Friendships between cohorts in related fields could be lucrative.
By Gail Flower
I’ve heard the lugubrious lament that the U.S. is no longer a hotbed of innovation and cooperation, and if you want industry/university cooperative efforts, you must rely on a European OEA or IMEC or some other joint effort. The capitalist system that encourages individualism isn’t supportive for group R&D, some say. Yet at IDTechEX’s Printed Electronics USA and Photovoltaics 2011 in Santa Clara last week, capitalists couldn’t hide their excitement about recent joint discoveries.
Kodak and Heraeus announced a development of transparent films that can be patterned easily to provide a cost-effective alternative to Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) films. They demonstrated patterning Kodak HCF-225 Film/ESTAR Base using Heraeus technologies such as Clevios Etch and masking polymer Clevios SET G to yield completely invisible conductive patterns for a variety of touch screen applications. This should save on the costs of materials.
Mark Juba, general manager, Industrial Films Group at Eastman Kodak Co. took us over to the display. Brian Johnston, director, Kodak External Alliances Venture Capital University Investments showed us the 14-in. touchscreen panel, which was fabricated using Kodak HCF-225 Film/ESTAR Base and the Heraeus Clevios PEDOT:PSS coating with a surface resistivity of 225 ohms/sq.
“We used conventional printing processes, including a UV-cured and heat processed inks,” said Juba.
For demonstration purposes, they selected a common touchscreen operation of selecting merchandise, then adding up the sale automatically using their new transparent touch screen materials.
When asked about how the technology came about, Juba said that it was all about friendships between cohorts in related fields. And it could be lucrative for both companies. In a NanoMarkets 2011 report, "Transparent Conductor Markets Report," it is predicted that the overall market for transparent conductor technologies should reach $6.9 billion by 2016. New technologies, such as this one are expected to capture approximately 20% of the market away from ITO-based systems.
Let’s see: 20% of $6.9 billion would be ...
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