ST. PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–3M announced today it is in the final stages of scale-up for its new 3M™ Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF). The new film allows up to 50 percent more color than current levels in liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. 3M has teamed with Nanosys, Inc., to produce the 3M QDEF solution specifically to deliver more color, and to make devices such as smart phones, tablets and televisions, lighter, brighter and more energy efficient.

Current LCDs typically are limited to displaying 35 percent or less of the visible color spectrum. This means the viewing experience on an LCD can be vastly different than what a person sees in the real world. Wide color gamut displays will allow consumers to enjoy more visceral, more immersive and truer-to-life color.

“One of the many advantages of the new 3M QDEF solution is the film’s ability to deliver richly-saturated colors, while minimizing power consumption – a difference you can clearly see,” said Ty Silberhorn, vice president and general manager, 3M Optical Systems Division. “We will have qualification material available to customers for design cycles starting late second quarter this year.”

Over the years, 3M light management technologies have made LCDs thinner, lighter and more energy efficient. Color performance of LCDs industry-wide has gone largely unchanged until now. 3M research data shows that devices with 3M QDEF-enabled wide color gamut will be noticeably different from other standard LCD devices, prompting the human eye to dwell on the display longer than less-saturated displays.

QDEF utilizes the light emitting properties of quantum dots to create an ideal backlight for LCDs, which is one of the most critical factors in the color and efficiency performance of LCDs. A quantum dot, which is 10,000 times narrower than a human hair, can be tuned to emit light at very precise wavelengths. This means display makers can create a highly-optimized backlight that only produces the exact wavelengths of red, green and blue light needed by an LCD for optimal color and energy performance. Trillions of these quantum dots protected by barrier film fit inside an LCD backlight unit. The new film replaces one already found inside LCD backlights, which means the manufacturing process requires no new equipment or process changes for the LCD manufacturer.

“Improving color performance for LCDs with simple, drop-in manufacturing solutions will create a stunning new visual experience for consumers,” said Jason Hartlove, president and CEO, Nanosys, Inc. “Working together with 3M and utilizing their outstanding design and supply chain capabilities will allow our quantum dot technology to be widely deployed across all product segments, ensuring availability to all customers.”

Both 3M and Nanosys, Inc., will attend Society of Information Display’s DisplayWeek, May 21 – 23, 2013, in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information: www.displayweek.org.

Note to Editors: Media interested in seeing the new 3M™ Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) firsthand during SID DisplayWeek should contact Stacey Voorhees-Harmon at 926.336.9592 or via e-mail atstacey@savvypublicrelartions.net. Additional photos are also available upon request. Follow @ImmersedInColor on Twitter.

About Nanosys, Inc.

Nanosys, Inc., is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays, and energy storage. For more information, visit www.nanosysinc.com.

About 3M

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in sales, 3M employs 88,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130521005609/en/

The Nanosys/3M pairing was intended to improve the color and performance efficiency of LCD displays by using the quantum dots as an improved back light.

In the current display market landscape, LCDs are both inefficient and don’t produce the vibrant colors of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, LCDs are far cheaper to produce in large screen sizes, and consumers often choose the right price over the right color. Quantum dots were supposed to give us the best of both worlds.

continue reading

Nanosys’ new 60,000 square foot facility will produce over 1,000 kilograms of quantum dots per year- enough material to build more than five million 55” quantum dot televisions. As part of the expansion Nanosys expects to create more than 50 next-generation manufacturing jobs in the South Bay.

Nanosys’ latest product, Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF), is a drop-in optical component for LCDs that creates a richer, more lifelike color experience while consuming less power than alternatives. Nanosys is working closely with supply chain partner 3M to ramp deliveries as demand for QDEF from global display manufacturers increases.

Nanosys Milpitas Ribbon Cutting Ceremony; pictured from left to right are Nanosys Board Members Nelson Chan, John Young and Steve Goldby; Representative Mike Honda, Erik Jostes, Nanosys CEO Jason Hartlove and Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves

“You’ve never seen anything like a quantum dot display,” said Jason Hartlove, President and CEO of Nanosys. “We are working with display makers to create a new high color gamut display experience that is more cost effective, efficient and reliable than anything else currently on the market. The response from manufacturers so far has been great and demand for QDEF has grown to the point that we’ve had to significantly expand manufacturing to keep up.”

