Profiting from over a century of research

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18. Februar 2005 By Carsten Knop
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Liquid crystals have been available for over one hundred years, but only recently have they begun to play a significant factor in high technology and taken on an increasingly important role in our daily lives. A majority of the world's liquid crystal production takes place in Darmstadt, a city south of Frankfurt.

The city provides the headquarters for the chemical and pharmaceutical company Merck, which commands a 69 percent share of the market. Japanese competitors Chisso and Dainippon Ink follow far behind. Merck is not only the leader by volume in this specialized field, but also the principal innovator, which that benefits the company's margins. It comes as no surprise that the largest investment in the company's 350-year history was for a new €250 million state-of-the-art facility to develop liquid crystals that began operations at the end of 2004. The company has invested an additional €30 million in its Asian factories to make sure that it keeps well ahead of the competition. Altogether these investments should allow Merck to triple its output to 50 metric tons of liquid crystal per year.

At first glance 50 metric tons may seem like a rather small amount. But when one considers that a typical 15-inch monitor requires merely 300 milligrams of liquid crystal solution, Merck's anticipated product levels take on a whole new meaning. “In light of the advances that have been made in the quality of these crystals, we are convinced that they will remain the leading display technology company into the future,“ Merck Chairman Bernhard Scheuble recently said at the 100th anniversary of the first liquid crystal production in his company.

It is the television industry that has given Merck its best chances for growth. In past years, there were less than 10 million devices that required specialized liquid crystals. But demand is now expected to increase by 50 percent each year until 2008.

Merck employs around 150 researchers who test and develop between 500 and 600 new types of liquid crystal each year. In addition to its central laboratories in Darmstadt, Merck also operates facilities in close proximity to the world's top electronic display companies in Atsugi, Japan, and Poseung, South Korea. Through extensive research and development, the company has secured 2,500 patents for various mixtures of the chemicals used to make liquid crystals and for different applications of these crystals in electronic displays. Because of the comfortable lead that Merck enjoys in crystal patents, the company sees no other serious competition standing in the way of the booming television display market.

A flat screen display is made up of a liquid crystal mixture sandwiched between two glass panels. The crystal mixture changes between transparent to opaque depending on the amount of electricity sent through it. The ability to change this contrast, especially how long it takes to modify between one shade to the next, is important for cutting-edge picture reproduction. If a liquid crystal takes too long to react to the signal, the image can become blurry. An important advantage Merck has over its competition is that its latest LCD mixtures can respond to signals quickly enough to allow for flat screens that measure one meter diagonally.
This new technology earned three Merck scientists, Kazuaki Tarumi, Melanie Klasen-Memmer and Matthias Bremer, the Presidential Award for Technical Innovation in 2003. Tarumi is responsible for the physical research of the liquid crystal mixtures. “Sometimes we have to deliver several kilograms of liquid crystal material overnight so that a customer can bring a new line of flat screens into production within three months,“ he says. “It is the art of manufacturing these mixtures that can make all the difference. We try to make the characteristics of our ingredients work with each other to create a solution that gives our customers the results they are looking for.“

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