Ink Holdings Inc., will add on-cell touch screen panel (TSP) technology to their LCD technology portfolio.

On-cell touch functionality is embedded in the display rather than assembled as a separate component on top of the display. On-cell touchscreen technologies provide a slim, lightweight display form factor with thinner glass, and lower power consumption. It also enables precise touch due to reduced parallax errors. On-cell touchscreens are mainly used for active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. More information in: The 4 categories of touch sensors

Hydis is offering the on-cell technology to smartphone and tablet makers.

Hydis created Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technology, which provides a wider viewing angle and color gamut, consumes less power, and offers better high ambient readability on LCDs. Visit www.hydis.com.

E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TW) delivers TFT and ePaper technologies. It operates Hydis Technologies, manufacturer of wide-viewing angle LCDs and E Ink Corp., an ePaper maker. For corporate information, please visit www.einkgroup.com.

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June 1, 2012 — Display manufacturers LG Display and Samsung Display dominated the tablet display panel market in 2011, but several more display makers grabbed small pieces of the tablet pie than had in 2010, according to an IHS iSuppli Small and Medium Displays Market Tracker. That trend will continue in 2012.

High-profile design wins at Apple Inc., Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Research in Motion (RIM) kept LG Display and Samsung Display with the lion’s share of tablet display manufacturing, 46% and 35% respectively (see the table), said Vinita Jakhanwal, director for small & medium Displays at IHS.

Year-over-year, both LG Display and Samsung lost share, which was picked up by six suppliers: Chimei Innolux Corp, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., E-Ink Holdings Inc., Tianma Microelectronics Co., Beijing Orient Electronics Group Co. Ltd., and Hitachi Displays Ltd. All 8 suppliers are based in Asia, from South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Japan.

Table. Global share of media tablet display panel manufacturing (unit shipment volume). SOURCE: IHS iSuppli Research, May 2012.
Rank Company HQ 2011 market share (%) 2010 market share (%)
1 LG Display South Korea 46 67
2 Samsung South Korea 35 31
3 Chimei Innolux Taiwan 7 0
4 Chunghwa Picture Tubes Taiwan 4 0
5 Hitachi Displays Japan 3 0
6 Beijing Orient Electronics China 3 0
7 E-ink Taiwan 1 2
8 Tianma Microelectronics China 1 0
  Total:   100 100

While LG and Samsung are expected to maintain their dominance in 2012, new players such as Sharp Corp. and Japan Display, as well as AU Optronics (AUO), take their own portions of market share. Tablet display suppliers will need to satisfy a range of price points in 2012, which could increase diversification. Higher levels of competition will help to drive down panel costs to OEMs, fueling higher demand and growth, IHS believes.

In 2011, 81.3 million tablet display panels shipped, up 408% from 2010’s 16 million units. Tablet panel shipments will increase 78% to 144.5 million units in 2012, driving growth for <10” displays (small/medium displays). Also read: @ imec’s ITF: Entering the booming market of mobile displays

The 9” segment represented 68% of the tablet display sector in 2011, as it includes Apple’s iPad. In 2012, look for 7” designs to gain share, as much as 36% of total market, especially if Apple enters the sector with an “iPad Mini.”

Read more in Fourth Quarter SMD Shipments Add To Panel Inventories or access IHS iSuppli’s Small and Medium Displays Market Tracker report.

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May 30, 2012 — Touchscreen displays were popularized by Apple Inc.’s iPhone, and respond to user behavior on a system of multi-touch and soft-touch technologies. Next-generation touch technology is developing for tablet PCs, smart TVs, and other applications.

Figure 1. Capacitive touch sensor case (Pattern Image). SOURCE: Displaybank.

Smartphones typically use projected capacitance (PROCAP, PCAP) touchscreens: a tempered window, touch sensor, and flexible printed circuit board. However, various touch sensor technologies exist, and each company uses a different method to detect touch input. Apple’s glass/glass (GG) method forms an X-axis sensing electrode on the upper surface of a glass substrate and Y-axis sensing electrode on the lower surface of glass substrate. Other phone makers use glass/film/film (GFF) and new methods are under development — G1F and G2 — that improve permeability and display thickness.

