Bruce Graham, Director of Communications in our CTO had the opportunity to ask Brian Schell, a Kodak Formulation Scientist, some questions about Kodak's new conductive film for transparent electronic devices. Here is the scoop:

Bruce Graham: I understand that the new technology that Kodak planning to introduce is used for transparent electronics. Where would I run into this kind of technology in my daily life?
Brian Schell: The area where most people encounter transparent electronic is probably the touchscreen display, like the ones you see in today's smartphones. Transparent electronics are also used in a range of display, lighting and photovoltaic applications.

BG: Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used for these types of applications today. Why replace it with something new?
BS: To lay down ITO, you need a vacuum deposition process, which is slow and expensive. Polymer materials can be coated onto a film much faster and so the finished product is far less expensive. The Kodak process uses an aqueous solution which has less environmental impact than metallic vapor. Vapor deposition is usually carried out at fairly high temperatures, which can damage the film that is being coated whereas conductive polymers can be coated onto film at much lower temperatures. The material used to coat the film is thermally stable, clear and durable. So there really are a lot of advantages to using this new technology.

BG:What led you to start researching new uses for these coating technologies?
BS: We had been using PEDOT materials for years as an anti-static material on many of our film products. A few years back, my management asked me to start looking at ways that these materials could be used to make conductive coatings. With recent advances in the properties of the materials and our coating processes, we believe that we can offer conductive films that have some great properties.



BG:How has Kodak's expertise in coating processes come to play in this space?
BS: Kodak actually does inline coating during the casting of the film. This means that we melt PET pellets, which allows us to produce conductive films at exceptionally-high  speeds. We are also able to coat both sides of a fim and to lay down multiple coats onto a single film. To do this, Kodak has leveraged its expertise in materials science and experience in sophisticated coating operations.

BG:What problems had be overcome before the product could be commercialized?
BS: We had to find the right way to apply the material so that it would keep as much conductivity as possible.

BG:How would you compare these conductive films to other technologies in the electronics space?
BS: These films (with the conductive coating) serve much the same purpose that a silicon wafer does for conventional semiconductors. They are used as the foundation to build electronic devices, but the films are used in applications that require transparency (displays) or flexibility (touchscreens).

BG: What is the commercial name of this new technology?
BS: It will be marketed under the name KODAK ESTAR film.

For more information, see the PET/ CTA information on kodak.com

Thanks for sharing B.G. and B.S.

This just in from our Kodak folks at SID 2009...

Live from San Antonio, Texas, USA -Today was the first day of the SID Symposium and, despite the economic context, there is a lot of excitement in the display industry. The keynote speaker from LG Display noted that new display technologies such as 3D, wall-sized displays, and flexible displays will enable a new round of growth in display. During the conference, there were many examples of both 3D and flexible display technologies. There is clearly more growth in this industry's future!


The conference drew over 3,000 participants and over 180 exhibitors. The KODAK booth featured new OLED lighting technologies and KODAK's new highly conductive ESTAR film was announced. There was considerable interest in this new film, notably from touch screen makers  who find the conductivity in our film a good match for their requirements. Other companies in the flexible display market  using PET were also interested. One speaker actually stated that larger format e-books will be the growth engine for flexible displays, which is good news for companies supplying films into this industry.


The current economic conditions have had an impact in this industry. There is an overcapacity for display manufacturing and this situation is driving the need for cost reduction. Companies are however moving forward with technologies that will provide exciting new products such as 3D displays. It's obvious that there will be opportunities to create value with innovative new display technologies. KODAK's ability to provide coated films produced inline with film production is an important step in this direction.

Wall Street Journal writer Katherine Boehret recently reviewed the KODAK Theatre HD Player - pointing out many positive features of the product and citing her wish list for future versions.  The article, titled "Family Snapshots in the Splendor of HD," was featured in gizmo guru Walt Mossberg's The Mossberg Solution column.
 
Giving a brief overview of the product, the article noted: "This small, black box pulls photos and videos from computers around the house and displays them on an HDTV. It also enables the sending and receiving of photos via Kodak Gallery, and connects to Web-based photos stored on Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, .Mac and others. Podcasts, Internet Radio and updates from news feeds, weather forecasts and stock quotes are also accessible using the HD Player. And it has a terrifically simple motion-sensing remote that works like using a mouse on a TV screen."

"After using the Kodak Theatre HD Player with Windows XP and Vista machines over the past week, I can conclude that this device's interface shines in its simplicity and is a lot of fun to use," wrote Boehret.  "The Kodak Theatre HD Player does its job well, bringing photos and videos that might otherwise live only on your PC to your big screen HDTV. For the holidays, this device could be a real plus."
Click here to read the full article on WSJ.com.
Sweet!

I listened to a cool podcast from Derrick Story at The Digital Story today. He brought a Kodak DC20, circa 1997, back to life! He calls it Found Treasure - Kodak DC20.

It got me to thinking - Is this a milestone? Is digital old enough to be considered retro now? The camera he focused on was from 1997, just over ten years ago. Hmmm, is that the threshold of "old" in a digital world?
I must confess I am a bit of a pack rat as well. My wife would corroborate this fact replacing the "a bit of a" modifier with something much stronger.

Here is a shot of my quick trip down Kodak Digital Memory Lane.


Dig the memory cards. Wow, 4MB on one card! We use these for poker chips around here now ;-)

The cameras shown are from the same era, first, a DC20, like Derrick's "found treasure." (Thanks Marianna O'Brien who loaned me hers for this picture. She was the original product line manager for it.) There is also a DC40, DC50, and DC120. They have a form factor of a large paperback book (a la War and Peace!). Last there is a DC265. I loved that camera! It was indestructible and took great pictures for its day. It covered up the entire face of the photographer. I wonder if we should have positioned it as the perfect covert operations camera because of that?

Do you have a stash of digital gadgets? If these are retro, our first digital camera is an antique!

p.s. Oh, one more thing, I also have a copy of Netscape 1.0 brand new in the box - classic!

This just in off the fashionista runway in NYC...

Fashion personality Robert Verdi appeared as a guest reporter on the Today Show to kickoff Fashion Week. Near the end of his segment (4:10 into the 4:51), he highlighted some of the must-have products that were given to celebrities who attended the event.  Kodak's Zi6 Pocket Video Camera was one of the products that made it into the celeb goody bags and Robert described it as great for "capturing the moment; this time as a digital moment.

It isn't all business at USA House. Some people use these large images as impromptu photo ops...

 

Kodak is doing an incredible volume of printing at these Games. The USOC is one recipient of the services, others include sponsors, other national organizing committees, Getty Images and more. It is great to be involved in such a big photo experience, both figuratively and literally!