Corning's Manufacturing Advantage

As liquid crystal displays (LCDs) become larger, Corning continues to be a consistent leader in the growth and development of large-generation glass substrates. Our proprietary fusion manufacturing process offers critical advantages for the display industry, including the following:

Exceptionally pristine, flat surfaces with excellent thickness control – Unlike other forming processes, Corning’s fusion process requires no post-forming grinding or polishing. This minimizes scratches and surface damage that can impair LCD device function and subsurface flaws that can become the origin point for fractures.
Flatness – Substrate flatness is particularly critical in the production of panels for LCD TVs, where viewing-angle technology sensitizes the image to thickness differences in the glass. Any deviations from flatness can result in color distortions known as “mura.” While other forming processes require polishing to meet increasingly stringent flatness requirements, Corning’s fusion process forms glass in air for a flat, pristine substrate.
Scalability – The fusion process is scalable to larger sizes by extending the width of the isopipe used in the process. This relatively simple scalability is due to fusion’s superior glass-making characteristics, which are not affected by the change to larger or thinner sizes. With low thickness variation and no polishing requirements, substrates can be scaled up to optimized sheet widths while consistently meeting and exceeding quality targets. No matter how large next-generation substrates become, Corning will leverage technology to maintain its manufacturing advantage.

Corning’s innovations don’t end on the manufacturing floor. We’ve also revolutionized glass substrate transport with our DensePak® delivery system. The DensePak system enables the safe transport, storage, and staging of up to approximately 500 sheets per case, compared to just 20 substrates per case for traditional methods.