By Paul Semenza – Senior Vice President, Analyst Services, DisplaySearch
This week saw two deals involving Asian manufacturers investing in venture-backed Silicon Valley companies that have been developing advanced materials applicable to displays and solar cells, among other applications. Both of these companies have been in business for a decade or more, raised tens of millions of dollars, and amassed large patent portfolios, and have also lived through the “hype cycle” surrounding the printable electronics and nanomaterials segments.
On August 9, Teijin Limited announced that it had acquired NanoGram, which has been developing silicon-based nanoparticle technology. Teijin said that the investment will facilitate its entry into the market for flexible devices developed with silicon-on-plastic technologies, which can be integrated with Teijin’s materials such as polycarbonate resin, polyester resin and bioplastics. Teijin intends to mass produce these materials for use in printable electronics, and said it would provide samples of silicon inks to makers of TFT LCDs, solar cells and other devices. Since February, 2009, Teijin had been working with NanoGram on the optimization of silicon nanoparticles and inks and to develop processing technology to sinter silicon nanoparticle film at a relatively low temperature of below 200ºC. This technology could enable the use of printing techniques to create TFT arrays on plastic or other substrates, which could be used in active matrix displays (OLED, LCD, electrophoretic) and thin-film solar cells.
On August 10, Nanosys and Samsung Electronics announced a strategic alliance and licensing arrangement for development of commercial applications of nano-architected materials for the electronics and thin film solar markets. Under the terms of the deal, Samsung Electronics will contribute funding and resources to co-develop products using Nanosys technologies, in addition to $15 million equity investment from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation. As we covered recently in The Emitter, Nanosys has developed quantum dots, nanometer-scale crystals made from semiconductor materials, which can be tuned to absorb and emit light selectively. Nanosys has been working with LG Innotek to use its material to convert blue LED light to red and green, enabling simpler and more efficient LCD backlights. The company has also pursued applications in solar cells and energy storage.
The acquisition of NanoGram could enable Teijin to integrate downstream, providing higher value to their polyester films and plastics, and to take a leadership position in the emerging area of plastic electronics. Samsung Electronics’ investment in Nanosys could have broader implications: Not only is the company a leading producer of TFT LCDs and AMOLED displays, but it has been moving into solar energy, as well as batteries (via its sister company Samsung SDI). In 2008, Samsung Electronics acquired Clairvoyante, another venture-backed IP company, which had developed the PenTile display pixel architecture; Samsung is using PenTile in its AMOLED displays and kept on key staff, which now operates as a R&D arm called Nouvoyance. It will be interesting to see how Samsung moves forward with Nanosys—and how LG reacts to its investment.
We look forward to hearing more about these deals, particularly from Jason Hartlove, Nanosys’ CEO, who will be presenting at the DisplaySearch Emerging Display Technologies Conference, August 19 in San Jose.
