USDC’S FIFTH ANNUAL FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS AND MICROELECTRONICS CONFERENCE RETURNS
FEBRUARY 7-9, 2006

Commercialization of Flexible Displays and Microelectronics Just Around ‘The Bend’

San Jose, CA, December 6, 2005 -- The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC), a public/private partnership chartered with developing the flat panel display (FPD) industry infrastructure, today announced that its Flexible Displays and Microelectronics Conference is returning to Phoenix, Ariz., for the fifth consecutive year. Opening February 7, 2006, this three-day summit promises to be the most revealing to date—with a record number of companies already lined up to unveil the technological progress that will shortly enable flexible displays and microelectronics to move beyond concept and into reality.

Over the last four years, this first-of-its-kind conference has gained traction and interest among today’s leading technologists and display and microelectronics industry executives. Not only does this forum afford the opportunity for industry, government and academia to discuss the advancements made to date, but it also explores the requirements, hurdles and missing links associated with commer-cializing flexible displays and microelectronics. Kicking off the conference will be Karl McGoldrick, CEO of Polymer Vision, which is a business unit within Philips Electronics. His keynote will provide an overview of flexible display technology along with highlighting its future applications roadmap. In addition to several other keynotes, and over 40 invited and submitted papers, the 2006 conference features an impressive corporate co-sponsor roster, including: Applied Films, Cabot, Dow Corning, GE, HP, Kodak, Merck, Philips, Plastic Logic, Plextronics, Polymer Vision, Universal Display Corp. and Vitex Systems.

“As a co-sponsor of this conference for the last five years, we’ve seen it serve as an excellent venue for communicating and sharing technological progress, as well as for discussing remaining hurdles that the industry faces,” said Janice Mahon, vice president of technology commercialization for Universal Display Corporation. “In launching this conference, USDC has helped fuel industry collaboration by championing the notion that progress could best be made by the display industry teaming with the broader electronics industry, government and academia. Now, five years later, we are seeing the fruits of these efforts as we grow closer to bringing this technology to market fruition.”

Dr. M. Robert Pinnel, chief technology officer for USDC, expressed similar sentiments, adding, “Since its inception, this conference has helped explore and resolve many of the impediments facing development and commercialization efforts. It has also identified the challenges that still remain, particularly in manufacturing scale-up to producing quality, high-performance flexible displays and microelectronics that can compete effectively—from a cost-perform-ance perspective—with their rigid, glass-based counterparts. Nevertheless, the driving factors and motivation behind the adoption of flexible displays are evident, and through continued collaboration and investment, this market shows incredible promise for the absorption of electronics into our lifestyle, rather than lifestyle changes to absorb electronics.”

Judging by the increasing number of companies looking to participate in this market, USDC expects to draw at least 325 attendees, all of whom will have the opportunity to listen to presentations spanning a number of critical topics, including:

• Strategic market and business overviews

• Materials advancements for flexible microelectronics

• Manufacturing on flexible substrates (equipment and process technology)

• Display technologies applicable to flexible substrates

• Flexible microelectronic backplane technologies

• Applications and products for flexible microelectronics

New to the conference format is a poster session for university students, which will run all three days during the session breaks, allowing attendees to learn about development activities at leading universities. It also serves as an opportunity for companies to recruit promising students, while also allowing students to identify and pursue potential employment avenues.

The conference will also feature the recent advancements made by the Binghamton University-led Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM), which is looking at speeding microelec-tronics manufacturing research and development in a roll-to-roll (R2R) format. In addition, the U.S. Army-funded Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University will update attendees on the progress it has made on process development and pilot production of flexible backplanes and displays for U.S. Army platforms and, eventually, commercial applications.

The upcoming USDC conference returns to the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, adjacent to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. With record attendance anticipated, USDC recommends registering early before space fills up. For additional information and updates on the conference agenda, registration or hotel information, please visit the USDC website at www.usdc.org.

Contact:

Heidi Hoffman
USDC
408.993.8111
heidi@usdc.org

Marie Labrie
MCA
650.968.8900
mlabrie@mcapr.com

About the U.S. Display Consortium
The U.S. Display Consortium is an industry-led public/private partnership providing a common platform for flat panel display and flexible microelectronics manufacturers and developers, FPD users, and the supplier base. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the consortium’s primary mission is to fund supply-chain projects and share the results with USDC member companies. The USDC also provides a communication channel among industry, government and the financial communities for display issues; sponsors workshops to broaden the impact of technological developments; and educates consumers on the importance of displays in providing access to information technology. More information about the USDC can be found at www.usdc.org