[UPDATE] Interviews with Engineers - Mercury-free Alkaline Button Battery A Goal Others Dismissed as Impossible

In 2004, Sony succeeded in developing a mercury-free silver oxide button battery, a task that other manufacturers had dismissed as impossible. Five years later in 2009, Sony also announced the development of a mercury-free alkaline button battery. We asked Masatsugu Shiota---a Sony engineer involved in these initiatives---to talk about his experiences in developing these batteries.

Silver oxide batteries and alkaline button batteries have anodes that contain zinc. Corrosive reactions affecting this zinc produce hydrogen gas. In button batteries, this not only reduces output capacity, but also causes pressure to build up within the battery, which can lead to swelling, leakage and other problems. Traditionally, the production of hydrogen gas was suppressed through the use of mercury, which is highly effective in preventing zinc corrosion. Mercury was a panacea that maintained both the performance and safety of batteries.

For this reason, the development of mercury-free batteries was not simply a matter of removing the mercury. Without an alternative "panacea" there would be a heightened risk of hydrogen production. In 2004, Sony was able to create a mercury-free silver oxide battery by developing new technologies to curb corrosive reactions affecting the zinc. Sony also took advantage of the fact that the silver oxide used in the cathode had the capacity to absorb hydrogen. In the mercury-free silver oxide battery, the amount of hydrogen gas produced was dramatically reduced by improving the ability of the zinc to resist corrosion, and any minute amounts of hydrogen gas that were still generated were absorbed by the silver oxide. However, the cathode in an alkaline button battery is made from manganese dioxide. Unlike silver oxide, this material lacks the capacity to absorb hydrogen. This meant that it was impossible to eliminate the mercury from alkaline button batteries.

Our efforts to develop a mercury-free silver oxide battery were initially prompted by growing international concern about the environmental effects of mercury, and the tightening of environmental protection regulations. Everyone thought that button batteries couldn't be made without mercury, and thus they were exempt from regulations. However, we staked Sony's reputation on the early development of a mercury-free silver oxide battery. We couldn't use the same technology to produce a mercury-free alkaline button battery because the cathode wouldn't absorb hydrogen, with the result that there would be an increased risk of swelling and leakage. At the time, even members of the development team were convinced that the development of a mercury-free alkaline button battery was impossible.

Yet the only challenge facing the team was the lack of a substance to absorb any hydrogen gas produced. There was a nagging feeling that somehow this problem could be solved. In addition to our normal work, we began to carry out adhoc research and experiments in our spare time in the hope of discovering a way to address the hydrogen gas issue. The most difficult challenge was finding a suitable material to absorb the gas. We weren't even sure how much hydrogen needed to be absorbed to make the battery safe. So we simply continued to experiment with substances that could absorb hydrogen. In addition to checking individual substances, we also tried combining them to create new substances.

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[UPDATE] Special Interview - Development and Mass-production of World's First OLED TV

In March 2009, Tetsuo Urabe of Sony's Display Device Development Group and three others received the 55th Okochi Memorial Award. These awards are presented to individual researchers and business organizations that have made major contributions to the field of production engineering, including the development of production technology, and the implementation of advanced production methods. The award received by Urabe and his colleagues was in recognition of their work relating to the development and mass-production of the world's first OLED television.

Sony has earned widespread acclaim for its success in the development and mass-production of the world's first OLED television, which follows earlier development successes---the Super Top Emission structure for OLED panels, and the active matrix OLED display.

Sony first became involved in OLED research around 1994. A growing number of organizations had established OLED R&D projects after the publication of a paper in 1987 describing a thin-film OLED device fabricated using vapor deposition. In this sense, Sony was a latecomer to this field. At the time, Trinitron was still Sony's core technology for display devices. Of course, the Company was also working on the development of next-generation flat-panel display devices and had established parallel projects focusing on various types of devices, including the Plasmatron (plasma addressed liquid crystal) and field emission display (FED) systems.

"Various systems were being tried at that time. It was as if they were in competition with each other. There was extensive debate on which technology would be the winner."

