Dow Corning Expands Into Specialty Organic Market
Dow Corning Corporation expanded into the $1 billion specialty organic materials market with the launch of Dow Corning® PI-2000 Highly Conductive Silver Ink, a breakthrough organic polymer for the electronics industry. Dow Corning's move into specialty organics comes as part of an overall strategy within the company to offer a complete range of materials for today's increasingly diverse and demanding electronics manufacturing applications.
"Dow Corning's decision to develop and offer specialty organic materials marks an important milestone in our six decades as a leader in silicone materials development," said Tom Cook, global industry executive director, Dow Corning. "As devices become thinner, smaller and faster, customers need both organics and silicones to meet manufacturing goals. PI-2000 is the first of many innovative materials to come in our new organics product strategy, and is a complement to our comprehensive suite of silicon-based products for this industry."
Dow Corning developed PI-2000 for use in portable, wireless products such as smart cards, cell phones, PDAs, games and radio frequency ID (RFID) tags. Manufacturers of these products need materials that are durable and versatile; PI-2000 is vastly different than other conductive inks available today due to a proprietary additive. This conductive ink offers electrical conductivity that is an order of magnitude greater than other products in the market. Additionally, it maintains low resistivity even during long-term environmental stress. PI-2000 is screen printable for rapid, low-cost manufacturing using standard production equipment.
Other products planned in Dow Corning's organic materials offering will support a broad spectrum of applications, from semiconductor packaging and board-level assembly to automotive and consumer electronics assembly. As with all Dow Corning materials, the new specialty organics are backed by the company's electronics business solutions program, which supports the full range of customer needs, from materials qualification and equipment selection to the tailoring of materials for specific process requirements.
The new offerings come in response to customer demand for additional Dow Corning material capabilities beyond silicones, which have traditionally been used for highly specialized applications. Dow Corning's organic materials intellectual property (IP) portfolio comprises a broad range of materials capabilities, and is based on a number of internally developed proprietary chemistries, as well as technologies acquired through targeted IP investments.
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