Fine Tech Japan, a popular trade show for advanced materials, was held at Tokyo Big Sight a couple weeks ago.

The three-day trade show began on April 8, and included two related events -- Photonix 2015 and Advanced Material World 2015. Concurrent shows included Film Tech Japan, Metal Japan, Plastics Japan and Ceramic Japan. More than 1,000 companies and organizations were represented at the show and used up all the available floor space. Most reserved mid or small-sized booths, and the only foreign companies in attendance hailed from Taiwan and Germany. 

The name of the trade show gives away the types of products on display -- advanced materials. A few keynote speakers that represented larger material companies featured products that were supposed to be revolutionary, but this was not the case. Their presentations were regurgitated from last year. I remember thinking to myself that these companies have had no significant breakthroughs in technology or processes in the past few years. On the other hand, there were a few smaller companies that introduced a few innovative products that could have some practical use.

Flat panel displays and touch screen panels use to be the predominant products at the convention; however, a lot of business from Japan shifted to Korea and Taiwan. For this reason, there was not too much promotional activity or presentations from this segment. Taiwanese companies were very state-of-the art with their displays. Their booths were relatively small, but they exhibited completed display devices including OLED modules and touch panel.

Printable Electronics and RTR (roll to roll) manufacturing were included in many sales presentations. A few years ago, many companies promoted this segment as the next greatest breakthrough for the industry. Nowadays, many companies that dabble in these areas no longer promote the segment this way. Instead, they displayed some small but practical progresses assuming actual applications.

Jujo Chemical rolled out a transparent conductive paste for a screen-printing process earmarked for flexible optical devices. The basic materials remain the same as previous generations, but the new paste has improved process capabilities with improved physical performances. Asahi Chemical Laboratory introduced a couple of screen-printable inks -- fine silver paste and graphite paste. Mino Group, a major printing equipment supplier, demonstrated a hybrid process for screen-printing and transfer printing for fine printing on non-flat surfaces. And Nakanuma Art Screen introduced a screen mask with a high dimensional stability made from a photo-etching process.

Toray Engineering, a major RTR equipment supplier, introduced a couple of patterning processes using thermal in-printing and laser patterning for fine patterning during the RTR process. Ushio, a major photo device supplier, unveiled a patterning system called VUV-Aligner for use in printing transistor devices.

Fuji Shoko, a successful supplier company for RTR machines, demonstrated a compact RTR stamping machine. There were no innovative technologies on display, but there were many new practical ideas brought fourth from experts who have been in the industry for many years. The machines on display were custom made designs, and I am sure that these new RTR machines are reliable.

I may have missed a few newly rolled out technologies and products because the convention is so big. I look forward to next year's show and the chance to discover that one technology that everyone can’t live without.

Dominique K. Numakura, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DKN Research, www.dknresearchllc.com

DKN Research Newsletter #1512, April 19, 2015 (English Edition)
(Micro Electronics & Packaging, www.dknresearchllc.com) 

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Headlines of the Week

1. Solar Frontier started operations of its fourth manufacturing plant in Miyagi Prefecture for CIS thin film photovoltaic cells with a capacity of 150MW per month.

2. Toshiba opened a R&D center of hydrogen energy in Fuchu Plant targeting 100 billion yen revenue by 2020.

3. DNP developed a new blue resist with high brightness for the manufacturing of the LCD color filters.

4. Toppan Printing developed a new3D touch screen panel module with copper mesh for automobile displays.

5. Sony will increase manufacturing capacity of CMOS image sensor devices in Yamagata Plant to 87,000 wafers per month from 60,000 wafers per month.

6. Yokowo has developed a thin LTCC substrate with high heat radiation for LED devices. Thickness range: 0.075 ~ 0.15 mm.

7. Kyocera will commercialize a new end mil “MFH mini” with a new chip shape for various hard metallic materials.

8. Furukawa Electric agreed to found a JV with Fanuc for manufacturing of the high power lase diode modules.

9. Ricoh started a quick delivery service of parts and tooling for the manufacturing plants using 3D printers.

10. Fuji Film developed a high-density recording technology on barium ferrite base magnetic tape with 220 TB per reel. (123 Gbpsi)

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