Recent months have seen unprecedented commercial progress by nanomaterial products developed as alternatives to transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials such as indium tin oxide (ITO).
The deals and investments by developers, including California, US-headquartered Cambrios and Beneq in Finland, suggest that confidence in the performance of some nanomaterials-based TCO alternatives is becoming more assured within newer segments of the display and wider microelectronics industry.
Cambrios recently revealed a leading smartphone incorporates its transparent conductor technology, which is based on silver nanowire solutions coated onto PET film. The ClearOhm product is used in the phone's touchscreen interface.
Cambrios partnered with Synaptics, a provider of touchscreen modules and systems, to bring its technology to market. The collaboration marks the first commercial debut of transparent electrodes in the smartphone market that use alternative materials to TCOs such as ITO, which is less suited - due to its brittleness - to touchscreen electronics.
Japanese firm Nissha Printing, a Synaptics licensee, produced the touch sensor for a touch module designed by Synaptics for use in the smartphone.
Partnership
Cambrios and Synaptics have also entered into a partnership whereby Synaptics will develop reference designs for projected capacitive touch sensors that incorporate Cambrios's ClearOhm material as a transparent electrode. The reference designs incorporate Synaptics' integrated circuits and IP. The partnership could result in wider, more rapid adoption of Cambrios's TCO alternative in a range of multi-touch systems. Synaptics aims release the first reference design incorporating ClearOhm material to customers later in 2011.
Synaptics customers include Huawei, which produces the Ideos S7 Slim tablet computer, smartphone maker Meizu and Google, which launched the Nexus One smartphone.
To industrialise production of its technology Cambrios has also signed a deal with Toray Advanced Film, a subsidiary of the Japanese chemicals producer, so that Toray can manufacture a line of transparent conductive films for electronics. ClearOhm can also address the need for lower resistance required by larger-sized touch panels, and Toray Advanced Film will seek to supply emerging technologies such as 3D touch panels, solar cells and organic EL electrodes.
Solar
In March Finnish firm Beneq, a provider of processing tools for depositing nanoscale thin-films, secured an order from the photovoltaics industry, to supply a solar glass processing line that deposits nanoscale layers of tin oxide. Beneq is working with Glaston, a Finnish supplier of industrial glass coating equipment, to build the line.
By 2015 analyst firm NanoMarkets forecasts that ITO alternatives, dominated by nanomaterials formulations and technologies, could account for 20% of the transparent conductor market, which is today worth in excess of $4 billion (€2.7 billion).
Other companies that are making headway in supplying nanomaterial-based TCO alternatives include US Unidym and Carestream Advanced Materials.
The next issue of +Plastic Electronics, a nanotechnology special, includes an exclusive interview with Cambrios about the commercialisation of its nanomaterial for consumer electronics.
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Documents and links
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Beneq
The Finnish firm supplies materials for plastic electronic devices
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Cambrios
The US company's nanotechnology is now in use in a smartphone touchscreen
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Nanomaterials become technologies of choice for high-volume printed electronics
US nanomaterials company QD Vision has taken a further step towards commercially supplying its materials, with two development agreements sealed at the end of 2010
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OLED tool supplier says China is next big market for displays
TCZ, a supplier of manufacturing technology for OLED displays, claims that China is investing heavily to catch up with South Korea as the home of OLEDs
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