Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excimer light sources (172nm) have a photon energy large enough to break down organic matter, and so are often used for surface modification of plastics, for example, to bond surfaces without using adhesive. However, it takes heat (<100°C) and pressure (<1MPa). In addition, VUV light (172nm) is strongly absorbed by atmospheric oxygen, and one way to overcome this problem is to use vacuum equipment. It is possible to control the reaction chamber by introducing a reactive gas. PTFE, PVDF, etc., the reformer is difficult. However, there are reported to be reformed in this way. Excimer VUV lamps have been used for photo-chemical vapor deposition (CVD), for example, to deposit a-Si: H films, but few cases exist where this is used in commercial products. Nevertheless, recent improvements in excimer lamp performance are expected to lead to increased application in photo-CVD.

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Plastic films are used in many commercial products, and have recently, found greater application because of their environmental friendliness. Most converted manufactures request the function corresponding to it. The surface modification of the film is aimed at to give the function, and there is big domination because it need not improve plastic polymer. The film manufacturer has the ILC technology. This is one of the technologies that industrially process the surface treatment. It is a technology that can apply while manufacturing the films. Different functions can be introduced by changing the composition of the spreading liquid. Here, I describe the current state of ILC technology for film surface modification.

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Various types of coating methods are used in papermaking, depending on the product requirements. Film coaters are now widely used for on-line light weight coating (LWC). And blade coaters are widely used for producing coated fine paper and coated boards. However, the most recent innovations are noncontact coating methods such as spray coating and curtain coating. Simultaneous multilayer curtain coating, in particular, is attracting considerable attention for its capability to produce new grades of coated products. Here, the author provides some background on the conventional coating methods, and then introduces the simultaneous multilayer curtain coater (OptiLayer) developed by Metso Paper. In addition, the possible applications of OptiLayer are also described.

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Books form an integral part of daily life, but few people are aware of the CO₂ emissions resulting from the manufacture of books. Here, the entire life-cycle CO₂ (LCCO₂) emissions for books, including book distribution, are calculated in terms of realistic scenarios. The life cycle is divided into three segments-upstream, midstream, and downstream-and each is examined carefully. We find that a large part (three-quarters, in fact) of the environmental load originates in the upstream segment, which mainly involves paper procurement mainly. The negative environmental impacts are quite significant across production, delivery, and recycling when considering a business model wherein 40% of the books are expected to remain unsold. Drastic reductions in the CO₂ emissions can be realized by replacing a certain portion of the paper-based market with electronic books. Although such a drastic change in the existing business model may impose a significant economic burden on incumbent publishers, the advantages for the consumers are that books can be made available at lower prices and new publishers will find it easy to enter the market because of the lower operating costs. A rapid shift to electronic book is important from the standpoint of both the consumer and service provider. The shift to electronic books is necessary to meet the global warming reduction targets set for 2020. And continuous efforts are necessary to reduce CO₂ emissions by not less than 25%.

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Organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) and distributed-type inorganic electroluminescent (IOEL) panels are potential candidates for next-generation flat panel display and lighting solutions. Both technologies usually employ a bottom-emission structure built on a transparent glass or plastic substrate. On the other hand, top-emission organic light-emitting devices (TEOLEDs) have generated considerable interest in recent years owing to their wider aperture ratios in active matrix displays. And because the top-emission structure allows the use of a nontransparent substrate, the method also reduces cost. We fabricated top-emission IOEL devices on printed circuit board (PCB) substrates. Further, we developed a 0.2-mm-wide stripe IOEL device with red and green organic dyes for the design of PCBs.

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