USDC awards contracts to MicroContinuum, Next Sierra

The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) recently granted R&D display process contracts to MicroContinuum Inc. and Next Sierra Inc., with each company expected to receive $1 million from the consortium.

Massachusetts-based MicroContinuum will devote its R&D prowess on pattern conductors for flexible substrates by using roll-to-roll processing technology. The process is intended to form patterns in indium-tin-oxide (ITO), a transparent conductive material used in manufacturing displays.

"The R&D contract with USDC allows us to explore areas of application for our technology that were previously further out in our strategic plan," President Dennis Slafer says.

Meanwhile, Next Sierra will allocate the fund for developing and designing two versions of IC used in active-matrix organic LEDs (AMOLEDs). The first IC is intended to drive the backplanes with lower-cost amorphous silicon transistors while the second IC will drive backplanes that have higher-performance polysilicon transistors.

"Next Sierra is very pleased to receive this USDC contract award and we look forward to applying our corporate expertise to solve this critical performance issue that will enable full color OLED displays to become a viable product," President Richard Paige says.