nTact - Adapting to Process

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Overview

nTact utilizes its technology and system design experience to develop high-performance coating and optical inspection equipment for the production of thin film coatings and device defect inspection. High precision extrusion coatings are often key to the successful development and manufacturing of thin film dependent devices. Optical inspection during the manufacturing process is necessary to ensure functionality and facilitate high product yield. Both thin film coating operations and optical inspections may be repeated throughout the product manufacturing cycle.

Advantages of Extrusion Deposition include:

• Excellent coating uniformity (typically 3% or better)
• Ability to coat a wide range of process materials, at a wide range of final coating thicknesses
• High efficiency thru high material utilization, reduced waste disposal, "Green" processing
• Ability to coat an extensive variety of substrate materials and sizes, including very large panels
• High throughput (low TACT time) processing
• Size of the system footprint is relatively small compared to competing technology platforms

Flat Panel Display

Flat Panel Display technology has transformed the way people live their everyday lives. This not only includes television screens and computer monitors, but also the vast array of mobile devices such as PDAs, smart and cellular phones, cameras, GPS systems, portable media players, etc. available in the market today.

With its pioneering extrusion coating technology and equipment, nTact continues to be at the forefront of developments within the Flat Panel Display industry. This includes patented methods and devices to precisely deposit solution based chemistries for a variety of display manufacturing processes. nTact's extrusion coating technology provides the means to deposit photoresist and color filter for many applications within the display industry, giving rise to large area processing and lowered manufacturing costs for these devices and products.

Photovoltaic

nTact's cutting-edge extrusion technology and equipment is being applied to the development of photovoltaic (PV) devices, thereby sustaining an industry which is expected to grow to $116.5 billion by 2019. The PV industry is under constant pressure to reduce production costs effectively, in order to decrease the price per kilowatt hour to be in parity with or lower than traditional fossil fueled energy sources. nTact's highly efficient use of materials and low equipment cost of ownership presents a very attractive manufacturing alternative for the PV industry when compared to typical vapor deposition techniques and other technologies with poor material utilization.

nTact systems are already being evaluated for lower cost production of various Organic, CIGS, CdTe and selected Si wafer based photovoltaic technologies.

Solid State Lighting

Lighting accounts for approximately one fourth of the total electricity consumed in developed countries. Solid-state lighting uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) instead of incandescent bulbs. Solid-state lighting has the potential to be ten times more energy-efficient than traditional incandescent lighting. However, the cost of producing solid-state lights with current processes and technology limits its competitiveness in the lighting market.

nTact's extrusion coating technology and equipment is now being used to replace more costly production methods and enable the growth of OLED lighting. Current applications include the deposition of several layers in an OLED stack, including HIL, HTL, and Emissive layers (both polymer and small molecule in solution).

Flexible Electronics

Companies are diligently working to mass produce products made of flexible, resistant and lower cost materials. A new generation of products including flat panel displays, OLED lighting, RFIDs, flexible batteries and Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT) are being produced on flexible plastics such as polyethylene (PET and PEN) as well as stainless steel (SST) and other metal foils. These new flexible electronics products offer features which have never before been available to the public, such as bendable and impact resistant flat panel screens and lighting capable of conforming to almost any shape.

nTact is taking a prominent role in these developments, providing systems and technology to produce flexible displays, OTFTs and novel touch screen devices.

Discrete Panel
The process of coating discrete flexible substrates has often required lamination of the flexible substrate onto a rigid carrier substrate. This method allows manufacturers to use existing automation and substrate handling technology during the coating process with a final delamination step of the flexible substrate from the carrier plate. In addition to delivering fully integrated systems utilizing the lamination method of manufacturing, nTact has also delivered systems featuring proprietary process and automation technology to allow for handling discrete (cut sheet) flexible substrates without the need for a laminated carrier. This alternative manufacturing method has been well received and implemented in processes for lower cost products where lamination and delamination steps are not feasible.

Roll to Roll Processing (R2R)
Also known as web or reel-to-reel processing, R2R has been adopted in the electronics industry as a method for creating electronic devices on a roll of flexible plastic or metal foil. Although still in development, once perfected, R2R processing could prove to be one of the most cost effective ways of producing certain types of products, particularly for devices with less complex design and architecture. nTact is well underway in the research and development of R2R solutions for future product offerings addressing this process requirement.

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Other Applications

nTact's proprietary extrusion deposition technology is being used for a variety of emerging technology applications including Semiconductor, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS), as well as Nano and Biotechnology.

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