Ink Jet Printing Light Emitting Polymers

From: Elaine Hunt (ehunt@ces.clemson.edu)
Date: Fri Jun 14 2002 - 16:12:46 EEST


( BW)(CAMBRIDGE-DISPLAY-TECH) Seiko Epson Corp. and Cambridge Display
Technology to Form Joint Venture Company for Ink Jet Printing Light
Emitting Polymers

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

TOKYO & CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2002--

New Venture Company, Polyink, Will Offer Total Solutions Package That
Includes Providing Ink Jet Printing Machines and Inks for LEP Displays

Seiko Epson Corp., Japan, and Cambridge Display Technology Ltd. (CDT),
U.K., have reached an agreement after several years of joint development to
form a joint venture company to offer technologies and services using
ink-jet deposition for manufacturing Light Emitting Polymer (LEP) displays.
LEPs, which are easily soluble in solvents, can be laid down in arrays
forming Red, Green, Blue (RGB) pixels by ink jet printing. The drop sizes
used to create pixels are extremely low volume, which has necessitated
major development of printer head technology and ink jet formulations to
match these heads.
This ink jet printing method provides a high efficiency in utilization of
the polymer materials, yields efficient devices and holds the promise of
low-cost manufacturing of LEP displays.
Seiko Epson and CDT have worked jointly on these issues for several years,
utilizing Seiko Epson's ink jet printing technologies and CDT's ink
formulation technologies, and have reached the stage at which
commercialization can take place.
The two companies are moving into this commercialization to provide an ink
jet printing machine with Epson's print head and inks whose formulations
have been specified by CDT especially for these heads.
Seiko Epson and others have already demonstrated ink jet printing as a
route to high-resolution full color LEP displays. The new company, named
"Polyink," will be jointly established to offer a "total solution package"
to, in particular, display makers making high resolution, active matrix
displays.
"Seiko Epson is clearly a world leader in the development and
commercialization of ink jet technology," said David Fyfe, CEO of CDT. "Our
companies have been collaborating in this field for a number of years to
apply its potential for lower cost, higher throughput manufacturing of LEP
displays.
"The Polyink venture is the natural culmination of this substantial
investment by our companies. We have put together a venture whose strategy
fits well both with Seiko Epson's business model, as well as with CDT's
plan to provide open commercial solutions and critical technologies to our
licensees."

About CDT

Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) is a privately held company leading the
research, development and commercialization of polymer technology for flat
panel displays, lighting and photovoltaics. CDT's light emitting polymer
(LEP) technology is targeted for use in a wide range of electronic display
products used for information management, communications and entertainment.
Features include reduced power consumption, size, thickness and weight,
very wide viewing angle, superior video imaging performance and the
potential to produce displays on plastic substrates. To date, licenses have
been granted to Delta Optoelectronics, DuPont Displays, MicroEmissive
Displays, OSRAM, Philips and Seiko-Epson.
CDT is promoting LEP technology development and speeding its
commercialization through a global business strategy including
co-developments with leading companies in a wide range of display and
related technology areas.
Founded in 1992, the company has headquarters in Cambridge and has a LEP
manufacturing development center in Godmanchester, U.K. More information
about CDT is available at www.cdtltd.co.uk.

     --30--JP/np* FR/np

     CONTACT: Magnet Communications
               Robert Chevez, 909/272-1888 (North America)
               rchevez@magnetcom.com
                 or
               Grayling Asia
               Amanda Goh or James Acheson-Gray
               +65-325-4606 or +65-97867-245 (Asia)
               amandag@graylinggroup.com.sg
                 or
               Rainier
               Alia Ilyas, +44-20-7494-6570 (Europe)
               ailyas@rainierco.co.uk

     KEYWORD: UNITED KINGDOM JAPAN INTERNATIONAL EUROPE ASIA PACIFIC
     INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS HARDWARE
CHEMICALS/PLASTICS MARKETING AGREEMENTS
     SOURCE: Cambridge Display Technology

"Death cancels everything but truth; and strips us of everything but genius
and virtue. It makes the meanest of us sacred. Death is the greatest
assayer of the sterling ore of family and friends." William Hazlitt

Elaine Hunt, Director
Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping
100 Fluor Daniel Building
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634
864-656-0321

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://rapid.lpt.fi/rp-ml/



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