NATIONAL STARCH AND CHEMICAL COMPANY WILL DEVELOP LAMINATING ADHESIVES FOR FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS UNDER USDC CONTRACT

San Jose, CA, April 10, 2006 -- The National Starch and Chemical Co. (NSC) of Bridgewater, N.J. has received a second development agreement from the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC). The consortium, a public/private partnership chartered with developing the flat panel display (FPD) industry supply chain, is contracting with NSC to develop a laminating adhesive that will advance flexible displays fabricated on glass or silicon-carrier plates. The motivation for this project is to help accelerate the development of a full array of flexible display technologies for both front- and back-plane electronics.

An earlier USDC award to NSC focused on the development and commercialization of new encapsulation and packaging approaches to protect organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices from environmental degradation. This most recent award, valued at $600,000, will be cost-shared between NSC and USDC.

The NSC project will directly benefit R&D underway at the Arizona State University Flexible Display Center (FDC), of which USDC is a charter member. The FDC, funded by the U.S. Army, has chosen to pursue a method of bonding the flexible substrates onto a rigid carrier plate—creating a substrate/carrier package that has the same handling characteristics of conventional glass plates. The ideal laminating adhesive would be robust enough to withstand typical semiconductor processing and would be de-bondable when exposed to slightly higher temperatures, after thin-film-transistor (TFT) processing.

According to Don Herr of NSC, most microelectronics development activities leverage existing semiconductor manufacturing tools, which have been developed to handle rigid substrates of glass or silicon in a batch mode. “Flexible substrates, however, cannot be handled by most of these tools without resorting to many undesirable or cumbersome methods, such as adding extra metal carrier plates, taping substrates into place, or manually picking and placing by tweezers,” he said.

“This project will enable adhesives and processes to be developed that will increase the range of process conditions that can be used, thereby improving the FDC’s chances of success. Furthermore, this project will create a source of bonded plastic substrates available to USDC member companies.”

Conventional off-the-shelf adhesives have been developed primarily for permanent lamination or for temporary bonding under much less demanding environments. These adhesives create limitations on the manufacturing process conditions (e.g., limitations in process temperature, choice of chemicals, use of heated solvents, ability to use in high vacuum systems, etc.). USDC’s and NSC’s shared goals are to minimize the time and effort required to realize a viable commercial process and to optimize the eventual quality of the TFT backplanes produced using proven process technology. Consequently, the laminating adhesive must survive aggressive temperature cycling, provide low outgassing under vacuum, and have high chemical resistance, little moisture uptake and manageable dimensional distortion.

The USDC program is a collaborative effort of private industry and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, located in Adelphi, Md.

“The high performance electronic materials industry enables significant advancements in microelectronics manufacturing,” said Rep. Michael Ferguson (R-NJ). “I extend congratulations to National Starch and Chemical for winning this second award from USDC and I’m pleased that the company is contributing to an ambitious Army R&D program.”

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

About National Starch and Chemical Company
National Starch, a worldwide manufacturer of adhesives, specialty polymers, electronic materials and natural polymers, is headquartered in Bridgewater, N.J., and is a member of the ICI Group. More information is available at www.nationalstarch.com.