Liquid Crystals and more... ... from Merck KGaA · Darmstadt · Germany

2 Content

ContentA Setting new records with liquid crystals 3

B Innovation and foresight pay off: LCDs dominate the display industry 4 1) Twisted Nematic (TN) displays: still the working horse 4

2) Vertical Alignment (VA) and Inplane Switching (IPS): the rising champions 5

C Emerging technologies 6 1) OLED materials 6

2) Reactive Mesogens 7

3) Organic Electronics materials 8

4) Structuring Solutions 9

D Merck: Pioneering spirit, potential and innovation 10

Contact addresses 11

A 3Setting new records with liquid crystals

Sharper, faster, bigger – and, above all, more and more widespread: that is a brief description of the global success story of LC displays. It also describes the development of liquid crystals from Merck, the undisputed global leader in liquid crystals. There’s hardly a flat-screen television, PC monitor, notebook, mobile phone or navigation system not containing our key product. Yet the discovery of liquid crystals by the botanist Friedrich Reinitzer in 1888 was a coincidence more than anything. While heating cholesteryl benzoate he noticed that, although liquid at a temperature of 145.5° Celsius, it did not become a clear liquid until 178.5° Celsius. However, at that time and in the decades that followed, technical applications for this fascinating discovery of a special state of aggregation were simply lacking.

The advent of digital displays in quartz watches and clocks in the 1970s, however, marked the meteoric rise in LCD technology, as ever more application possibilities began to emerge. With increasing display size, the first notebooks with monochrome displays were introduced to the market at the end of the 1980s. The triumphant success of mobile phones and color PC monitors began in the 1990s, and presently that of large flat-screen televisions. Today we know that LCDs are the communication display technology par excellence and will remain the dominant technology for many years to come. Today, Merck owns more than 2,500 patents on LC materials and their applications. In close cooperation with LCD manufacturers, we continue to work on improved properties. In order to constantly meet the high quality requirements of our customers and growing market demand, we have significantly expanded our synthesis capacities in Germany and have invested in our three Asian locations for the production of LC mixtures close to our customers.

In this way we ensure innovative technology and supply for a growing and demanding market.

Merck Advanced Technologies Ltd.,

Poseung-Myon, Korea

www.merck4displays.com

Merck Display Technologies Ltd.,

Taoyuan, Taiwan

Merck Ltd.,

Atsugi, Japan

Setting new records with liquid crystals

Global competence, local expertise: LC innovation and production sites in Asia

Innovation and foresight pay off: LCDs dominate the display industry

Innovation and foresight pay off LCDs dominate the display industry

4 B

Today, main applications for Active Matrix TN LCDs are computer monitors and notebook PCs. The response time of computer monitors has significantly been improved from over 16 ms several years ago to 5 ms routinely, and even to 2 ms for special applications. Efforts for further reduction in response time are on-going. These very fast switching times have been achieved by optimization of the LCD design (i.e. reduc-tion of the cell gap, electronic over-driving etc.) and of the LC mixtures. For the latter, the key parameter for fast switching is the rotational

1) Twisted Nematic (TN) displays: still the working horse

viscosity. Due to the lower operation voltage of notebook PCs, response times are generally slower than for monitors. But also for notebook use response times of the LCDs have continu-ously been improved during the last years from more than 25 ms to less than 10 ms, and further reduction is under way. Merck has strongly sup-ported the development of fast response time TN LCDs by the development of new LC materials. An example of the improvement in viscosity by our new generation of LC materials is shown in the diagram.

2.18

2.16

2.14

2.12

2.10

2.08

2.06

2.04

2.02

2.00

1.98

1.96

V10 [V]

-5 % -15 %

γ1/(Keff *∆n2) [mPas/pN]160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250

Conventional (∆n = 0.132)

New (∆n = 0.132)

Conventional (∆n = 0.143)

New (∆n = 0.143)

B 5Innovation and foresight pay off: LCDs dominate the display industry

2) Vertical Alignment (VA) and Inplane Switching (IPS): the rising champions

Merck has not only developed superior LC materials for these new LCD modes but has also largely contributed to their development and improvement. Typical applications for these technologies are LCD TVs. The most important issue for the panels is how to improve the motion blur that is caused by the holding picture of the LCDs. This motion blur occurs even if the switching time of the LCDs approaches zero. Several ideas have been proposed to solve this problem or at least to reduce its visibility, e.g. blinking backlight scanning, black stripes insertion, frequency enhancement and so on. However, technologies like blinking backlight scanning and black stripes insertion deteriorate brightness and contrast. Therefore the main stream technology in this days will be the frequency enhancement with impulse type driving. This in turn requires very fast switching LC materials for VA and IPS LCDs, in particular for large area TV applications. In order to fulfill this requirement, Merck has successfully identified new LC materials.