Not everyone thought that OLED was likely to become a major future display technology, and the development of display devices based on OLED technology did not begin in earnest until 1998. Tetsuo Urabe was a member of the OLED display development team established that year.

Technology had already been developed to create light using OLED. However, Sony wanted to develop an OLED display for TV use. This achievement would necessitate the creation of a screen made up of large numbers of picture elements. Sony decided to use an active matrix system based on thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, which is also used in LCD panels. The consensus view at the time was that it would be very difficult to apply this technology to the development of an OLED display. However, Urabe and his colleagues began to develop an active matrix driver for an OLED-based system.

"There was growing interest in the concept of an OLED system with an active matrix driver. It was seen as a technology for the future. Sony was a latecomer to OLED R&D, but we were among the first to start developing the technology for use as a television display device."

The first problem in using an active matrix system to drive an OLED display was variation in pixel brightness. This variation results from differences in the characteristics of the TFTs positioned in each pixel.

"In an OLED display, the TFTs drive the luminescence themselves. This means that any variation in TFT characteristics end up as variations in the brightness of individual pixels."

Since creating TFTs with identical characteristics is virtually impossible, Urabe's team decided to focus instead on the development of a method to compensate for this. After studying several possible solutions, they decided to use current mirror circuits.

Current mirror circuits consist of two circuits that are mirror images of each other. When a current flows in one of the circuits, the same exact current will flow through the other one. These circuits were attached to neighboring pixels. Provided both pixels in each pair have the same TFT characteristics, there will be no variation in pixel brightness between them. Using this concept, Urabe's team was able to overcome the brightness variation problem by arranging large numbers of pixels symmetrically. In 2001, they succeeded in developing the world's first 13-inch active matrix OLED display. At the time, it was the largest in the world.

Sony had developed a 13-inch OLED display, but it was still only a prototype. The first challenge on the path to commercialization would be to extend the life of the product. When first developed, the display was completely useless as a commercial product since its brightness declined dramatically in just two or three days. There were countless additional challenges, including the choice of organic materials and drive system and the method used to stack thin organic layers. The development team also had to consider the structure of the organic layers, and the method used to isolate the materials from the external environment. Urabe and his team solved each of these problems in turn by conducting a massive program of testing and evaluation. The work was so intense that team members sometimes fought over access to larger pieces of testing equipment.

The next challenge was the establishment of production technology. Before OLED products could be launched commercially, Sony needed a production technology able to mass-produce panels without any loss of quality. One of the most difficult tasks was reducing the number of defective pixels. The organic film in an OLED panel is only a few hundred nanometers thick. This extremely thin layer is sandwiched between electrodes, and the presence of even a minute particle of dust can prevent the current from flowing to the organic film, resulting in a dead pixel. To prevent dead pixels, it's necessary to eliminate dust, so the team began to remove all possible sources of dust from the production line. They also sought to minimize the effects of dust by increasing the thickness of the film as much as possible without compromising its characteristics. Another solution involved the use of lasers to repair any dead pixels discovered after production.

This process culminated in 2004 with the launch of the Courier PEG-VZ90, the first PDA with an OLED panel.

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[UPDATE] Interviews with Engineers - Cell-The Dream Processor

In addition to its vast processing power, the Cell Broadband Engine™ used in PLAYSTATION 3 also embodies an ambitious vision of a chip that can be used in a wide range of other fields. It resulted from a collaborative development project based in Texas. The project involved Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, IBM and Toshiba, with talented engineers from each of these four companies working around the clock to develop the new chip. We asked one of the lead engineers on the Cell development team to share his recollections about the project.

We began to develop Cell immediately after the launch of PlayStation 2 in May 2000. Obviously Cell was positioned as the processor for a next-generation computer entertainment system to succeed PlayStation 2, but we started the development project with a much more ambitious concept. We wanted to create a client processor capable of functioning as the nucleus for software interactions between networks and future computers connected to those networks. We also wanted that processor to be capable of functioning as a server. I was involved in most aspects of Cell's development, including not only the establishment of the basic concept, but semiconductor design as well.

