Lots of people going after a piece of the millions of phones that will be sold in the near future. This looks interesting.
A 1999 startup in Santa Ana, Calif., has come with a unique packaging scheme that it hopes will make the company the preeminent supplier of small backlights within a few years. Called Novatech Electro-lumines-cent Inc., the company took the wraps off its Meta-Foil technology at the recent EtroniX 2001 show in Anaheim, Calif.
The company says the technology—an electroluminescent (EL) lamp built on a flexible circuit— can lop as much as 25 percent off the cost of assembling a cell phone or other small electronic device by preintegrating the backlight for both liquid-crystal display and keypad.
The heart of the patented Meta-Foil scheme is the use of a flexible, etched copper-foil substrate rather than a rigid pc board.
According to Novatech’s international sales manager, Ray Kridle. this approach makes electrical connections "easily solderable and weldable." The company has applied the technology in its patent pending Meta-Fold scheme, which "replaces traditional multiple component keypad assemblies and LED illuminators with a single unitary assembly measuring less than 1.5mm in thickness," Kridle said.
The Novateeh scheme is inherently less expensive than alternatives, said Kridle. because of "its automated, roll-to-roll high volume capability." Most EL lamps "are produced using silver," he said, but copper "is far less expensive than silver and is more malleable."
In addition to reducing assembly costs, the technology "significantly cuts lead time from prototype to production," Kridle said. Further, he added, it reduces manufacturing costs by decreasing parts count.
There’s yet one more advantage to the Novatech scheme, according to Kridle. The copper foil at the heart of the solution "potentially provides protection of sensitive electrical circuitry and is self shielding from heat and other radiated energy damage," he said.
At an EtroniX press briefing, the company quoted a price of between $2 and $3 in quantities of 100,000 pieces for a Meta-Foil based backlighting solution. Novatech lauds the advantage of EL backlighting over LEDs, including great reductions in thickness, power dissipation and heat generation.
The company can be reached at (949) 955-0005; its Web site is at www.novael.corn.
Jim |