The battle between LCDs and PDPs (Plasma Display Panels) for TV application is still on-going, however, LCDs are clearly in the lead now. And, in Q1/2008 the number of LCD TVs sold has surpassed that of CRT TVs for the first time ever. The switching time of LCD TVs has continuously been improved even taking into account the Motion Picture Response Times (MPRT). The MPRT of LCDs now is approaching to the level of PDPs. The contrast of LCDs has also been significantly improved even in the dark environment, whereas under usual ambient illumination the contrast of LCD TVs has always been perceived as being better than that of PDP TVs, and regarding resolution they have always been superior to PDP TVs.

Merck offers a wide variety of liquid crystal mixtures for all important main stream technologies such as TN (passive and active matrix driving), STN (Supertwisted Nematic), VA and IPS, but also for special technologies such as Dichroic, PDLC (Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystals) and SSCT (Surface Stabilized Choles-teric Texture) displays.

Safety of Liquid Crystals and other products of the LC divisionLiquid crystals, Reactive Mesogens, OLED materials and other products from Merck´s LC division are neither acutely toxic nor mutagenic, nor are they suspected to be carcinogenic. They are also not harmful to aquatic organisms and show only a very low toxicological and ecotoxicological potential.

Emerging technologies 6 C

The Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology has gained significant attention over the last few years for display as well as for lighting applications. Merck is heavily involved in the research and development of Small Molecule and Polymer materials for both applications. Through the

acquisition of Covion Organic Semiconductors in 2005, Merck has added over 10 years of OLED experience to its material portfolio for the display and electronics industries.

The range of materials currently offered by Merck includes polymers for passive and active matrix display applications as well as polymers for lighting

applications. Also available are polymers as interlayer and hole injection materials and formulations for printing and spin coating. Merck also offers small molecules, i.e. a range of red and green triplet emitters, respective matrix materials, blue singlet emitters with matching hosts and hole injection materials.

With the extensive experience in manufacturing OLED materials and organic electronics, Merck can provide high purity and high stability materials that meet our customers’ needs. We continuously pursue material developments that will enable the exciting OLED products of tomorrow.

1) OLED materials

Emerging technologies

Emerging technologies C 7

2) Reactive Mesogens

Since invention, Reactive Mesogen (RM) materials have been considered for many novel applications ranging from anisotropic optical fibre coatings to Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Merck however, has remained focussed on commercialising RM materials for LCD optical film applications, and has now proven that the technol-ogy is mass producible and commercially viable. Commercialisation of Merck RMs:LCD technology is maturing and spreading to a wide range of applications from small area, high performance, mobile displays, to large area, high-definition displays for LCD TV. This growth has resulted in markedly increasing requirements for optical films. Reactive mesogen technology finds itself in the enviable position of being able to provide solutions for the vast majority of these applications.

Merck’s RM materials for homeotropic films are now used in large area LCD TVs based upon IPS technology, providing a wide viewing angle and good color performance, fuelling the dominance of LCD or flat screen TV applications. Our materials for patterned incell RM layers have now been commercialised for transflective LCD’s. This is the first commercial application of incell technology and paves the way for other incell optical elements, which should reduce the cost, thickness and durability of mobile displays. Merck’s materials for splayed and planar RM films find uses in small area mobile displays where the thin film thickness and asymmetric director profiles are advantageous. Furthermore, our materials for tight-pitch uniaxial and biased biaxial cholesteric RM films can be used as viewing angle compensa-

Homeotropic Biased UV Cholesteric

Patterned Splayed Planar UV Cholesteric

Modes of optical

films using

Merck´s RMs

Optical films made

from Merck RM

materials improve

the performance of

LCDs, i.e. increase the

viewing angle.

tors in VA and TN-LCD, taking advantage of the thin films and integrating multiple optical films into one. With widespread acceptance of RMs in LCD applications, we are now considering RM materials requirements for non-LCD applications, such as optical pick-up elements in data storage and other consumer electronics applications.

