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FPD/PCB NEWS～July 5


UBE Corporation to Expand a Production Facility for High-Purity Nitric Acid

UBE Corporation announced that it has decided to build an additional plant for high-purity nitric acid at the Ube Chemical Factory (Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) in order to meet further increase in demand in the future.

The new plant will start trial operations in February 2024, and the production capacity is planned to be increased by 50% from the current level.

FPD/PCB NEWS～June 30


Showa Denko Concludes MOU with SK. to Give Consideration to a Plan to Cooperatively Produce High-Purity Gases for Semiconductors in North America

Showa Denko K.K.(SDK) and SK Incorporated concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give consideration to a plan to start cooperative work to produce high-purity gases, which are used in semiconductor production processes, in North America.

SDK and SK Materials, which is an in-house independent company of SK Incorporated and produces high-purity gases for semiconductors, will start to give consideration to a plan to cooperatively produce high-purity gases for semiconductors in North America. In the global market for high-purity gases for semiconductors, SDK has the top share of the etching gas market, and SK Materials has the top share of the cleaning gas market and deposition gas market. Thus, the two leading companies in the high-purity gas industry are now aiming to expand their business in the US cooperatively.

FPD/PCB NEWS～June 29


Toppan Develops Hologram That Displays Text and Images in Response to Strong Light

Toppan announced to develop a new hologram on which three-dimensional images appear in response to strong light, such as a smartphone's flashlight. Toppan will target use for such items as pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, luxury brand goods, machinery and parts, licensed goods, and tickets/vouchers.

FPD/PCB NEWS～June 28


SDK and Microwave Chemical Start Joint Development of Microwave-based Chemical Recycling Technology to Directly Transform Used Plastic into Basic Chemical Feedstock

Showa Denko (SDK) and Microwave Chemical have started joint development of a new microwave-based chemical recycling technology to directly transform used plastic into basic chemical feedstock.

SDK and Microwave Chemical will aim to develop a technology that decomposes used plastic containers and packaging by irradiating microwave, thereby producing basic chemical feedstock such as ethylene and propylene. By the end of this year, the two companies will study conditions for formation of product through microwave heating, search for catalysts to improve the yield of targeted components, and try to optimize conditions and processes for decomposition to establish basic technology.

FPD/PCB NEWS～June 21


JDI and Idemitsu developed Poly-OS, a poly-crystalline oxide semiconductor applicable to a wide vriety of displays

Japan Display (JDI) and Idemitsu Kosan have successfully co-developed an innovative poly-crystalline oxide semiconductor, Poly-OS, for use in a wide variety of displays, including wearable devices, smartphones, metaverse devices such as VR, Notebook PCs, and large-display TVs.

By integrating Idemitsu Kosan's newly developed proprietary poly-crystalline oxide semiconductor material and JDI's proprietary backplane technology, the new Poly-OS semiconductor contributes significantly to improving display performance by achieving both high mobility and low off-leak current on Gen 6 mass production lines. Poly-OS can also be deployed to large-size Gen 8 lines and above, significantly reducing display manufacturing costs.

FPD/PCB NEWS～May 31


Hitachi High-Tech opened the new demonstration and collaboration base "Advanced-Technology Innovation Center Naka"

Hitachi High-Tech announced the opening of its new demonstration and collaboration base “Advanced-Technology Innovation Center Naka (ACN)” in the city of Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture.

This facility will function as a site to demonstrate above mentioned products to customers and to initiate and to promote the development of new solutions for analytical system products via collaborative activities at the closer location to its design and development base.

FPD/PCB NEWS～May 19


JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation sales shares in LS-Nikko Copper

JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation announced to divest entire 49.9% stake that its group company, Japan Korea Joint Smelting, holds in LS-Nikko Copper. The shares are to be sold for 930 billion won to LS Corporation that owns a 50.1% stake in LSN.

FPD/PCB NEWS～May 16


Tokuyama opens the No.2 Tsukuba Research Laboratory

Tokuyama announces that it has determined to open the No.2 Tsukuba Research Laboratory (provisional name) to strengthen research and development.

The Company plans to acquire land and buildings located in the vicinity of the Company's Tsukuba Research Laboratory for the No.2 Tsukuba Research Laboratory, which is scheduled to begin operations in January 2023. Slated to engage in research and development in the healthcare field with a focus on developing medical materials and diagnostic reagents, as well as in environmental field related to carbon neutrality, several of the functions of the Tsukuba Research Laboratory will be transferred to the No.2 Research Laboratory.

