CORNING, NY /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- At Corning Incorporated's annual investor meeting in New York, the 800-pound gorilla in the room will be a thin and elegant sheet of glass tough enough to withstand daily use and abuse—without scratching. Developed for touch-screen applications and high-end portable devices, Corning's Gorilla glass technology addresses the challenge of providing an ultra-durable screen for handheld devices without compromising image quality. The fusion-formed glass features a pristine surface that requires no polishing, reducing time and cost for customers.
Dr. Joseph A. Miller, Chief Technology Officer, will confirm during his investor update that Gorilla glass is now commercially available and is being sold to mobile-device manufacturers. Corning's newest technology joins a growing platform of innovations addressing key challenges, shaping the future of portable displays: durability, longevity, and functionality.
Other recent technology developments addressing these challenges include:
- Jade is a fusion-formed glass with high thermal stability, designed to enable smaller devices with brighter displays, higher resolution, and longer battery life. Jade's attributes also enable optimal backplane performance for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), self-luminous displays that use organic compounds to emit light displays.
- Vita is a scalable hermetic-sealing solution that locks out moisture and air from OLED displays, improving their longevity. Together, Jade and Vita will help OLED technology scale to larger applications.
- Silicon on glass (SiOG) is a highly engineered, single-crystal silicon-film-on-glass substrate that should enable higher functioning, lower power-consuming mobile displays. Corning's SiOG technology is currently being tested at four major consumer-electronic players, and commercial activity is anticipated in 2009.
- Green laser is a compact, efficient, and powerful module that makes small and portable projection possible. Corning's green laser is in development, with three major handset makers and two microprojector manufacturers.
Gorilla glass is the latest in a series of major innovations over the past two years related to Corning's existing business segments. The Epic system, introduced in 2006, enables high-throughput label-free screening for drug discovery—an industry first. The company began commercial shipments of Epic to top pharmaceutical and biotech customers in 2007. The ClearCurve solution, launched last year, uses a revolutionary ultra-bendable fiber technology to make fiber-to-the-home installations in apartment homes possible. Initial shipments of the technology solution are already underway.
Miller will highlight these as examples of Corning's success in harvesting its research and development investments in the areas of display, telecommunications, and life sciences. He will also provide updates on other near-term and exploratory technologies emerging from Corning's innovation pipeline:
- Corning has developed a proprietary microreactor technology that allows for scalability, cost reduction, and improved yields in the specialized production of high-value chemicals. The company is now selling modules and expects additional sales later this year.
- As environmental regulations continue to tighten, Corning is developing carbon-based substrates to assist coal-fired plants in reducing mercury emission by 90%. The company is also exploring nitrogen oxide–reduction solutions and sensors for vehicle emissions control.
"Corning's investment in research and development over the past three years has resulted in an exceptional period of innovation productivity," Miller will say. "We delivered a steady stream of new solutions for our current growth platforms as we continued to nurture a robust pipeline of next-generation technologies. Our rich portfolio of emerging innovations has the potential to seed Corning's next wave of growth."
About Corning
Corning Inc. is the world leader in specialty glass and ceramics. Drawing on more than 150 years of materials science and process-engineering knowledge, Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications, and life sciences. Our products include glass substrates for LCD televisions, computer monitors and laptops, ceramic substrates and filters for mobile emission-control systems, optical fiber, cable, hardware and equipment for telecommunications networks, optical biosensors for drug discovery, and other advanced optics and specialty glass solutions for a number of industries, including semiconductor, aerospace, defense, astronomy, and metrology.