The difference between an interesting discovery and a revolutionary new technology could well be the speed with which the new technology is brought to market. UK company Cambridge Display Technologies Ltd is about to see its interesting discovery, light-emitting polymers, brought to the mass market in less than eight years from the initial research phase. The company has signed a license deal with Philips Electronics NV (CI No 2,993) under which Philips Components BV will start to incorporate the polymers into consumer products. Initially, as early as next year according to Cambridge Display, Philips will incorporate them into low technology devices such as mobile phones, but eventually it is predicted that they will replace both liquid crystals and light emitting diodes in devices such as Personal Digital Assistants, clocks, radios. Ultimately, Cambridge Display reckons light-emitting polymers will replace cathode ray tubes in televisions and computer monitors.

Midwife

Cambridge University and a seed venture capitalist applied for the patents to the technology in 1989, and Cambridge Display Technologies was established in 1992 to exploit the market potential. The company is a bold step for Cambridge University, and indeed for academic institutions generally in the UK. The university is one of the new company’s largest shareholders, having invested its own funds in order to exploit the research commercially. In February this year, the company brought in a new chief executive, Danny Chapchal, from Siemens AG’s pre-press company Integrierte Systeme Grafische Industrie, to turn the company around. Chapchal, who prior to Integrierte had turned Atex Publishing Systems Corp’s $26m loss into break-even within a year, was headhunted for his past abilities as a corporate doctor. However, as he put it, what was needed was more a midwife than a doctor. The company did not need saving, the technology simply needed to be brought into the world, Chapchal asserted. The technology originated with the discovery by Richard Friend and Andrew Holmes of Cambridge University that light-emitting diodes could be made from polymers as opposed to traditional semiconductors. They discovered that the polymer phenylenevinylene emitted yellow-green light when sandwiched between a pair of electrodes, and by changing the chemical composition of the polymer, the pair was able to achieve light-emitting efficiency that was clearly comparable to that of conventional light-emitting diodes. The advantages of the polymer are that they have very fast response times, use low voltage, and exhibit large area patternability. Complex light emission patterns can be defined simply, any pixel shape and size is possible, and very high resolution can be achieved if required. They require no backlights or color filters, and have a 180 degree viewing angle.

Also, unlike liquid crystal or plasma displays that require thin film processing on two glass plates, light-emitting polymer can be fabricated on one sheet of glass or plastic. This not only simplifies processing and reduces costs, but also physically reduces the size of the display. Prior to Chapchal’s arrival, the company had been fully researching the routes to market, including setting up its own manufacturing operation. It was also looking for corporate funding and considering a rights is sue. However, Chapchal says the amount of corporate interest in the technology was phenomenal, and he realized the original shareholdings could be protected, by entering in to joint ventures and licensing agreements. This would also be the quickest way to bring its polymers to market, he said. As part of its investigations into manufacturing its own products, Cambridge got together with former IBM Corp storage manufacturer Xyratex Ltd, Havant to look at running a manufacturing pilot (CI No 2 ,906). This has now been put on hold, the company says, while it pursues the immediate opportunities in licensing. While others have been working on similar, organic electronic technology, one industry analyst said anyone wanting to work with light- emitting polymers would have to visit Cambridge first. Chapchal says the company’s patent is extremely well written, and has most of the area covered. The company’s newly formed partnership with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd (CI No 2,927) has helped in opening doors in Japan. However, here again, Chapchal says the response has been staggering. The technology is really beginning to sell itself, and it looks as if a very wide variety of companies will want to buy into it. One reason for this is the broad spectrum of applications that it covers. Cambridge Display’s director of marketing, Mark Gostick, says he has talked to companies interested in its potential for lighting. While it would not be as efficient as fluorescent, Gostick says it will easily match traditional tungsten lighting. He says it is one of the few technologies to cross such a broad spectrum. The company expects that the polymers will eventually be used in anything from graphic displays all the way through to ordinary electric lighting. It has certainly fired the imagination of a pretty disparate bunch of investors so far. In addition to Cambridge University and the venture capitalist, the rock group Genesis has a shareholding, as do computer industry luminaries the Sculley brothers, Acorn Computer Group Plc’s founder Hermann Hauser, Steve Kahng, president of Power Computing Corp, and Esther Dyson, president of Edventure Holdings of New York.

Emitting light

In addition to bringing initial products to market, the Philips deal will also fund further development of this product and others, says Chapchal. The company is currently also looking to license polymer-based optical modulators which can be used in optical switching for telecommunications networks. Cambridge Display, which currently has a staff of 21, of whom 15 are researchers, will continue to develop the technology. Chapchal says the company will probably end up as a licensing and technology transfer company, concentrating on researching and developing leading edge technology. With the company about to make another major licensing announcement for light-emitting polymers just as soon as solicitors dot i’s and cross t’s, and several more in the pipeline, it looks like it won’t be long before Cambridge’s polymers are emitting light all over the world.

By Joanne Wallen