Apple, GT Advanced and ion cannons may pave the way for sapphire displays

We are going to hear a lot about sapphire in the coming years now that Apple has partnered with GT Advanced Technologies to produce the material. One of the latest articles on the subject, penned by Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch, discusses the manufacturing process behind the material. Apple it turns out picked a perfect partner in GT Advanced and may find itself at the forefront of innovation when it comes to synthetic sapphire production. Sapphire is known for its hardness and toughness, but it is costly to produce, especially in bulk. This technological hurdle has limited the usage of sapphire in devices like smartphones or tablets, which could benefit from the tough as nails material. This hurdle may not be as big as originally thought, thanks to a key acquisition by GT Advanced Technologies. As pointed out by TechCrunch, GT Advanced bought Twin Creeks Technologies, a company that pioneered a method to produce thin sheets of sapphire and other crystalline silicon using a hydrogen ion particle accelerator, aka an ion cannon. GT Advanced announced this purchase last year and hints at the use of this technology in the production of touchscreen devices. “In addition, GT expects to pursue the development of thin sapphire laminates for use in applications such as cover and touch screen devices … The Hyperion ion implanter has the potential to minimize, or in some cases eliminate, the need for wafering saws, which would significantly lower the cost of production.” GT Advanced isn’t the only one thinking forward on sapphire and touch screen panels. Apple recently filed a patent that details a method of laminating sapphire to glass to create a display. Couple this with another patent, via AppleInsider, that describes a way to make an LCD display with the touch screen circuity embedded into the display matrix, and you have a way to add touch functionality to a thin wafer of sapphire and glass. These patents are theoretical in nature, but they are an indication Apple is thinking hard about sapphire and how it can be used efficiently in the manufacturing of its iOS devices. Continue reading →

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