Meanwhile, the existing Tsukuba Research Laboratory will concentrate on research and development in the electronics field with a focus on next-generation semiconductor related materials, while maintaining its dental material research and development function as led by Tokuyama Dental Corporation.

FPD/PCB NEWS～May 12


TEL construsts new building in Miyagi

Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced that it will construct a new development building at the Miyagi plant (Miyagi Prefecture, Japan) of Tokyo Electron Miyagi, a manufacturing subsidiary.

Construction of the new building is scheduled to start in spring 2023 for completion in spring 2025. Construction cost is approx. 47 billion yen.

FPD/PCB NEWS～May 10


DNP America and DNP to Exhibit at SID Display Week 2022

DNP America and Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) will exhibit at the world's largest display society, SID Display Week 2022, to be held at the San Jose Convention Center. SID Display Week 2022 will take place from May 8 until May 13, during which time the DNP booth will be operation from May 10 until May 12.

SID Display Week is an international conference hosted by the Society for Information Display, with participation by display-related companies from around the world. 2022 marks the 59th Display Week, and the 8th occasion on which DNP has participated.

FPD/PCB NEWS～April 22


Toray Develops Super High Barrier Film Offering Dramatically Lower Costs

Toray Industries announced that it has developed super high barrier film that costs at least 80% less than conventional counterparts. The company looks to commercialize the film in 2023 for high barrier performance applications. These include flexible devices and solar cell encapsulation.

Toray applied high-density composite film design technology cultivated by the development of sputtered film, and fast vapor deposition technology for barrier film in food packaging and other applications. By doing so, the company attained a high barrier performance, delivering a water vapor transmission rate of 10-3 g/m2･day which is equivalent to levels from sputtered and chemical vapor deposited film.

Deposition with this super high barrier vapor deposited film is more than 100 times faster than with regular sputtering, at a more than 80% lower cost. Toray's new film is also very transparent and flexible, making it ideal for flexible devices and solar cells.

FPD/PCB NEWS～April 14


NSG Group pilot-produced flat glass to fire its furnace on 100% biofuel

Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, part of the NSG Group, has become the world's first flat glass manufacturer to fire its furnace on 100% biofuel, as part of an industry trial to find sustainable alternatives to natural gas.

A sustainable biofuel made from organic waste materials powered the St Helens glass manufacturer's furnace entirely for four days, creating 165,000 sq ft of the lowest carbon float glass ever made. The fuel emits circa 80% less CO2 than traditional natural gas used in the sector.

The trial forms part of a 7.1 million GBP project led by industry research and technology organisation Glass Futures, working under the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's Energy Innovation Programme. It aims to demonstrate that the furnace could run safely at full production on the low-carbon fuel without impacting product quality.

FPD/PCB NEWS～April 1


TEL constructs new building construction in Kyushu

Tokyo Electron (TEL) announced that it will construct a new development building at the Koshi Office (Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan) of Tokyo Electron in Kyushu, a manufacturing subsidiary. Construction cost is approximate 30 billion yen.

Total floor area is approximate 24,200 m2. In the building, semiconductor manufacturing equipment including coater/developers and surface preparation systems are developed and manufactured. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2023 for completion in fall 2024.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 31


JDI and Innolux renewed a patent cross-license agreement for LCDs

Japan Display (JDI) and Taiwan-based Innolux Corporation agreed to renew a patent cross-license agreement for LCDs, pursuant to which JDI will receive license fees from Innolux.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 30


JDI Develops G6 Oxide-TFT with 4X Improvement in Field-Effect Mobility

Japan Display (JDI) announced to develop the world's first backplane technology to radically improve the properties of conventional oxide-TFT (OS-TFT) at its G6 Plant in Mobara, Japan.

JDI's new OS-TFT technology generates high-mobility oxide semiconductors (HMO), which have 2X the field-effect mobility of conventional OS-TFTs, and ultra-high mobility oxide semiconductors (UHMO), which have 4X higher field-effect mobility than conventional OS-TFT.

UHMO's field-effect mobility on G6 mass production line is 52cm2/Vs, an extraordinarily high level. More broadly, HMO enables the same level of on-current flow as LTPS-TFT, while maintaining low off-leak current.