RM Development:For each application, there are specific material requirements and Merck is continuously working to optimize both the single materials chemical structures and the mixture formulation towards the application targets. We have dedicated Chemistry and Mixture Development Teams to improve and customise our materials. Our ongoing development targets are typically to provide high durability and adhesion, hard surface films, air vs. nitrogen curing, Mura-free coating and good solubility. Processes used to polymerise RM films can significantly affect the final film properties. We have studied these dependencies and understand the optimum processing conditions for our materials. Merck offers a range of standard products designed for various applications. In addition, for high volume potential applications we offer customized materials development.

Emerging technologies 8 C

Examination of an organic thin film transistor array, solution-processed on to a plastic substrate

Merck offers a range of semiconductor formula-tions and ancillary materials to enable solution printing of the integrated circuitry that will enable new generations of printed electronics devices. These innovative materials are based on conjugated aromatic molecules with delocalized electronic systems, optimally tailored to exhibit optimum charge transport properties for transistors. We incorporate these materials into ready-to-use ink formulations, specifically designed for a range of fabrication processes. Synthesis of these specialty materials is carried out under the high purity conditions demanded by these high performance devices, also consid-ering environmental issues.

Large area, continuous manufacturing, utilising conventional additive printing processes, are predicted to open up a host of new and exciting applications, enabled by the lower cost, large area and flexible form factors that can be provided by organic electronics technology. For example, display backplanes using organic TFT circuitry, provide an excellent complement to flexible displays such as the electrophoretic effect for E-paper applications. In the area of product identification information, low cost organic RFID transponders tags may replace conventional barcodes, offering more informa-tion content without line-of-sight requirements. Simple electronic toys, gadgets and cards, as well as organic photovoltaics are also envisaged as possible entry opportunities for organic electronics.

3) Organic Electronics materials

All Flat Panel Displays and Solar Cells consist of semiconducting, insulating and/or AR-layers. In many applications these functional layers need to be structured or even to be removed on certain areas for electrical or packaging reasons (i.e. creation of vias in SiNx, removing ITO areas for touch panel silver wires). Patterning the surfaces by lithography, evapora-tion masks or by laser scribing methods show some intrinsic disadvantages, since they are either too expensive and cause particle contamination or are prone to damaging the substrate surfaces. EquipmentThe structuring process requires commonly used, readily available equipment (i.e. screen printer, soldering belt furnace, rinsing bath) only. A standard screen printer, i.e. for silver line printing application, in combination with screens, i.e. stainless steel wires with standard emulsions can be used.

Emerging technologies C 9

4) Structuring Solutions

Process Steps:Merck offers a new solution for structuring layers or substrate surfaces in 4 simple steps: 1) Print a small amount of isishapeTM etching paste only where you want to remove

some material. 2) Heat up the substrate with the printed paste pattern (>100°C).

The etching starts only where the paste was printed.3) Clean the substrate by rinsing in DI-water only. 4) Dry the substrate.

Patterning Properties:By using the appropriate isishapeTM product, the removal of the top layer material is chemically selective, i.e. SiO2 material can be etched away without damaging the ITO layer underneath. Applying isishapeTM products for patterning of an amorphous TCO layer, will not cause any damage to a plastic foil substrate.

With appropriate in-line equipment a tact time up to 2 seconds is possible. The pattern resolution depends on the printing method, the pattern type and the layer topography. By using regular screen-printing equipment, lateral feature dimensions of less than 40 µm can be achieved.

Moreover Merck offers isishapeTM products designed for other printing techniques i.e. dispensing methods (please ask for details). Environmental AspectsThe isishapeTM products fully support the Green Factory concept. The formulations contain lower concentrations of etching species as well as less organic solvents versus other wet processes. Due to very good material utilization (typically 100 mg per 6” wafer used, may vary by application), water consumption is minimized. In addition, the cleaning step, rinsing in DI-water, requires no organic detergent. The combination of both factors leads to very low BOD values of <3 mg/l in the waste water. (BOD = Biological Oxygen Demand).

