The U.S. Display Consortium
(USDC), a public/private partnership chartered with developing the flat
panel display and flexible electronics supply chain, today announced a cost-shared
contract award with Applied Materials, Inc. to develop metal-oxide films for
next-generation thin-film transistors (TFTs). Oregon State University (OSU),
a pioneer in transparent electronics, will work with Applied’s Display
Business Group-AKT, in this USDC-sponsored program, bringing together the U.S.
government, private industry and university research to enable critical innovations
for future display technology.
The R&D program will address two main challenges for future displays—to
significantly improve device performance and reduce display cost per area. New
metal-oxide films are one of the promising disruptive technologies for next-generation
panels since they have higher electron mobility and the potential to reduce
costs through lower temperature processing. Metal oxide films are also expected
to be used for fabricating flexible displays and backplanes for OLED applications.
“The exponential growth of the display industry has been driven by continuous
improvements in performance and cost,” stated Gilad Almogy, group vice
president and general manager of Applied Materials’ Display and Thin Film
Solar Products Group. “Applied has always been an industry leader and
an enabler of emerging thin-film semiconductor technologies. I am happy to launch
this new development program expanding our technology portfolio, which is expected
to further contribute to the growing applications for digital information displays.”
“USDC is pleased to have the team of Applied Materials and OSU working
together to resolve fundamental issues in the manufacturing of displays,”
commented Dr. Mark Hartney, USDC’s chief technology officer. “This
is a very strong partnership, bringing together OSU’s leading–edge
R&D in transparent electronics and AKT/Applied Materials’ world-class
technology development capability.”
“I congratulate Applied Materials in receiving this competitively-bid
contract award from USDC to provide solutions for the manufacture of displays
and other innovative products,” said Representative Mike Honda (CA, 15th
District). “This award represents exciting R&D being conducted in
Silicon Valley for emerging display applications. Applied Materials has an exceptional
history of developing technology that strengthens California’s economic
base.”
The USDC program is expected to take a year to complete. Additional support
will be provided by the U.S. Army’s Flexible Display Center at Arizona
State University.