When I first heard about the Cell concept, I felt a pure chill of excitement. I joined Sony Computer Entertainment after its establishment, and I've been involved in the development of processors for all three generations of platforms-PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PLAYSTATION 3. However, the first encounter with a totally new challenge is always an exciting moment for an engineer. I was absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to work on the development of this dream processor.

Because the concept of networked computing was at the heart of the Cell development project, we began by defining a design philosophy. Rather than starting with the development of hardware IC packaging, we decided to create a Java virtual machine that could be executed directly. We also decided to incorporate an agent-oriented approach into the hardware, in the form of software that would be able to work with peripheral elements while also operating independently. From the outset, we decided that Cell should be a multicore chip with multiple processor cores. Multiprocessor systems with multiple CPUs were already on the market. We debated until the last possible moment about whether Cell should be a homogenous multicore system with multiple cores based on the same specifications, or a heterogeneous multicore system containing multiple cores with different specifications. The use of multiple processors based on the same specification would increase the complexity of some elements, including the cache system and memory management. This approach would also result in higher costs, since it would be necessary to incorporate these elements for each processor. In contrast, an architecture with multiple processors operating separately under a single processor dedicated to memory management would simplify memory management and provide robust security. This approach would also result in a simpler structure for the multiple processors and allow a smaller package area, thereby helping to reduce costs. After considering these advantages, we ultimately decided on a heterogeneous multicore specification consisting of one PowerPC Processor Element (PPE) and eight Synergistic Processor Elements (SPE).

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[UPDATE] Special Interview - Transforming Advanced Japanese Technology, such as FeliCa and QR Code, into International Standards

International standards and technical standards play an extremely important role in the commercialization of technology and the development of new products that offer enhanced added value for users. In addition to the development of technology, Sony has also focused its efforts on standardization initiatives. This policy reflects the company's determination to provide enhanced benefits to consumers by effectively incorporating the added value created by technology into a wide range of products and services. Setsuo Harada, who heads Sony's Standards and Partnership Department, has earned widespread recognition for his contributions to the development of international standards based on advanced Japanese technology, including technology for contactless IC cards, such as FeliCa, and the QR Code. In October 2008, he received the 2008 Prime Minister's Award for the Industrial Standardization Project.

In the past, many Japanese companies, including Sony, excelled in the strategy known as "de facto standardization." Their approach was to create products far more attractive than those of their competitors, enabling them to win such overwhelming market share that their products gained recognition as unofficial standards. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent in recent years that this no longer ensures survival in either domestic or overseas markets. The turning point came in 1995, when Japan signed the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Agreement). Adopted by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the TBT Agreement requires that existing international standards be adopted as national standards wherever appropriate. Its purpose is to prevent the evaluation procedures used to ensure compliance in individual countries from becoming barriers to global trade caused by the proliferation of different standards. Under the Agreement on Government Procurement, which was also introduced by the WTO, international standards must also be applied to industrial products procured by government agencies. These changes ensured that companies ignoring international standards could no longer gain large shares of international or even domestic markets.

Harada first became involved in Sony's international standardization activities in 1991. In 1992, he established the Technology Standards Committee with the support and encouragement of then Deputy President Ken Iwaki. Standardization organizations were subsequently formed in the United States in 1992 and in Europe in 1993. Sony now had an international standardization structure spanning Japan, North America and Europe.

"No other company in the world had an organization like this," recalls Harada. At that time, most companies in Japan and throughout the world relied on de facto standards to attain market share. However, Harada had already concluded that de facto standards would not guarantee survival in the 21st century and was among the first to recognize the importance of international de jure standards established by international standardization organizations. He established an internal organization to coordinate Sony's response and began to visit departments within Sony to raise awareness of the importance of international standards. Harada's vision of the 21st century steadily gained acceptance throughout the Sony.

