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Toray to Develop Low Resistance RAYBRID®
for Automotive Touch Panels and Transparent 5G Antennas

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Oct. 20, 2021

Toray Industries, Inc.

Tokyo, Japan, October 20, 2021 – Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that it has developed a technology to reduce the resistance of RAYBRID®, a photosensitive conductive material by almost 90% compared to the existing RAYBRID. 
Prospective applications include automotive touch panels which is recently getting larger, transparent 5G antennas, and transparent heaters.

RAYBRID employs proprietary particle dispersion and photosensitive polymer design technologies. Its processes are simpler than sputtering or vapor deposition for copper or other metal film electrodes. RAYBRID metal mesh electrodes (Glossary) is 4 micrometers or less thick, matching stringent reliability standards for automotive applications. Manufacturers have thus employed this material in car navigation systems, whose displays are getting increasingly larger. 

Toray recognized the need to further reduce resistance to deliver higher sensitivity for contactless touch panels and accommodate the increased electrodes of bigger displays. It thereby improved its particle dispersion technology to pack nano-conductive particles more densely. This reduced sheet resistance by almost 90%, to just two ohms per square, around the same as metal mesh, with a metal mesh pattern with visible light transmittance exceeding 90%. 

The European Union mandates a touch panel reflectance of no more than 0.15% to enhance safety. Toray attained a reflectance of under 0.10%, suppressing glare and improving visibility, by using a proprietary photosensitive black material to develop a wire blackening process that does not compromise low resistance and fine electrodes formability.

Toray looks for RAYBRID material incorporating these technological advances to replace metal mesh in electrodes material because of its low resistance reflection, flexibility, and outstanding reliability.

Potential applications other than touch panels include transparent 5G antennas and transparent heaters, which require low resistance, visibility, and reliability. Because the electrical resistance of RAYBRID remains unchanged even after repeated bending, Toray also targets applications in flexible touch sensors and diverse other advanced devices.

Toray will continue leveraging its core technologies of synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, biotechnology, and nanotechnology to research and develop advanced materials that transform societies in keeping with its commitment to innovating ideas, technologies, and products that deliver new value. 
 
<Low-resistance metal mesh electrode> < Reduced reflection from surface blackening >

Glossary
Metal mesh electrodes is an electrode silver, copper, or other metals stretched in a thin grid pattern over touch panel display areas. Forming fine wires of less than 4 micrometers can create touch sensors with exceptional visibility and flexibility.

【PDF Download】
https://go.mktg.toray/t010-WC-20211018-1850-RAYBRID_01-Download.html

Toray Electronics and Information Materials
https://www.electronics.toray/en/