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Seiko Epson Annual Report 2006 19
from diverse parts of the organization
under one roof. In doing so, the ultimate
goal is to spark the creation of revolution-
ary new products.
Epson also has another center,
established in 2000, at its Fujimi Plant in
Nagano, Japan, for the development of
electronic devices, specializing in semi-
conductor, LCDs and other device-
based product development. This center
consolidates R&D departments for
advanced electronic devices and related
production processes, and boasts a
string of successes in the fields of inkjet
industrial application technology and
flexible devices.
Development of the World’s
First Flexible TFT-SRAM
Epson has successfully developed the
world’s first1 flexible TFT-SRAM2 (16
kbits). Energy saving is a key concept in
Epson’s R&D program, and Epson has
long been involved in the development
of devices with low power consumption
and other energy- and space-saving
features. As the natural outcome of this
trend, Epson has come to focus on the
development of flexible devices that are
exceptionally thin, light and versatile.
Along the way, Epson has amassed a host
of original technologies, including low-
temperature polysilicon TFT technology
using thin film formation, and SUFTLA3
technology enabling the transfer of TFT
circuits to flexible substrates. Leveraging
these and its other distinctive technolo-
gies, Epson has created memory that
enables the integration of all the circuit
blocks needed for SRAM on a single chip.
The result is a TFT-SRAM that operates
stably at high speed and at low voltage.
Moreover, successfully run demo
programs have also shown that the new
memory chip can serve as the working
memory for Epson’s earlier developed
asynchronous 8-bit microprocessor.
Epson believes that this new TFT-
SRAM chip and related technologies will
be critical to the eventual creation of
flexible displays, electronic paper and
other electronic devices that users can
reshape as they want.
1According to Epson research.
2SRAM (Static Random Access Memory): A type of
memory that does not require refreshing to retain
data, thus enabling faster data access times.
3Acronym for Surface Free Technology by Laser
Ablation/Annealing. SUFTLA is a registered
trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation.
Exterior view of the Epson Innovation Center
■ Research and Design Organizations of Operations Divisions
Development of new products, R&D for the enhancement of product functions and
performance, and development of production technologies
■ Corporate Head Office Research and Development
Patent applications, establishment of issued patents
Intellectual Property
Division
Advanced R&D (themes aimed at creating a competitive advantage for Epson
in the medium- to long-term) and R&D support for operating segments
Corporate Research and
Development Division
(USA, U.K., etc.)Overseas Research Institutes
Development of next-generation display technologies including OLED materials
and processing technologies, and low-temperature polysilicon TFTs
Display Development Division
Production engineering development and innovation
Production Engineering
and Development Division
R&D Organization (As of July 1, 2006)
Print head development projectsP Project
Flexible TFT-SRAM