Juergen Eichner is from Via Optronics which started as a display enhancement company that quickly started to focus on optical bonding materials, technologies and processes. As a result it has become a supplier of bonding processes and materials to other companies.
The headquarters are in Nuremberg in Germany, but there are offices in the US and a factory in China. The company can make the whole display head including backlight, touch and LCD assembly. Optical bonding significantly improves performance in high ambient light, and that was the prime reason for its adoption, but with thinner displays, optical bonding becomes a mechanical help as well as an optical process.
Even though notebook and tablet markets are not growing overall, the segments using optical bonding are increasing.
Via claims the highest yield rate in the bonding industry. Some companies think it is simple to do bonding, but it is very difficult to do really well without introducing mura or other problems. Eichner claims a yield of 98% and Via can also re-work and repair its bonded displays.
VIA says it is the only company to supply materials, processes and equipment. The firm’s bonding material is inorganic and is more stable than acrylic materials, which are typically used for bonding. Acrylics also suffer problems from high and low temperature and vibration.
Quanta in Taiwan is a user of Via technology.
