Quarterly Question
Q- Why are Kent Displays products called Cholesteric LCD products?
A- The first liquid crystals observed to reflect colored light were a derivative of cholesterol and hence the name “cholesteric”. Kent Displays products are based upon cholesteric liquid crystal (LC) material. Also called Chiral Nematic liquid crystals, the material has the property of reflecting a certain color/wavelength of light determined by the physical properties of the material.
Chiral (chiral simply means twisted) Nematic (derived from the Greek meaning thread) liquid crystal molecules can be visualized as molecular sized “baseball bats” where the chiral dopant causes the “baseball bats” to rotate in a helix similar to either a slinky or DNA. This helical structure then reflects light creating the planar state of the cholesteric liquid crystal. The wavelength of the light reflected by the liquid crystal material is directly proportional the pitch of the helix.
If you have a question regarding Kent Displays' products or technology please submit your questions . We will select a question from those submitted and publish it along with the answer in a future newsletter.
Announcements
Photonics West SPIE Conference
Title: New Developments in Flexible Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Displays.
Presenter: Dr. Tod Schneider et al.
Jan 20-25, 2007
San Jose, CA
Photonics West SPIE Conference
Title: Recent Advances in Flexible Ink Jet Printed Conductive Polymer Electrode Cholesteric Displays.
Presenter: Dr. Erica Montbach et al.
Jan 20-25, 2007
San Jose, CA
Flexible Displays and Microelectronics 2007 Conference and Exhibit
Title: Advances in Ultra Thin Flexible Color Cholesteric Displays
Presenter: Dr. Asad Khan et al.
February 6-8, 2006
Phoenix, AZ
Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA) 2007
Presenter: Joel Domino
March 6, 2007
Las Vegas, NV
9th Annual Flat Panel Displays Conference
Presenter: Joel Domino
March 7, 2007
La Jolla, CA
The price of USB Flash Memory products continues to drop.
See for yourself at www.nopowerdisplays.com.
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Editor's Notes
Welcome to Volume 3, issue 1 of Kent Displays, Inc. Quarterly Newsletter: The Liquid Crystal Twist. As the world leader in the research, development and manufacture of Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Display products, it is our hope to bring you interesting and useful information regarding ChLCD technology, products, distributors/representatives and customers each quarter.
In the News
State of Ohio awards Kent Displays, Inc. $8 Million Third Frontier Grant.
Kent Displays, Inc. leads a project team that has been awarded an $8M Research and Commercialization Project (RCP) grant by the State of Ohio’s Third Frontier Project. Major collaborators in this project include AlphaMicron and Kent State University. The award was announced by Governor Bob Taft during a press conference held on December 15th at Cleveland State University.
The RCP was designed by the Ohio Department of Development to support technology based economic development through research and commercialization activities in Ohio. The newly awarded state grant will help Kent Displays and its collaborators accelerate the establishment of a manufacturing cluster in Ohio to commercialize flexible liquid crystal display and eyewear products and devices. The project will achieve the following:
- Installation of manufacturing facilities that will be compatible with commercially available plastic substrates and simple production processes, making Northeast Ohio a global leader in the production of such devices.
- Build a business accelerator at Kent State University to attract supply chain providers including display materials, flexible substrates, and manufacturing equipment.
- Establish an industrial cluster in Northeast Ohio to manufacturer flexible displays and eyewear that will produce jobs and other economic development opportunities for the region and state.
“We are very pleased to receive this Third Frontier grant. This project is a true collaborative effort and could not have been achieved without the support of our academic and industry collaborators. We look forward to taking our work to the next level and advancing Northeast Ohio as the center for commercialization of flexible liquid crystal products, thus having a major impact on the global display industry,” said Joel Domino, President of Kent Displays.
Momentum on this initiative has been building in the region for the past few months with the establishment of FlexMatters, an initiative focused on building an industrial cluster in Northeast Ohio for the research, development and production of flexible displays, electronics and photo-voltaics. As part of this project, FlexMatters has already begun to attract companies to the region including, Sheldahl, a Minneapolis-based supplier of flexible substrates for liquid crystal products. Sheldahl, a partner in the RCP initiative, is currently in the process of moving some of its activities to Kent in order to join this growing flexible display cluster.
Organizational changes at Kent Displays equip the company for its transition to world’s first volume flexible display manufacture.
Kent Displays has positioned itself to become the first volume manufacturer of flexible liquid crystal displays in the world. The organizational changes effective 2 January 2007 will equip the company with the talent necessary to meet the challenges and opportunities created by the flexible ChLCD market. We are pleased to announce the following personnel changes:
- Dr. Asad Khan has been promoted to Vice President, Technology. In this position Research & Development, Engineering and Manufacturing operations will report to Dr. Khan.
- Donald Davis has been promoted to the position of Manager, Display Manufacturing. Previously Don was Senior Process Engineer. In his new position he will be responsible for establishing flexible cell production as well as managing the significant growth of this project.
- Dr. Erica Montbach has been promoted to Manager, R&D. Erica had previously been a Senior Research Scientist and her new duties include directing R&D at Kent Displays.
- Keith Bellamy has been promoted to the position of Manager, Engineering. In this position Keith will be responsible for the direction and coordination of all engineering efforts at the company. Previously Keith had been Engineering Program Manager.
- William Emanuele, Manager, Module Manufacturing will continue to manage the glass assembly production business and facility operations. He will work closely with Display manufacturing to support the planned growth in flexible display manufacturing.
- Additionally Tess Hasenstaub, Manager, Quality Control & Quality Assurance, will now report to Kent Displays President Joel Domino.
“These changes will allow KDI to effectively manage the progression of moving our Research and Development efforts in making flexible ChLCD’s from the prototype stage to full commercial production of flexible ChLCD products by the middle of 2007” said Joel Domino, President of Kent Displays.
University of Akron Awarded a State of Ohio Grant for a Research and Commercialization Program – Kent Displays is a subcontractor.
The University of Akron has been awarded an $8M grant for a Research and Commercialization Program for the “Commercialization of Functional Polyimide Films and Nanocomposites” under the State of Ohio’s Third Frontier Program. Kent Displays is proud to announce that it is one of the sub-contractors to the program working on development of advanced flexible photovoltaics for display and other applications. Kent Displays will receive $400,000 over the next three years as part of the program.
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