▲Field-Effect Mobility Comparison

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 28


Toyobo accelerates development of photoelectric conversion material for organic photodiodes

Toyobo announced to accelerate development of an organic photoelectric conversion material that converts light energy to electrical energy. In the latest step in this endeavor, Toyobo successfully made a prototype module of organic photodiodes (OPD) featuring this material, which has superb sensitivity, due to one of the world's lowest levels of dark current. This research was conducted in collaboration with CEA, a French government energy research institute using the material for organic photodiodes. Toyobo aims to have this material used as an optical sensor for Internet of Things (IoT) devices by the end of 2025.

OPD that Toyobo is developing can be manufactured in a simpler method, in which an organic photoelectric conversion material is dissolved in a solution and then coated on a glass or plastic substrate. This reduces production costs and associated environmental impacts, compared with those of conventional photodiodes. Furthermore, the use of films and other flexible materials as a substrate allows greater freedom in shaping target components, broadening the range of photosensor applications and opening the door to extensive use in various industries.

Toyobo has been developing a diverse range of organic materials by harnessing its sophisticated organic synthesis technologies. Since 2019, Toyobo and CEA have conducted joint research on a power-generating material for organic photovoltaics. Moreover, since 2020, Toyobo and CEA have been jointly developing an organic photoelectric conversion material for photosensors, which are indispensable for IoT.

This research has culminated in a prototype OPD module with excellent sensitivity capable of detecting weaker light than silicon photodiodes already on the market can detect. Specifically, this prototype attained one of the world's lowest levels of dark current, or below 10-9A/cm2 when subjected to the voltage of -5V, the benchmark for commercial application. In a joint verification with CEA, Toyobo's photoelectric conversion material was confirmed to have the same level of dark current when coated on either a glass substrate or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film substrate.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 25


Nikon Releases New Gen 8 Plate FPD Lithography System

Nikon announced the release of new Gen 8 plate (2,200 x 2,500 mm) FPD lithography system FX-88S that supports the production of various high-definition panels.

Nikon utilized and optimized the technologies that have been accumulated through the development of the FPD lithography system FX-68SH/68S (released in 2016), which is suitable for the production of high-definition small and medium-sized panels, and the FPD lithography system FX-103SH/103S (released in 2017), which is suitable for the production of large TV panels. The FPD lithography system FX-88S was developed to support the production of various high-definition panels.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 24


Dexerials released optical elastic resin corresponding to Inkjet Coating

Dexerials announced that it has commercialized optical elastic resin “Jettable SVR”corresponding to inkjet coating. Multiple manufacturers have decided to adopt “jSVR” for their tablet PCs, and Dexerials has commenced shipping.

Optical elastic resin“SVR”from Dexerials is a liquid, UV curable acrylic resin that is used to fill in the air gap between a display panel's display area and a top plate. It is an optical clear resin (OCR/LOCA), which prevents reflection on the interface of the air gap and improves the visibility and shock resistance when it is given optical characteristics similar to those of the top plate material.

The optical elastic resin jSVR, which was commercialized this time, correspond to inkjet coating. It thus enables optical bonding with the high-precision coating of chosen points with the appropriate amount of resin. This ensures greater workability and facilitates the coating of displays in special shapes, which have notches and punch holes for cameras and sensors.

In addition,jSVR permits the precise, continuous control of coating thickness. This means it can be used for 3D-shaped displays with uneven thickness, such as curved displays, for which the use of optical clear adhesive tapes with even thickness was difficult.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 17


Ricoh Launches New Industrial Inkjet Printheads

Ricoh Company announced the launch of three newly developed industrial-grade inkjet printheads, RICOH MH5422, RICOH MH5442, and RICOH MH5422 Type A, which customers can use as key components in digital printing systems.

The new printheads provide high image quality and productivity by utilizing high-precision technology. They feature a wide range of ink compatibility and improved durability through enhanced nozzle surface abrasion resistance. Ricoh has also improved system compatibility by applying separate cables and high-precision surface alignment features.

FPD/PCB NEWS～March 9


Showa Denko Decides Firm Name of the Newly Integrated Company

Showa Denko (SDK) announced that it was resolved at the Board of Directors meeting held that SDK will set the firm name of a new company (the newly integrated company) which is planned to be organized in January 2023 as a result of integration of SDK and Showa Denko Materials (SDMC), which is a member company of the Showa Denko Group.