Agfa and Thin Film Electronics Sign Agreement to Enable Low-Cost Production of Printed Memories
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Mortsel (Belgium) November 13, 2007 07:00
Agfa and Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm) (Oslo, Norway), announced that they have entered into a Joint Development Agreement to enhance materials for the volume production of printed memory devices.
The objective of the joint collaboration is to enable low-cost production of printed memories by using Orgacon(TM), the Agfa Materials business group's conductive polymer product line. Agfa's existing conductive polymer materials formulation will be optimized for memory cell electrodes. This will significantly enhance the manufacturability and performance of Thinfilm's memory technology.
Johan Carlsson, CEO of Thin Film Electronics stated: "Agfa Materials is supplying printing inks which are specifically designed to print transparent electrodes on almost all types of substrates, making them highly suitable for the implementation of our polymer memory technology in a wide range of applications. Agfa has the broadest range of high performance conducting polymer products in the market. Agfa is the ideal partner for Thinfilm, enabling us to speed up the commercialization of our technology. The collaboration with Agfa will result in materials tailored for different printing technologies used in high-volume applications of our memory technology. In addition, with this agreement we have secured a long term supply of conductive polymer materials for large volumes, as and when our customers are ramping up volume production."
"Our goal is to constantly search for new opportunities in high growth markets, and to continuously boost our competitiveness with technological innovation. The agreement with Thin Film Electronics will be an excellent opportunity for us to achieve our objectives, given Thinfilm's innovative technology and strong presence in the rapidly growing printed electronics market." commented Dr. Frank Louwet, Materials Business, R&D Manager, ORGACON Electronic Materials.
The joint development agreement will build on Thinfilm's intellectual property for soluble memory materials, as well as extend Agfas' intellectual property for conducting polymer materials.
About Orgacon(TM)
The active component in Orgacon(TM) products is the water based electronic conductive polymer dispersion PEDOT/PSS. This transparent conductive polymer was developed and implemented more than 15 years ago and first applied as an antistatic protection coating on photographic materials. It can be used as transparent antistatic and ESD protection coating on plastic films and other objects. PEDOT/PSS is widely used in industrial applications and is the most processable, transparent and stable intrinsic conductive polymer having a conductivity independent from relative humidity. Orgacon(TM) products include: transparent conductive dispersions, coating solutions, coated films and inks. Orgacon(TM) is printable, flexible and even thermal or cold formable. This enables a variety of new applications as wearable and shape integrated electronics.
Johan Jacobs
Corporate Press Relations Manager
Septestraat 27
2640 Mortsel - Belgium
tel+32 (0) 3 444 8015
fax+32 (0) 3 444 5005
johan.jacobs@agfa.com
