Merck at Display Week to Demo New Technologies for ‘Visionary Future Projects’

Merck will use the Display Week 2017 conference to demonstrate new technologies for displays and “visionary future projects,” the company said in a Monday announcement. They include the new self-aligned vertical alignment (SA-VA) liquid crystal technology that’s expected to be launched in commercial products this year, Merck said. Similar to the more established polymer-stabilized vertical alignment (PS-VA) liquid crystal technology, SA-VA is targeted mainly to large displays, such as in big-screen, high-end TVs, it said. “The new technology is very eco-friendly and resource-saving because it requires less energy, uses less solvent and has fewer process steps in display production.” SA-VA also requires no polyimide layer, as PS-VA does, it said: “Because the SA-VA technology can be used at lower temperatures, it is suitable for sensitive materials, for example in premium products or future applications such as flexible displays.” Merck also will demo work done in collaboration with Flexenable of the U.K. to speed development of “free-form” displays fashioned from organic LCDs on plastic, the company said. Organic LCDs have an extremely tolerant “bend radius” that “can satisfy the market needs for new use cases,” such as in automotive applications, “where thin, conformable and shapeable displays are required,” it said. Organic LCDs can be manufactured on conventional production lines, it said. Display Week 2017 opens May 21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center for a six-day run.