Merck: Pioneering spitit, potential and innovation 10 D

Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical group. In 2007, Merck Group sales totaled approxima-tely ¤ 7.06 billion. Following the acquisition of the Swiss biotech firm Serono in early 2007 and the diversifaction of the Generics business in October 2007, around 31,000 people work for Merck in 60 countries.

Merck is pursuing a strategy of "focused diversification" with the three divisions of its Pharmaceuticals business sector and the two divisions of the Chemicals business sector. The Pharmaceuticals business comprises branded prescription drugs, e.g. for the treatment of cancer, neurological and growth disorders, cardiovascular diseases and infertility. Merck also offers generics over-the-counter pharma-ceutical products.

The Chemicals business sector offers chemicals for sophisticated applications: liquid crystals for displays, effect pigments for industrial applications and cosmetics, analytical reagents and test kits, as well as products and services along the entire process chain of the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

Merck is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company, with roots dating back to 1668. From the start of industrial production in 1827 to first research into liquid crystals more than 100 years ago up to our entry into targeted cancer therapy with the launch of Erbitux® in 2003, many milestones in the company’s history provide strong evidence of the pioneering spirit of the people at Merck. At the beginning of 2007, Merck took a significant step to strengthen itself in a highly promising sector by announcing its intention to join forces with Serono, Europe’s leading biopharmaceutical company. Merck Serono – the combination of the former Serono with the previous ethical drugs buiness of Merck – stands for the link between innovative biotechnology and established pharmaceutical science – a link that is widely considered to offer tremendous potential.

For Merck, employees who think and act entrepreneurially, a corporate culture that creates trust and makes innovation possible, application-oriented research and development, a resolute customer focus, and responsible handling of natural resources are the keys to success.

Merck: Pioneering spirit, potential and innovation

Liquid crystals : The botanist

Friedrich Reinitzer was the

first to observe a peculiar

behavior of cholesteryl

benzoate while investigating

its melting point; the

physicist Otto Lehmann

explained it by assuming a

new, yet unknown state of

aggregation and introduced

the term “liquid crystals”.

Since 1904, suitable

substances with liquid

crystalline properties have

their place not only in this

box of collections from the

laboratory but also in

Merck‘s catalog of

chemicals.

Contact Adresses E 11

Germany Merck KGaA LC Marketing & Sales Ms. Silke Endres Frankfurter Str. 250 D-64293 Darmstadt Phone: +49 (0)61 51/ 72-29 61 Fax: +49 (0)61 51/ 72-31 32 silke.endres@merck.de

Japan Merck Ltd. Ms. Kaoru Takahashi ARCO Tower, 5F. 8-1, Shimomeguro 1-chome Meguro ku Tokyo 153-8927 Phone: +813-5434-4909 Fax: +813-5434-4707 kaoru.takahashi@merck.co.jp

Korea Merck Advanced Technologies Ltd. Ms. Athena Kim Haesung-2-Bldg., 4th Floor 942-10, Daechi-3-dong, Kangnam-ku Seoul Phone: +822-2185-3892 Fax: +822-2185-3880 yeon-jung.kim@merck.co.kr

Taiwan Merck Display Technologies Ltd. Ms. Cathy Chang No. 39, Ching Chien 1st. Road Kuan Yin Industrial Park Taoyuan, Taiwan, R.O.C. Phone: +886-3-4836521 ext. 2311 Fax: +886-3-4160440 cathy.chang@merck.com.tw

Hong Kong Merck Ltd. Ms. Emma Chu 29th Floor, No. 3 Lockhart Road Wanchai Hong Kong, P. R. China Phone: +852 2376 6321 Fax: + 852 2576 1912 emma.chu@merck.com.hk

USA EMD Chemicals an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Mr. Barry Seff 480 South Democrat Road Gibbstown, NJ 08027 Phone: +1-856-599-6613 Fax: +1-856-423-4389 barry.seff@emdchemicals.com

Contact addresses

Publication contributorsPublished in May 2008 by Merck KGaA,

Liquid Crystals Division, Marketing & Sales, D-64271 Darmstadt, Germany

Editorial responsibility: Dr. Werner Becker, LC T & RADesign and typesetting: Brigitte Schneider, CC/C Graphic Design

Printing: Frotscher Druck, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA GermanyFrankfurter Str. 250D-64293 Darmstadtwww.merck.de

Liquid Crystals Division: www.merck4displays.com