IP: and I was in Cambridge a few days ago and missed it .. LEP

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Tue, 03 Dec 1996 08:11:34 -0600
From: "C. M. Colee" <cmcolee () iadfw net>


Anybody know anything about LEP? Is this akin to the special paper
announced last summer that could contain digital information? I usually
get this sort of stuff from Science or Nature, but it looks like I
missed this one if it appeared in either.


> From the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 3, 1996.


http://interactive5.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/SB849562235780771000.htm
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Here's the article in case the URL is dead by the time someone reads
this.


LEP Displays May Soon Change
Nature of Computer, TV Screens


By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL 
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL




CAMBRIDGE, England -- The labs at Cambridge Display Technology Ltd. give
off a warm glow -- the glow of plastics, that is.


Rows upon rows of vials filled with bright red, green and yellow liquids
sit on the laboratory counters. Inside float small flecks of plastic.
This liquid plastic is put on clear glass or plastic holders in a thin
film and, with electrodes affixed and charged with a current, the
plastics sport a faint colored light.


These glowing plastics, known as light-emitting polymers (LEPs), could
someday transform the screen-display market. If CDT can fine-tune its
technology -- no easy task -- LEP displays could be not only lighter and
cheaper than current television and computer screens, but could even
allow users to roll up displays and pop them in back pockets. And LEP
could solve viewing angle problems -- something that continues to plague
even the most advanced laptop makers.


"There is a lot of technology kicking around out there at the moment ...
. Any way you look at it, the next generation of TV and computer screens
is going to be far advanced from what we have now, but we think LEP is
going to be the prime mover," says CDT Chief Executive Danny Chapchal.


If CDT can succeed in commercializing LEP -- before rival companies
perfect competing products and other new technologies -- the payoff
could be huge. The display industry is big and getting bigger all the
time. Market-research firm Stanford Resources Inc. estimates that the
display industry is currently valued at $25 billion, with that number
hitting $42 billion by the turn of the century. CDT is hoping LEPs will
eventually displace the technologies that currently make up most of that
market-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs).


An Accidental Start


Like more than a few scientific breakthroughs, LEPs got their start by
chance. It happened one evening in 1989 when Jeremy Burroughs, a
scientist at Cambridge University's famous Cavendish Labs, turned off
the lights to leave and noticed a faint glow from the lab table. A
"glow" was abnormal, so he glumly decided to see where he'd gone wrong.


Some plastics, which are made of long chainlike molecules called
polymers, are well-suited for conducting electricity when arranged in a
particular order. Mr. Burroughs had been experimenting with using
plastics as semiconductors. But arrange these polymers in yet other
configurations, and they not only conduct electricity, they emit colors,
too. Mr. Burroughs just happened to put the polymers in the right order
and got a color. By dissolving these bits of plastic into liquids,
spreading them over surfaces and adding electricity, scientists can
produce a "glow." In short order, Mr. Burroughs was busily compiling a
set of global patents for LEP technology.


Figuring this could have commercial applications, Mr. Burroughs and a
team of scientists went to work to overcome the shortcomings -- of
which, it turns out, there are many. Top of the list is the color blue,
difficult to produce because of its wavelength. CDT has produced weak
blues, but not for very long lengths of time. It is currently in talks
with a chemical company that specializes in blues and hopes this will
propel the technology forward.


"Nature has a running hatred for the color blue, and we're stuck," sighs
Mark Gostich, director of marketing at CDT, as he strides past beakers
with balloons affixed to their tops and enormous testing machinery
measuring the intensity of hundreds of glowing polymer pieces.


Varied Supporters


Despite these hitches, the company has some big believers and counts
among its investors technology-guru Esther Dyson, Acorn Computer founder
Hermann Hauser, pop group Genesis, onetime CEO of Apple Computer Corp.
John Sculley and Cambridge University. Rather than jump into costly
manufacturing, CDT plans to put its extremely thorough patents to work,
reaping rewards through licensing agreements with display manufacturers.
CDT signed its first big contract with Philips Electronics NV of the
Netherlands, which had been working on LEP technology for four years but
decided it wouldn't be able to progress further without infringing on
CDT's patents. CDT is also in discussions with DuPont Co.


Companies involved in LEP technology agree that the first products to
hit the market will be small -- perhaps the backlights in mobile
telephones or digital displays in electronic appliances. LEP will only
slowly work its way up through the market, and consumers might see their
first computer-size display following the year 2000.


For now, though, it is getting to the market first that's crucial. David
Mentley, vice president of display research at Stanford Resources, says
LEP has spurred legions of scientists to work, and that some 40 to 50
companies globally are trying to crack different aspects of the problem.


But "all this technology is still in the early stages and it is pretty
bold to make any sweeping predictions just yet," he adds.