The technology development results of capacitive touch sensor-related leading companies and new players are being published every day through patent applications (patent information). If patent information is well used, the flow of related technologies, prior art and the issues of prior art, and new ideas can be found, and patent dispute can also be prevented by identifying claim of issue-expected patent.

Displaybank’s “Capacitive Touch Sensor Key Patents Analysis – Pattern Design, Patterning, Sensing, Etc.” examines overall patent application trends of capacitive touch sensor related technology and analyzes touch sensor related key patents of major controller IC companies in-depth.

Figure 2. Top 20 patent applicants for capacitive touch sensors. SOURCE: Displaybank.

In quantitative analysis, 677 Korea, Japan, U.S., and Europe patents were selected and examined, such as annual/regional patent applications and applicant trends, and company-specific key patent status and the main points of patents, technology development, and key patent cases are analyzed in in-depth analysis by eliciting 74 patents of major controller IC companies: Synaptics, Atmel, Cypress, Melfas, Hitachi Display, LG Display, Samsung Mobile Display.

Access Capacitive Touch Sensor Key Patents Analysis – Pattern Design, Patterning, Sensing, Etc” at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=868&cate=

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In an exclusive series of blogs, imec’s science writers report from the International Technology Forum (ITF) in Brussels. This year, ITF’s theme was “It’s a changing world. Let’s make a sustainable change together”. More info: www.itf2012.com

At the recent mobile world congress (MWC) the newest models of smartphones and tablets were showcased. Most probably, you too are the proud owner of a smartphone and tablet. The next big thing according to Charlotte Soens, manager mm-wave communication program at imec, is that people will start using these mobile devices to watch high-quality photos and videos, stored in the cloud. First smartphones with integrated projectors are appearing, so it won’t be long before we will project our holiday videos or professional marketing videos at home or in the office, using our smartphones.

However, this scenario implies huge technological challenges for services, networks and wireless devices. “Research focuses on enabling the scenario in which the user can access the gigabytes of photo and video material in an instantaneous way, wherever the user may be. Moreover, we have to achieve this at low cost and without significantly impacting the battery lifetime, “ says Charlotte Soens.

But let first focus on how this scenario will be put in practice. “Videos and photos are stored in the cloud. When you are outdoors, you will rely on wireless technology such as LTE advanced to stream videos immediatly to your tablet. When you go indoors, you will connect to a small domestic cell with a gigabit per second connection, through for example IEEE802.11ac or IEEE802.11ad,” explains Soens.

An important technology enabling this scenario is a multistandard radio. “You need a tablet or smartphone that can support e.g. LTE and WiFi-like standards. And that’s exactly what imec is working on: reconfigurable radio architectures that can support connectivity standards, cellular standards and broadcasting standards, “ says Soens. “The challenge is to do develop such a radio module with a low power consumption and at a low cost.”

The user will also demand for very high data rates. Knowing that the spectrum below 10GHz is really crowded, it seems obvious to turn to higher frequency bands such as the unlicensed band around 60GHz. However, developing a low-cost compact 60GHz radio for mobile consumer devices is a real technological challenge. “To achieve a low-cost solution, we work with digital CMOS. But it is very difficult to the good performance at mm-wave out of digital CMOS. Especially if you want to go for a low power consumption. It’s certainly not business as usual,” states Soens. But that it’s possible demonstrates the latest achievement of imec researchers: a 7Gbps 60GHz transceiver implemented in 40nm low-power digital CMOS targeting low-cost volume production.

Els Parton, Scientific editor imec

In an exclusive series of blogs, imec’s science writers report from the International Technology Forum (ITF) in Brussels. This year, ITF’s theme was “It’s a changing world. Let’s make a sustainable change together”.

What would our smart world be without displays? That was the question posed by imec’s Paul Heremans, Fellow and Director Large Area Electronics, in a presentation titled “Towards flexible active matrix OLED displays.” On a daily basis, we run our eyes over dozens of displays for various purposes, he said. And this number might increase if we look at the innovations that the display industry has in mind. No more newspapers or paper novels, but digital e-readers on mobile displays. No more paper posters for advertisement, but digital posters on large flexible screens. It’s time for a new era where OLED displays and flexible displays on plastic substrates enter the market and gradually replace cathode ray tubes and liquid crystal displays. They will enable a new wave of products and an increase of the display market size in general.

