PRESS RELEASE: Victrex enters Holst Centre partner network after successful feasibility study

Progress in high-temperature resistant VICTREX® APTIV™ PEEK™ polymer film illustrates potential for flexible electronics

Eindhoven – February 9, 2010 – At today’s Flexible Electronics and Displays Conference (Phoenix, USA), Holst Centre and Victrex present recent progress in the development and characterization of VICTREX APTIV PEEK polymer film for flexible electronics applications. Not only are the results promising from a technology perspective, they also were at the basis of Victrex’s decision to step into a full partnership with Holst Centre.

Made with VICTREX® PEEK™ polymer, Victrex APTIV films provide high melting and glass transition temperatures and are widely used in acoustics, electronics, aerospace, automotive, industrial and energy applications. One of the key properties of this material is the ability to withstand high processing temperatures in comparison with other thermoplastic materials. Recently, APTIV PEEK films were also considered as a substrate for application in flexible and printed electronic applications, such as displays, OLED and OPV.

Victrex Polymer Solutions, a division of Victrex plc, is the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance Polyaryletherketones (PAEK) including VICTREX PEEK polymer, and Holst Centre, an open-innovation initiative by imec (B) and TNO (NL) engaged in a feasibility study to optimize the VICTREX PEEK APTIV film characteristics for flexible-electronics processing. Results, as presented today, show great potential and convinced Victrex to step into a multi-year partnership in the Holst Centre shared research program on Patterning for Flexible Systems.

Technical details
Specifically, enhancements were applied during the manufacturing process of APTIV PEEK film in order to fulfill the dimensional stability requirements of flexible substrates used in plastic electronics applications. In the study, the performance of the APTIV flexible electronics grade was compared to that of the standard extruded APTIV film along with other competing candidate films. Critical performance parameters were measured, such as the coefficient of thermal expansion, thermo mechanical properties and dimensional stability, mostly at up to 230ºC.

The study revealed that Victrex’s additional processing treatment of the APTIV film led to a decrease of thermal expansion, shrinkage and general improvement of the thermo mechanical properties. Organic thin-film transistor backplanes, used in flexible displays, were patterned onto the optimized APTIV PEEK films and these MIM stacks on APTIV PEEK films showed similar performance to that typically obtained with devices on PEN films, but with the potential for processing at higher temperatures (which is important in enhancing the processing of flexible electronics) In addition, the potential for APTIV PEEK films in OLED applications was demonstrated by practical example that showed similar performance compared to devices on other leading flexible substrates.

About the partnership
John Getz, Victrex APTIV films commercial leader said, “The Holst Centre brings considerable knowledge, skill and world-class facilities to our development programmes on APTIV PEEK films for flexible electronics. We are delighted to benefit from their expertise and that of the existing development partner network in this exciting field of application.”

Erwin Meinders, Program Manger Patterning for Flexible Systems at Holst Centre commented, “Having Victrex on board is a great asset for our research programs and for the existing partners in our network. Having access to world-class materials and substrates allows us to provide the industry with the best technology options for their future applications.”

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About Victrex
Headquartered in the UK, Victrex Polymer Solutions, a division of Victrex plc, is the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance polyaryletherketones such as VICTREX® PEEK™ polymer, VICOTE® Coatings, and APTIV™ film. These materials are used in a variety of markets and offer an exceptional combination of properties to help OEMs, designers and processors reach new levels of cost savings, quality, and performance. All Victrex material production comes under Victrex’s ISO 9001:2008 quality registration. For more information about Victrex, please visit www.victrex.com.


VICTREX® is a registered trademark of Victrex Manufacturing Limited in the US, European Community and elsewhere. PEEK™, APTIV™, PEEK-ESD™, HT™, ST™ and WG™ are trademarks of Victrex plc. VICOTE® is a registered trademark of Victrex plc.

About Holst Centre
Holst Centre is an independent open-innovation R&D centre that develops generic technologies for Wireless Autonomous Sensor Technologies and for Flexible Electronics. A key feature of Holst Centre is its partnership model with industry and academia around shared roadmaps and programs. It is this kind of cross-fertilization that enables Holst Centre to tune its scientific strategy to industrial needs. Holst Centre was set up in 2005 by imec (Flanders, Belgium) and TNO (The Netherlands) with support from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Government of Flanders. It is named after Gilles Holst, a Dutch pioneer in Research and Development and first director of Philips Research. Located on High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Holst Centre benefits from the state-of-the-art on-site facilities. Holst Centre has over 170 employees from around 25 nationalities and a commitment from over 30 industrial partners.
Visit us at www.holstcentre.com

Contact
Victrex
Dr Stuart Green
APTIV Technical Programme Leader
sgreen@victrex.com
T:+44 1253 897496
M:+44 771 5761128

Holst Centre
Koen Snoeckx
Communication Manager
Koen.Snoeckx@holstcentre.com
T: +31 (0)40 40 20 561
M: +31 (0)612 71 98 43