One of the most notable examples of Sony's international standardization efforts relates to the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that it developed in collaboration with Philips Semiconductor (now NXP Semiconductors). The FeliCa contactless IC card technology, which is used in passenger ticketing systems, including East Japan Railway's Suica system, and e-money systems, such as Edy, is a subset of NFC technology. The use of contactless IC cards had been increasing gradually until the technology was adopted by East Japan Railway for its Suica system a few years ago. Since then the pace of adoption has been extremely rapid. FeliCa technology is currently used not only in the Suica and Edy systems, but in a variety of other contactless IC card applications. However, this success would not have been possible if Sony had not been granted an international standard for its technology.

Because of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, FeliCa needed to be recognized as an international standard before East Japan Railway could adopt it for its contactless IC card system. Unfortunately, Sony was forced to abandon its attempt to register FeliCa as an international standard for contactless IC cards, in part because of opposition from European companies. Harada refused to give up, however, and instead tried another approach. He decided to seek approval for FeliCa as a standard not for contactless IC cards, but for Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This time he was successful, and the way was open for East Japan Railway to adopt FeliCa. Harada's determination to gain approval for FeliCa as an international standard was driven by his awareness that adoption by East Japan Railway would be more significant than its adoption by an ordinary company.

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[UPDATE] Interviews with Engineers - Semiconductor Lasers the Key to High Storage Densities on Blu-ray Discs

Blue-violet semiconductor lasers are used to read digital signals from Blu-ray discs, and the commercial development of Blu-ray products would not have been possible without this core component device. Thanks to determined efforts by its engineers, Sony was able to complete development of the laser within a very tight schedule in time to start the mass-production of millions of PLAYSTATION 3 consoles, the first product to incorporate Blu-ray technology.

During my time with Sony, I have been involved in the development of semiconductor lasers for optical discs, including CD, DVD and BD systems. For me the most exciting achievement, and one that required enormous effort, was the development of the blue-violet semiconductor laser.

A semiconductor laser is to an optical disc what a needle is to an analog record. The surface of an optical disc is covered with minute pits (concave areas) and ridges (convex areas). By bouncing laser beams off these areas and reading information contained in the reflected light, we can play back the content recorded on the disc. If we reduce the wavelength of the laser beam, the spot diameter of the laser is also reduced, allowing us to use smaller pits and ridges on the disc. By recording data using a laser with a short wavelength, we can store more information within the same disc area. The development of semiconductor lasers with progressively shorter wavelengths has driven the evolution of optical discs, from CDs to DVDs, and now to BDs. The laser used when playing a music CD has a wavelength of 780nm (nm=nanometer), while a DVD requires a 650nm red laser. Because the red laser used to write DVDs has a shorter wavelength, the capacity of DVDs is correspondingly greater. To create the BD, which has around five times more recording capacity than a DVD, we needed to develop a blue-violet laser capable of producing light with an even shorter wavelength.

The development of blue lasers began in the 1980s. Despite the efforts of engineers in many countries, the development of suitable materials was a slow process. Semiconductor lasers emit light when an electrical current is passed through the semiconductor used. To discover suitable materials for semiconductor lasers, we need to find combinations of substances that will produce laser light with the desired wavelength when current passes through them.

Initially Sony tried to develop a semiconductor laser using materials based on zinc selenide, and in 1996 we succeeded in maintaining continuous oscillation for 100 hours. However, Sony changed its development strategy after Nichia Corporation succeeded in developing a gallium nitride semiconductor laser with a shorter wavelength. It was a difficult decision to abandon development of the materials that we had previously been researching. However, we wanted Sony to maintain its leading role in the advancement of optical disc technology, and we saw this as the best decision in terms of ensuring that Sony would be the first to develop next-generation products based on BD technology.

Yet at this stage, we had simply selected the material that we would use. There were still many challenges to overcome before we could turn this into a semiconductor laser that could be used in commercial products. The first of these was the solution of problems surrounding Nichia Corporation's patents relating to gallium nitride. In the second half of the 1990s, there was a patent lawsuit between Nichia Corporation and Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. concerning a blue LED made using gallium nitride. There was extensive media coverage about the blue LED that couldn't be marketed because of the patent dispute. Urgent steps were needed to resolve this problem so that Sony could introduce its blue-violet semiconductor laser. However, Nichia Corporation took the position that it would sell products but not the technology, and that it would opt for licensing if there were complementing technologies. Fortunately, Sony had laser manufacturing patents, expertise and commercialization experience dating back to the CD era. We also had manufacturing facilities with world-class technology, including Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor Inc. (Sony Shiroishi), the Sony's Group's semiconductor laser manufacturer.