Meanwhile, the first commercial OLED displays have appeared in consumer products. So, how can an R&D centre such as imec and Holst Centre contribute to such a promising and fast evolving industry? Flexible OLED displays can be extensively adopted, e.g. in flexible posters for advertisement, as rollable TV screens, or, in smaller format,  as an e-reader or on a smart card. And all these applications come with very different specifications. Therefore, says Heremans, it’s important to focus on just one, or on a very few, applications. And they chose the mobile tablet display as the point of focus of their new technology integration program, launched by imec and Holst Centre at the beginning of 2012. The mobile tablet will gather all functionalities of a mobile phone, e-reader, digital camera, MP3 player, tablet pc, netbook… in just one device. The screen must be comfortable enough to be read and touched, and small, thin and flexible enough to be mobile. Such a display must be low power, low cost and high resolution. A humidity barrier, new thin-film transistor technology to drive the pixels, innovative technologies for patterning… the list of required innovations is impressive.

According to Heremans, the prospects are good. The researchers involved in the program can rely on 6 years of experience in the various building blocks, obtained from collaboration within Holst Centre. As a result, only one quarter after the launch of the program, they have realized the first integrated display. It’s not yet the targeted 300ppi OLED display, but it’s good enough to study the pixel engines and to understand what improvements need to be done in order to get to the ultimate targeted mobile tablet display.

Mieke Van Bavel, science editor, imec, Belgium

May 24, 2012 — NLT Technologies and sales and marketing channels in the Americas and Europe, Renesas Electronics America, Inc. and Renesas Electronics Europe GmbH, developed new liquid crystal display (LCD) modules on projected capacitive (PCAP or PROCAP) touch panel technology, augmenting its existing touchscreen technology portfolio of original surface capacitive (ON-Cell) and resistive touch panels.

PCAP improves touchscreen durability, operator interface, multi-touch function and image quality for ruggedized applications like factory automation, medical instruments, etc. NLT Technologies is augmenting its PCAP offering with surface films, cover glass, and optical bonding to modify the technology.

NLT Technologies will continue promoting research and development of touch panel technology. The company aims to expand their touch panel production lineup as well as develop new applications for its primary markets.

The new LCD displays include a 10.4” XGA, 10.6” WXGA, and 12.1” WXGA. NLT and Renesas are supplying the LCD module with touch panel and touch panel controller as part of the PCAP LCD Module set, as well as support for customer set up.

Renesas Electronics America is the authorized representative in the Americas of NLT Technologies, Ltd. (established July 2011 as a joint venture between NEC Corporation and Shenzhen AVIC Optoelectronic Co., Ltd.), a supplier of LCD products for industrial applications.

Renesas Electronics America and NLT Technologies make high-performance, eco-friendly LCD products for industrial, medical and high-end monitor applications. Learn more at http://www.am.renesas.com/prod/displays.

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May 23, 2012 — Active matrix small/medium displays, less than 9”, recorded 2 billion worldwide shipments (units) in 2011, up 6% over 2010, said NPD Displaysearch.

Mobile phones saw highest growth, from 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion, largely due to use of active-matrix small/medium displays in smartphones. Smartphones cannibalized digital still camera (DSC) and portable media player (PMP) demand, which tempered the by-unit growth rate of these displays to 6%. Smartphone demand also pushed displays into larger and wider screen form factors, higher resolutions, and wider viewing angles. More active-matrix small-medium displays are touchscreens because of smartphone requirements.

Active-matrix small/medium displays are made of active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLED), electrophoretic (AMEPD), and thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technologies — all had double-digit revenue growth in 2011. AMOLED had 182% Y/Y growth. AMEPD rode e-reader demand to 43% Y/Y growth. TFT LCD revenues grew 19%, with the low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) form of TFT LCD used in smart phones growing at 36% Y/Y.

