Cambridge Display Technology and Bayer AG Sign Commercial Support Agreement for Light Emitting Polymer Materials; Agreement Covers Baytron Products That Enhance Image Quality in LEP Displays.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2002

Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany) and Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) (Cambridge), leading researcher, commercial developer and owner of the fundamental intellectual property for light emitting polymer (LEP) technology, today announced that they have signed a commercial support agreement for the commercialization of critical materials used in the manufacture of LEP displays.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bayer AG, a global leader in the health care, agriculture, polymers and chemicals industries, will manufacture, sell and market Baytron(R) products to LEP display developers and manufacturers and CDT will provide technical support for their use.

The agreement covers key jointly owned intellectual property by Bayer AG and CDT for a high resistance version of polyethylene dioxythiophene polystyrene sulphonate (PEDOT/PSS), the critical charge transport material (hole transport layer, HTL) used in LEP display devices that has reduced crosstalk, which is vital for higher resolution and high pixel count displays.

This agreement is the direct result of the successful co-development of these materials by the two companies, which took place under a joint development agreement in 2001.

"We are pleased to put in place a commercial framework for the exploitation of these materials with Bayer AG," said David Fyfe, CEO of CDT. "This builds upon the very close technical relationship between our companies, which has harnessed Bayer's highly processable conductive polymer materials expertise with CDT's LEP technology to produce this excellent product."

"Two years ago H.C. Starck entered into a joint development with CDT to tailor its materials for LEP applications," said Dr. Aloys Eiling, marketing manager at H.C. Starck, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer AG. "We see the cooperation with CDT as a major success factor in the development of the current material products, as well as paves the way for future improvements of our product range."

The OLED display market has been forecast to grow as high as $2.5 billion in revenue by 2007. The OLED display market consists of a wide range of electronics products that includes mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras, camcorders, microdisplays and eventually personal computers and other consumer products.

About CDT

Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) is a privately held company leading the research, development and commercialization of polymer technology for flat panel displays and lighting. CDT's light emitting polymer (LEP) technology is targeted for use in a wide range of electronic display products used for information management, communications and entertainment.

Features include reduced power consumption, size, thickness and weight, very wide viewing angle, superior video imaging performance and the potential to produce displays on plastic substrates. To date, licenses have been granted to Delta Optoelectronics, DuPont Displays, OSRAM, Philips and Seiko-Epson, who have either announced imminent start of production or are actively implementing their manufacturing strategies.

CDT is promoting LEP technology development and speeding its commercialization through a global business strategy including co-developments with leading companies in a wide range of display and related technology areas. Founded in 1992, the company has headquarters in Cambridge. More information about CDT is available at www.cdtltd.co.uk.

About Bayer AG

One of the world's largest chemical companies, the Bayer AG group serves the global health care, agriculture, polymers and chemicals industries. Bayer employs more than 120,400 people among 350 affiliate companies located in virtually every country in the world. Bayer has headquarters in Leverkusen, with the majority of operations in Europe, the Far East and North America.