Sixth Annual FLEXIBLE Displays & Microelectronics Conference

February 6-8, 2007
Phoenix,AZ

Submission Due Date:September 29, 2006

The US Display Consortium (USDC), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at ASU, the Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM) at Binghamton University, and affiliated corporate and government agency sponsors will host the 6th annual conference focused on flexible displays and microelectronics on February 6-8, 2007.  

The conference will cover a spectrum of technical, market and business issues related to technology, manufacturing and products produced in flexible formats. It will be held in Phoenix, AZ at the same site as previous years and, due to the importance of the topic and its popularity, will remain a full three-day agenda for original research results, market and business status presentations. 

We seek papers presenting the newest, most innovative and most important accomplishments that help fill gaps, surmount obstacles or reveal new opportunities or issues that must be addressed in one of the mentioned topic area. Attached to this “Call for Papers” is the agenda from the 2006 conference, which provides insight into the breadth and depth of topic coverage we strive to achieve.

Presenters from the 2006 and previous conferences are invited to return and provide a fresh view of status and results. Participants at past conferences who did not present, but now have relevant information to share and see the value of opening a dialogue with this collection of technical, business and market experts are encouraged to submit papers. And of course, new participants to the conference are equally welcomed to enhance the agenda with new results and viewpoints.

Topics of Interest

With a three-day format, we have the opportunity to provide one-on-one interaction time, to offer extended Q&A time at the end of each session for consensus building, and to present 45 papers offering the latest and most significant data on the advancements in technology, materials, manufacturing and markets/applications and the business plans of major contributors that are advancing the vision of achieving viable flexible display and flexible microelectronics technology and product offerings. To that end we will organize an agenda of invited and submitted papers that focus on six key topic areas-

• Strategic Market and Business Overviews

• Materials Advancements for Flexible Microelectronics;

• Manufacturing on Flexible Substrates (equipment and process technology)

• Displays on Flexible Substrates

• Flexible Microelectronic Backplane Technologies

• Applications and Products for Flexible Microelectronics (e.g., RFID, sensors, PV, lighting and electronics packaging)

As it was well received at its inception last year, we will again hold a university students poster session. University research results related to flexible displays and microelectronics technologies will be available for review and discussion with the graduate students who carried out the work during each break and at the close of each day. This has two purposes in mind. Learning about new technology opportunities being developed in the universities is clearly of interest to industry. However, of equal value, is the opportunity for students and industry leaders to use this as a “job fair”. Industry can identify promising scientists and engineers, trained in display technology, who will be seeking industry positions in the future. 

Submission Guidelines

If you would like to have your work and accomplishments considered for presentation at the 2007 conference, submit the title, company/ university/ agency affiliation and a succinct but descriptive abstract of your offering in electronic format (word doc.) on or before September 29, 2006 to mrpinnel@usdc.org.  Inquiries can be addressed to Bob Pinnel, USDC-CTO, by e-mail or by phone at 408.398.5743, or Brett Bryars at bbryars@usdc.org. 

The final agenda will be constructed in October and all submitters will be notified of status at that time. Written papers are not expected, but an extended abstract (< one page) and final presentation slides must be provided in electronic format three weeks in advance of the conference(January 12, 2007) for the proceedings booklet. Accepted speakers will receive a significantly reduced conference participation fee of $275, as will students who prepare presentations for the university reports poster session.

Background and Perspective

Focused R&D on flexible display technology in the U.S. began in earnest in 1999 both by DARPA contractor teams and by USDC under an ongoing DARPA-funded display supply chain program. It has since become a global topic of high interest across the entire display community and has expanded to encompass many microelectronics product sectors including lighting, power, RFID tags, sensors and electronic packaging among others. Previous USDC sponsored industry wide flexible displays conferences were held in February of 2002 through 2006 to share the clarified vision and plans for the US Flexible Display Initiative (FDI), to enlist broad industry support and to stimulate sharing of vital data, results and opinions among participants representing nearly 100 companies/universities/government agencies.

Based on previous events, about 350 participants are expected from industry, government and the university sectors, who represent not only the display community, but also pertinent related industrial sectors and technologies with similar requirements for and experience in flexible substrate manufacturing for the purposes of:

• Sharing the vision, strategic and tactical plans and implementation schedule for the FDI, the Flexible Display R&D Center, the Center for Advances Microelectronics Manufacturing and the USDC program

• Understanding the who, what, where, status and results of the numerous efforts focused on meeting the needs to enable flexible microelectronics and displays

• Presenting, discussing and debating the requirements, status, progress, barriers, gaps and opportunities in flexible microelectronics and displays development and product implementation

• Developing consensus agreements on priorities and focus for future R&D investment by ARL, USDC and industry

• Interacting with promising new scientists and engineers who wish to join the industry

While it is expected that the significant advancements from R&D conducted under USDC, ARL, DARPA, AFRL and other government agency funding grants will be presented, we strongly encourage papers describing achievements from other industry and university contributors representing the worldwide display community and applicable related technologies/industries. The timely achievement of a flexible display capability is a global endeavor and we seek to make this annual conference the event to “measure the pulse, gauge the progress, expand the critical mass of contributors and refine the roadmap” to accomplish this goal. 

We believe this focused topic conference, which draws together a large majority of the key industry participants and experts, should be your first choice to make your most significant achievements related to flexible microelectronics and display technology known and to integrate them into the master plan and solution set. For those who want a deeper background in preparation for submitting a paper or for attending the conference, the complete 2006 conference proceedings are available on CD-ROM and may be ordered from the USDC website by clicking this link.