For the whole active-matrix small/medium displays sector, revenue went up 29% to $28 billion in 2011, reflecting a shift to higher-performance/price displays. Consumers in general, and smartphone buyers in particular, will pay a premium for better displays, said Hiroshi Hayase, NPD DisplaySearch VP of small/medium display research.

Figure 1. Active-matrix small/medium displays, shipment by application. SOURCE: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report.

 

As expected, Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) retained the top position for the second year in a row, claiming 17.2% of the market share for active-matrix small/medium displays in 2011, primarily due to increased AMOLED in smartphones. Following SMD, Sharp and Chimei Innolux kept the second and third positions in 2011, securing 13.5% and 9.5% of the market share, respectively.

Toshiba, Sony, and Hitachi all entered the small/medium AMFPD market, under a venture named Japan Display Inc. (JDI). Although the company started operations in April 2012, a review of 2011 figures indicates that a combination of Toshiba, Sony and Hitachi market shares total 17.2%, the exact same percentage as the 2011 share held by marketplace leader SMD. JDI could emerge as a new leading company in the small/medium FPD marketplace in 2012.

Figure 2. Revenue share of small/medium AMFPD by FPD maker in 2011. SOURCE: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report.

The NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report covers the entire range of small/medium (<9.0”) displays shipped worldwide and regionally. The report analyzes historical shipments and projects forecasts. The Quarterly Small/Medium Shipment and Forecast Report now offers advanced features that allow users to track data by viewing-angle and 3D capabilities. NPD DisplaySearch is a global market research and consulting firm specializing in the display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries.

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May 23, 2012 — Researchers from A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore and their commercial partners developed a plastic that reflects 0.09-0.20% of the visible light hitting its surface, thanks to a nanostructuring that mimics the folds in a moth’s eye.

Existing anti-reflective and anti-glare plastics in the market typically have reported reflectivity of around 1% of visible light. The new plastic could improve TV displays, solar cells, and other surfaces.

The plastic maintains low reflectivity (<0.7%) at angles up to 45°, enabling wider viewing angles with less glare on televisions, and larger light-absorption areas on organic solar cells.

Figure. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image showing the engineered anti-reflective nanostructures (left) that mimic structures found in a moth’s eye (moth close-up right, ©iStockphoto.com/Roman Nikolenko).

IMRE developed a nanoimprint process to fabricate the plastic. Nanoimprinting forms the plastic by engineering its physical aspects rather than using chemicals to change material properties. The process evolved from a lithography technology for the semiconductor industry and now suits a range of applications. This plastic is engineered into complex hierarchical “moth-eye” anti-reflective structures by placing nanoscale structures on top of other microstructures.

Now, the researchers are “developing complementary research that allows the technology to be easily ramped-up to an industrial scale,” said Dr Low Hong Yee, IMRE senior scientist leading the research.

Several companies are in the process of licensing the anti-reflective nanostructure technology from Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd, the technology transfer arm of A*STAR. This plastic material is the first successful result of the IMRE-led Industrial Consortium On Nanoimprint (ICON), which partners local and overseas companies to promote the manufacturing of nanoimprint technology. “The…consortium work will benefit our company’s expansion into new markets such as in the touchscreen panel and solar business sectors," said Wilson Kim Woo Yong, director, global marketing from Young Chang Chemical Co. Ltd. ICON promotes versatile, industry-ready nanoimprinting technology that can bring products to the market through sustainable manufacturing. Members of ICON work on joint projects to develop new products and applications that can potentially have huge savings in R&D. ICON began working on anti-reflective materials in August 2010.

The  Institute  of  Materials  Research  and  Engineering  (IMRE) is a research  institute  of  the  Agency  for  Science,  Technology  and Research  (A*STAR) in Singapore. The Institute has capabilities in materials analysis & characterization, design & growth, patterning & fabrication, and synthesis & integration for organic solar cells, photovoltaics, printed electronics, catalysis, bio-mimetics, microfluidics, quantum dots, heterostructures, sustainable materials, atom technology, and other research. For more information about IMRE, visit www.imre.a-star.edu.sg. For more information about A*STAR, please visit www.a-star.edu.sg.

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