The move was made official yesterday at a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by U.S. Congressman and long-time nanotechnology advocate Mike Honda of the 17th district and Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves.

“Advanced manufacturing is a driving force creating Silicon Valley jobs, and I welcome Nanosys Inc.’s expansion to their new 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Milpitas,” said Silicon Valley Congressman Mike Honda.  “As my Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology made clear, nanotechnology offers Silicon Valley the opportunity to be at the forefront of technologically disruptive industries.  I applaud Nanosys for displaying the fortitude and ingenuity to grow from a startup to manufacturing commercial products, qualities that are so prevalent in Silicon Valley.  It is this kind of innovation that will keep the United States competitive in the global marketplace.”

Media Contacts:

Nanosys
Jeff Yurek
(650) 331-2103
jyurek@nanosysinc.com

Representative Honda
Ahmed Bhadelia
(202) 225-2631
ahmed.bhadelia@mail.house.gov

About Nanosys, Inc.
Nanosys, Inc. is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays and energy storage. For more information, visit www.nanosysinc.com.

###

That’s not the case in 2013.  Today, millions of people around the world carry a mobile device in their pocket that can reproduce more color than the 1953 NTSC standard, thanks to AMOLED-display technology.  While historically limited to smaller devices by reliability and process issues, AMOLED displays may soon find their way into larger and larger systems.  In 2012, 55-in. AMOLED TVs garnered significant attention and won awards at SID’s annual Display Week exhibition.

Despite the emergence of AMOLED displays, the technology has yet to capture a large share of the overall display market, as LCDs remain the standard in nearly all product categories.  After more than a decade of explosive growth in manufacturing capacity by LCD makers, the cost of LCDs of all sizes is tough to beat for upstart technologies such as OLEDs.  Beyond cost, LCDs have been able to match just about every feature that new technologies have offered over the years.  Advances such as local dimming, in-plane switching (IPS), and in-cell touch, respectively, have brought great contrast, improved viewing angle, and reduced thickness to LCDs.  In most cases, manufacturers have yet to find an OLED advantage strong enough to compel them to move beyond LCD.

One area where LCDs have thus far failed to match OLEDs is color performance.  Conventional LCDs face a ceiling in color performance, at best reaching the sRGB color gamut, or about 70% of OLED’s capability, because of the white LED light source used in most LCD backlights.  While LCD makers have experimented with other wide-gamut backlight technologies, such as discrete RGB LED and CCFL, all have proven too costly, too power hungry, or too bulky to be viable.  For some time, it seemed that high brightness, portability, and wide-gamut color performance simply could not be had in the same LCD package at the same time.

That was until a new class of phosphor material called quantum dots became available to LCD makers.  First developed in the 1980s at Bell Labs, quantum dots have the unique ability to efficiently emit light at a single spectral peak with narrow line width, creating highly saturated colors.  In addition, the emission wavelength can be tuned continuously based on the size of the quantum dots.  This capability enables display designers to custom engineer a spectrum of light to maximize both the efficiency and color performance of their display.

The term “quantum dot” was coined by Mark Reed, a physicist from Yale University who contributed to some of the early work on the technology in the 1980s.  The dots are so named because of the quantum-confinement properties that are exhibited by the material.  Quantum dots are semiconductors whose electronic characteristics are governed by the size and shape of the individual crystal.  The smaller the size of the crystal, the larger the band gap becomes.  In lighting applications, this means higher frequencies of light are emitted as the crystal size becomes smaller, resulting in a color shift from red to blue in the light emitted.

continue reading

• Responsibilities include any of the following activities related to the receiving, storage, and/or shipping of raw materials or finished goods: ensure materials are received from proper vendors, that they are delivered to inventory, and that finished goods are packaged according to specification and shipped in a timely manner.
• Packing and correctly processing items for domestic and international shipments in accordance with established procedures and customer requirements while sustaining a high level of quality to ensure customers receive correct product and in the time requested. 
• Receive materials and/or finished goods on a daily basis. Verify the quality, type and amount of materials received are correct and that the appropriate documentation is present (e.g. packing list). Enter data into ERP system accurately.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Ensure compliance with ISO 9001 regulations as well as internal quality management system requirements.
• Process outbound Dangerous Goods shipments in an accurate, compliant, and timely manner.
• Cycle count finished goods, raw materials, and production supply items on a regular basis.  Document and communicate discrepancies found during inventory control activities.
• Maintain an organized, clean work area and warehouse.
• Manage shipping/receiving supplies.
• Other special projects related to supply chain/materials management as directed.

