David Savastano, Editor12.11.13
The growth of the touch display industry brings with it new requirements, such as improved materials and manufacturing methods. Consumers want touch displays to have improved performance characteristics, while display manufacturers are always looking for improved production methods.
This is where Rolith, Inc. comes in. A leader in advanced nanostructured products for consumer electronics, solar and green building markets, Rolith was formed in 2008 to commercialize the new method of low cost large area patterning invented by Dr. Boris Kobrin, a physicist, engineer and entrepreneur, who is active in the fields of semiconductors, optics and nanotechnology.
Rolling Mask Lithography (RMLTM), Rolith’s proprietary nanolithography technology, was developed for fabrication of transparent metal mesh electrodes on large areas of substrate materials. It utilizes a massive parallel patterning scheme based on nearfield continuous optical lithography, and easily scalable to large areas of rigid substrate materials (plates and panels) and rolls of flexible films.
RML fits numerous markets, including displays for mobile electronics, TVs, commercial displays and digital signage, architectural and automotive glass, smart windows, solar panels and OLED lighting.
Currently Rolith is developing two applications: anti-reflective glass technology, in joint development with Asahi Glass, and transparent metal mesh conductors for touch screen displays.
Rolith was co-founded by Dr. Kobrin, Stanford University professor Dr. Mark Brongersma, a leading scientist in nanophotonics, and Julian Zegelman, a corporate attorney. The company quickly drew the attention of some large manufacturers, who provided seed money for the company.
“In 2010, we attracted seed money from a corporate strategic partner, Asahi Glass Company,” Dr. Kobrin noted. “We signed another partnership agreement, with German company SUSS MicroTec, for co-development of our proprietary nanolithography system. In 2012 we have closed series A investment round, funded by Asahi Glass and DFJ-VTB Capital fund.”
The transparent metal mesh conductors designed for touch screen displays is drawing attention from OEMs and the printed electronics industry.
“Earlier this year, we launched a new application development, our NanoWebTM transparent metal mesh for touch screen displays,” Dr. Kobrin said. “We have managed to demonstrate feasibility of this product and show superior performance on rigid (glass) and flexible (films) materials with sheet resistance below 3 ohm/sq. and transmission of the mesh above 96%. Our NanoWeb metal mesh can be printed cost effectively on large areas of glass and films with high resolution, and the patterning of the transparent mesh conductor and sensor’s traces/bezels can be combined in a single process step, which simplifies an entire manufacturing process.”
The performance of NanoWeb is achieved due to the sub-micron line width of the metal mesh, which is made possible by Rolling Mask Lithography. Dr. Kobrin said that the Rolling Mask Lithography method offers numerous advantages, beginning with the ability to provide high-resolution patterning (currently down to 150 nm) using i-line UV exposure and off-the-shelf materials.
“Our capability to fabricate metal mesh using high resolution lithography allowed us to remove two most troublesome problems with metal mesh technology available from our competitors - visibility of metal mesh and parasitic Moiré fringes,” Dr. Kobrin added. “Rolith's NanoWeb mesh, being a sub-micron structure, removes those problems.
“The technology does belong to ‘optical lithography’ methods,” Dr. Kobrin noted, “as you find in the IC/semiconductor industry, but it is much less expensive, not diffraction limited (higher resolution without deep-UV light sources), and not limited to semiconductor wafer form factor. It is scalable to really large substrate areas (Gen-5 and Gen-7 glass). Another advantage is tolerance to non-flat substrate materials; we have demonstrated nanopatterning of a regular glass windows and thin PET films.”
Rolith is earning the attention of the printed electronics industry, receiving the Best Technical Development Manufacturing Award from IDTechEx at Printed Electronics USA 2013 last month for its production of transparent metal mesh electrodes for large touch screen displays and OLED lighting.
“We are very excited and encouraged by recognition of our technology from the printed electronics industry,” Dr. Kobrin said. “We are also very excited with the interest in our technology expressed by all major commercial and mobile touch screen display manufacturers. We plan to enter into partnership agreements with some of them in the very near future. I see it as a very important confirmation of our technology superiority in a quest to satisfy demanding requirements of advanced touch screen displays and other printed electronics products.”
Dr. Kobrin is optimistic about the future of printed electronics as the technology moves from R&D to commercialization.
“Printed electronics is getting traction and emerging from R&D facilities into the high volume production field,” Dr. Kobrin said. “This process will definitely accelerate in the coming years. More and more products, manufactured currently using batch semiconductor-type processes, will be fabricated on a conveyor or web.”
