Licensing Model Paves Way for Display Manufacturers to More Easily Enter New Markets

DuPont Display Enhancements, Inc. announced today that Display Material Korea Co., Ltd. (DMK), a leading provider of liquid crystal display (LCD) backlight unit (BLU) parts, has signed a licensing agreement with DuPont Display Enhancements for the DuPont™ Vertak™ bonding technology.  The agreement marks the first time that DuPont Display Enhancements is licensing its bonding technology, which combines an innovative lamination process with industry-leading proprietary adhesive to optically bond a variety of substrates directly to the front of a LCD display.  Under the terms of the agreement, DuPont Display Enhancements will supply adhesive material and transfer its bonding technology to DMK, enabling the company to enter a new business segment, launch a bonding production line and begin manufacturing bonded displays.

“We are excited to license DuPont™ Vertak™ bonding technology to DMK because we strongly believe in this enhancement solution and want to share our proven experience, expertise and technology with our licensing partners," said William S. Bandel, global business manager, DuPont Display Enhancements.  "By enabling DMK to lower the costs, risks and time challenges it would normally face in establishing its own custom bonding solutions, we’re helping to provide a simpler supply chain and local support to our customers.”

The core focus of the DuPont™ Vertak™ licensing strategy is to drive adoption of optical bonding by granting technology access to key strategic partners across all display applications.   For LCD and touch panel manufacturers looking to develop in-house bonding technology to simplify their supply chain and lower costs through licensing, DuPont Display Enhancements will provide full technology transfer, including consulting, planning, integration of bonding capabilities into existing production facilities, project management, training and service support to lower the market entry barriers they face. 

DuPont™ Vertak™ bonding technology enhances display performance by improving sunlight readability up to 400 percent and impact and scratch resistance up to 300 percent.  It has been successfully implemented on displays used in notoriously tough and challenging environments of the avionics, marine, military and medical industries, and is viewed as a key technology for emerging products such as touch screen devices and lighter, thinner mobile applications. 

“To be successful in the display industry, manufacturers need to continually grow and evolve,” said Seung Myoung Ryu, president and chief executive officer, DMK.  “We decided to enter the increasingly important bonding market to simplify our operations and we knew that DuPont Display Enhancements – with its proven product and leadership position – would be the best resource to help us achieve our growth strategy.”

DuPont Display Enhancements intends to focus licensing efforts on acquiring partners in non-competing display applications.  In addition to full bonding technology transfer, DuPont Display Enhancements will also offer licensees the opportunity to purchase its high performance, proprietary adhesive.

DuPont™ Vertak™ bonding process is scalable, efficient and highly adaptable to full automation.  With minimal set-up and processing time, simple and fast changeover from one LCD configuration to the next, DuPont Display Enhancements has demonstrated LCD manufacturer levels of yields and output on its production lines.  The optically clear Vertak™ bonding adhesive combines the benefits of silicone and epoxy and is highly resistant to yellowing, delamination and bubble formations.  Next generation Vertak™ adhesive – available later this year – is especially formulated for ease of reworkability, a feature highly prized by display manufacturers.

Display Material Korea Co., Ltd., headquartered in Cheonan, South Korea, is a leading provider of LCD BLU parts, including lamp harness, thermal pads and insulation materials.  Founded in 2002, DMK was recently recognized by the Korean government as an innovative start-up company.

DuPont Display Enhancements has extensive experience in the development, manufacture, sale and support of display enhancement solutions for a wide variety of LCD applications.  DuPont Display Enhancements is part of DuPont Displays.  DuPont Displays puts science to work to develop innovative and sustainable solutions that improve display performance, reduce costs and enable next-generation breakthroughs across a broad range of technologies, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, plasma display panels (PDPs) and films.  Leveraging DuPont material science expertise and its culture of innovation, DuPont Displays develops advanced materials and combines them with DuPont precision patterning technologies and other processing expertise in a systems approach to display technology.  By closely tailoring its materials and processes to work together, DuPont Displays provides cost-effective, high performance solutions designed to overcome industry challenges.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company.  Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.  Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.