A long service life is a must: In a backlight test, Sven
Schüpfer exposes minidisplays to the light conditions of
a television. New liquid crystal mixtures are tested for
thousands of hours to ensure the required lifetime.
The division once again increased its investments in research and development, which rose by 18% to €79 million in 2007. New mixture techniques were developed to secure the technology leadership. In Darmstadt, South Korea and Taiwan, new reliability laboratories were established to test the long-term stability of displays for various applications. In addition, investments were made in expanding production facilities at the LC sites in Germany and Asia. In 2008, a new project will be launched to further expand the liquid crystal production facilities in Darmstadt. This will involve investments of around €52 million in order to dynamically adapt production capacities to the growing global market and to secure Merck’s leading position.
Focus on VA technology
A main focus of investments in research is to further develop the well-established vertical alignment (VA) technology – with the aim of achieving even faster switching times and sharper contrasts. Although VA LCDs already have extremely fast switching times of less than 8 milliseconds, the goal is to further improve these in order to produce even more brilliant television images. Merck researchers are aiming for switching times of less than three milliseconds. Another sales argument is the viewing angle. Merck’s VA technology enables a viewing angle of more than 170 degrees – without loss of contrast or color shift. Besides VA technology, Merck also has a patent for in-plane switching (IPS) technology, which also enables a screen viewing angle of more than 170 degrees.
OLEDs
Merck OLED Materials GmbH, which comprised Merck’s activities in the OLED materials field, was merged with Merck KGaA on April 1, 2007. The research and business activities were integrated into the Liquid Crystals division. OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) are an innovative field of work, which could develop long-term into a promising technology for displays. OLEDs can also be used as light sources for a wide variety of applications.