Education/Competencies and Requirements:

• High School Diploma or equivalent plus 2-5+ years in shipping/receiving/material handling-related field.
• Dependability, flexibility, and willingness to work in fast-paced environment.
• Great attention to detail.
• Good organizational, problem solving, and analytical skills.
• Creative, flexible, and innovative team player with the ability to work within a diverse team environment.
• Routinely push, pull and lift up to 50 lbs.
• Regularly climb and reach.
• Stand/walk for extended durations.
• Safely operate distribution equipment (forklift certified preferred).
• Operate PC applications and systems including Oracle ERP and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.)
• DOT and IATA DG 49CFR certification preferred.

Please apply at this site: https://home.eease.com/recruit/?id=3622701 and attach your cover letter and resume.

EOE-M/F/D/V employer

Faced with the reality of slow growth in the LCD-display industry, there is a need to identify new and fast-growing areas in the industry.  This one-day conference features industry experts speaking about several of the hottest topics in the display industry, including:

• LCD display new trends
• OLED displays and lighting
• Touch and gesture-control
• Oxide TFTs
• Other emerging display technologies

Sign up

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of nanotechnology materials — or materials that have unique properties at a scale of a billionth of a meter — will use the investment to expand its manufacturing capacity tenfold. The company makes Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF), which improves the vividness of color and power efficiency of liquid crystal displays, which are used in everything from tablets to big-screen TVs.

continue reading

“You’ve never seen anything like a quantum dot display,” said Jason Hartlove, President and CEO of Nanosys. “We are working with display makers to create a new high color gamut display experience that is cheaper, more efficient and more reliable than anything else currently on the market. The response from manufacturers so far has been great and demand for QDEF has grown to the point that we’ll need to expand manufacturing to keep up.”

Nanosys will expand its quantum dot manufacturing line more than tenfold in order to meet increasing demand. The expansion will make Nanosys the largest quantum dot manufacturer in the world.

Most current LCDs are only capable of displaying 35 percent or less of the visible color spectrum. This means the viewing experience on an LCD is limited and vastly different from what is seen in the real world, as colors are altered or left out altogether. Wide color gamut displays make the viewing experience on an electronic device much closer to the vibrant visual experience of real life. An LCD powered by QDEF can display 50 percent or more color than a standard LCD. QDEF also provides a significant energy efficiency advantage over other LCD backlight technologies.

QDEF utilizes the light emitting properties of quantum dots to create an ideal backlight for LCDs, which is one of the most critical factors in the color and efficiency performance of the display. A quantum dot, which is 10,000 times narrower than a human hair, can be engineered to emit light at very precise wavelengths. QDEF relies on this unique ability to control the spectral output of a quantum dot to create an ideal white backlight specifically designed for LCDs. Trillions of custom engineered quantum dots are loaded into each sheet of QDEF, which fits inside an LCD backlight unit. The new film replaces one already found inside the LCD backlight, which means the manufacturing process requires no new equipment or process changes for the LCD manufacturer.

Nanosys Contact:
Daniel Klempay
(650) 762-2948
Dan.klempay@edelman.com

About Nanosys, Inc.
Nanosys, Inc. is an advanced material architect, harnessing the fundamental properties of inorganic materials into process ready systems that can integrate into existing manufacturing to produce vastly superior products in lighting, electronic displays and energy storage. For more information, visit www.nanosysinc.com.

###

…we can conclude that yes, QDEF lifetime is good enough for consumer television. When are we likely to see it? Perhaps in 2013. Why are we likely to see it? In a frighteningly competitive environment for LCD-TV panels, modules and complete sets, QDEF is a cost-neutral way of giving consumers a change in front-of-screen performance they can readily see, while also providing a modest increase in energy efficiency.

continue reading

Watch on FOX