With Carestream, UniPixel has established the capacity to support large-scale volume production of more than 100 million square feet per year of Diamond Guard as either a cover glass replacement or protective cover film. UniPixel has now been able to fulfill a number of purchase orders for pilot production rolls submitted by major electronic OEMs, ODMs and film converters that are advancing product designs which take advantage of the unique characteristics of Diamond Guard.

Diamond Guard was designed to offer superior performance as a low cost substitute for glass, including Gorilla® Glass. Diamond Guard is super hard—rated 6H or higher—making it shatterproof and highly resistant to scratching. However, it is also very thin, light and flexible, with a glass-equivalent gloss finish. Diamond Guard is less labor-intensive to utilize than glass, and unlike glass, it is available in large rolls that can be die-cut or laser-cut to size. The large roll format can also save manufacturing costs in that it allows direct printing of roll-to-roll graphics (bezels, logos, multi-color borders, etc.) for consumer electronics aesthetics, and unlike glass, it does not require special surface treatment for inks to adhere.

These characteristics make Diamond Guard ideal for a wide range of applications, but especially as a cover glass replacement or protective cover film for any electronic display, from small mobile devices to large screen televisions. A video of a Diamond Guard hammer test is available here.

"We believe Diamond Guard outperforms other cover glass and protective cover films on the market today, and this large-volume certification allows us to begin widespread commercialization," noted UniPixel CEO Reed Killion. "Carestream is not only our manufacturing partner they are also the global master distributor for Diamond Guard. So, we plan to fully leverage Carestream’s strong manufacturing and distribution platform to address the increasing interest in our protective cover films."

Carestream Tollcoating is a premium provider of high-precision contract coating services and optical grade PET film, specializing in the application of aqueous and solvent coatings on flexible substrates for imaging, printed electronics, display, electronic component, nanotechnology, battery, and a variety of other flexible advanced material markets. Carestream’s global logistics network, with supply chain management and distribution capabilities in 56 countries, offers worldwide end-to-end service from high precision coating through post-manufacturing.

UniPixel has received interest from OEMs and ODMs to combine Diamond Guard with its UniBoss™ touch sensor to produce a thinner, more cost effective touch screen display. UniPixel’s functional prototypes have demonstrated that laminating Diamond Guard with UniBoss eliminates the need for protective cover glass or sensor glass. As a combined solution, this offers better than one-fifth the thickness of current touch screen displays on the market and at a highly competitive cost. So, the company anticipates UniBoss could be a significant growth driver for Diamond Guard in 2013.