Enabling low-cost consumer photonics devices

In November 2008, materials company Nitto Denko Corp. opened the Nitto Denko Asia Technical Centre (NAT), its second center in Singapore that will spearhead and manage its R&D operations. Investing S$10 million, NAT will strongly focus on an Integrated Organic Optoelectronic Sensing Device Project, wherein it will collaborate with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Data Storage Institute (DSI), A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) concurrently carry out three separate research projects on the development of novel organic electronic sensing devices.

The R&D projects will fuse Nitto Denko’s specialty knowledge and technology in polymer waveguides with DSI, IMRE and NTU’s expertise in Complex Vibration Numerical/Experimental Analysis, Organic Electronics and Photonic Research respectively.

“To help with the transition of the company into the next-era, we created this Singapore Laboratory Center. The key is transformation. We are combining our fundamental materials and platform technologies, in order to create new products,” says Dr. Visit Thaveeprungsriporn, General Manager, NAT. “It’s like innovating the products.”

NAT aims to develop several breakthrough technologies, especially in the field of organic electronics, which will allow for the development of novel, miniaturized, affordable and high-sensitivity sensor products.

Dr. Thaveeprungsriporn believes that photonics is one of the top fundamental new innovations that will shape the future. “The whole idea is to convince people that the next big thing would be consumer photonics. And what we are trying to do is to enable low-cost consumer photonics devices.”

One of the target industries of these consumer photonics devices is the healthcare industry. Dr. Thaveeprungsriporn notes that the global population of age 65 and older has been slated to experience a strong growth in the coming year, and is expected to reach 1.48 billion by 2050. As such, there is s strong demand for portable medical testing and diagnostic equipment.

“We are working on a very unique mobile, wearable type of vital sign monitoring system that is targeted at the ageing society and healthcare segment,” says Dr. Thaveeprungsriporn. However, he adds that one challenge is cost. “When we talk to most people, the first thing they ask is ‘Is it cheap?’ So I think the price will have to come first. But at this stage, we are looking at something that is less complex, like urine testing—non-invasive, more quantitative using light. That could be our first target in terms of just launching or testing the consumer photonics market.”

But Dr. Thaveeprungsriporn says that once they were able to prove the functionality of the device, people will pay attention to it. He compares the situation with the mobile phone market, citing the ultra-low cost handsets and the higher-priced iPhone. He says that despite the higher price attached to it, people embraced the iPhone because of its plethora of functionalities; thereby changing the overall playing field.

Nitto Denko Asia Technical Centre
Caption
Figure 1: Dr. Visit Thaveeprungsriporn, General Manager, NAT