This is where Rolith, Inc. comes in. A leader in advanced nanostructured products for consumer electronics, solar and green building markets, Rolith was formed in 2008 to commercialize the new method of low cost large area patterning invented by Dr. Boris Kobrin, a physicist, engineer and entrepreneur, who is active in the fields of semiconductors, optics and nanotechnology.
Rolling Mask Lithography (RMLTM), Rolith’s proprietary nanolithography technology, was developed for fabrication of transparent metal mesh electrodes on large areas of substrate materials. It utilizes a massive parallel patterning scheme based on nearfield continuous optical lithography, and easily scalable to large areas of rigid substrate materials (plates and panels) and rolls of flexible films.
RML fits numerous markets, including displays for mobile electronics, TVs, commercial displays and digital signage, architectural and automotive glass, smart windows, solar panels and OLED lighting.
Currently Rolith is developing two applications: anti-reflective glass technology, in joint development with Asahi Glass, and transparent metal mesh conductors for touch screen displays.
Rolith was co-founded by Dr. Kobrin, Stanford University professor Dr. Mark Brongersma, a leading scientist in nanophotonics, and Julian Zegelman, a corporate attorney. The company quickly drew the attention of some large manufacturers, who provided seed money for the company.
“In 2010, we attracted seed money from a corporate strategic partner, Asahi Glass Company,” Dr. Kobrin noted. “We signed another partnership agreement, with German company SUSS MicroTec, for co-development of our proprietary nanolithography system. In 2012 we have closed series A investment round, funded by Asahi Glass and DFJ-VTB Capital fund.”
The transparent metal mesh conductors designed for touch screen displays is drawing attention from OEMs and the printed electronics industry.
“Earlier this year, we launched a new application development, our NanoWebTM transparent metal mesh for touch screen displays,” Dr. Kobrin said. “We have managed to demonstrate feasibility of this product and show superior performance on rigid (glass) and flexible (films) materials with sheet resistance below 3 ohm/sq. and transmission of the mesh above 96%. Our NanoWeb metal mesh can be printed cost effectively on large areas of glass and films with high resolution, and the patterning of the transparent mesh conductor and sensor’s traces/bezels can be combined in a single process step, which simplifies an entire manufacturing process.”
The performance of NanoWeb is achieved due to the sub-micron line width of the metal mesh, which is made possible by Rolling Mask Lithography. Dr. Kobrin said that the Rolling Mask Lithography method offers numerous advantages, beginning with the ability to provide high-resolution patterning (currently down to 150 nm) using i-line UV exposure and off-the-shelf materials.
“Our capability to fabricate metal mesh using high resolution lithography allowed us to remove two most troublesome problems with metal mesh technology available from our competitors - visibility of metal mesh and parasitic Moiré fringes,” Dr. Kobrin added. “Rolith's NanoWeb mesh, being a sub-micron structure, removes those problems.
“The technology does belong to ‘optical lithography’ methods,” Dr. Kobrin noted, “as you find in the IC/semiconductor industry, but it is much less expensive, not diffraction limited (higher resolution without deep-UV light sources), and not limited to semiconductor wafer form factor. It is scalable to really large substrate areas (Gen-5 and Gen-7 glass). Another advantage is tolerance to non-flat substrate materials; we have demonstrated nanopatterning of a regular glass windows and thin PET films.”
Rolith is earning the attention of the printed electronics industry, receiving the Best Technical Development Manufacturing Award from IDTechEx at Printed Electronics USA 2013 last month for its production of transparent metal mesh electrodes for large touch screen displays and OLED lighting.
“We are very excited and encouraged by recognition of our technology from the printed electronics industry,” Dr. Kobrin said. “We are also very excited with the interest in our technology expressed by all major commercial and mobile touch screen display manufacturers. We plan to enter into partnership agreements with some of them in the very near future. I see it as a very important confirmation of our technology superiority in a quest to satisfy demanding requirements of advanced touch screen displays and other printed electronics products.”
Dr. Kobrin is optimistic about the future of printed electronics as the technology moves from R&D to commercialization.
“Printed electronics is getting traction and emerging from R&D facilities into the high volume production field,” Dr. Kobrin said. “This process will definitely accelerate in the coming years. More and more products, manufactured currently using batch semiconductor-type processes, will be fabricated on a conveyor or web.”