We negotiated persistently with Nichia Corporation for four-and-a-half years, with strong backing from the Patent Department and other units. This hard work eventually paid off, and we reached the conclusion that the quickest way to bring commercial products to market was to link Sony's semiconductor laser manufacturing technology with Nichia Corporation's basic patents for gallium nitride. In late 2002, the two companies began to collaborate on the development of a blue-violet semiconductor laser for use in optical disc applications. In April 2004, we signed a cross-licensing agreement relating to patents for a blue-violet semiconductor laser.

I was absolutely determined to develop a semiconductor laser for use in BD products. We had an unbroken history of involvement in the optical disc business. That heritage began with basic research carried out in the 1960s by a previous generation of Sony engineers and continued through to the commercialization of the CD products in the 1980s, and then to the DVD era. I could not allow that history to end, and I had to keep working until we ultimately achieved success. Both the product engineers and the device (parts) engineers were also determined to ensure that Sony would lead the development of a next-generation optical disc to succeed the DVD.

My commitment to the development project became even stronger because of the presence of another standard that was competing with Blu-ray for dominance in the next-generation optical disc market. Our determination to popularize BD technology as quickly as possible drove us to overcome the many obstacles that lay in our path.

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[UPDATE] Interviews with Engineers - The World's First Products Made from Vegetable-based Plastics

Sony has been a pioneer in the development of plastics made from vegetable-based materials and has led the electronics industry in the use of vegetable-based plastics to manufacture product cases. How were these vegetable-based plastics developed? We asked one of the engineers involved to talk about the background of these materials and the challenges encountered on the path to their development.

My background is polymer research. Some examples of my work include the development of materials for optical disc substrates, tape media and materials supporting the creation of intricate patterns on semiconductor chips. I first encountered and began to evaluate polylactic acid around 1990. Polylactic acid was seen as a promising material, and I was examining its potential for products. I subsequently began to carry out research relating to aspects of environmental technologies, including material recycling, lead-free solders and water pollution prevention technology. At the heart of Sony's environmental technology is the concept of using materials derived from biomass (plants) in products. Past successes include the use of limonene (a type of oil extracted from oranges) to facilitate the recycling of styrene foam, and the use of biomass-based carbon as electrode material. After discussions among our research team members, we decided to research whether or not polylactic acid could be used in products built to be highly durable. Around 1998, we began to work toward this goal in earnest.

Polylactic acid has a long history and has been used widely in the manufacture of biodegradable plastics. Unfortunately, it is fragile, vulnerable to heat and inflexible, making it unsuitable for creating product casings. It also requires special care to prevent degradation during use.

To use polylactic acid in the manufacture of product casings, we knew we'd have to overcome all these problems. However, our research team members were all professionals with excellent problem-solving skills and extensive experience in the enhancement of physical properties. We were confident we could overcome the challenges. Through continued trial and error, we discovered that aluminum hydroxide could be used to make the material fire-resistant, and that strength and durability could be improved by adding rubber and a hydrolysis regulator. We also found that excellent malleability could be achieved by adding pigments. The result was a vegetable-based plastic that met quality conditions for use in products. At the time, not even industrial material manufacturers were aware of the potential of polylactic acid for use in creating product casings.

A new Walkman launched by Sony in 2002 was the world's first product with a casing made from vegetable-based plastics. The most difficult aspect of our work on this product was not the development of the vegetable-based plastic, but the process leading up to its use in actual products. Because these materials had never been used before, our product developers had many doubts and concerns. We visited them repeatedly to brief them about the importance of using vegetable-based plastics and convince them of their suitability by showing them data relating to their reliability, cost, suitability for mass-production and other factors. This can perhaps be characterized as a process of changing perceptions within Sony.

Color reproduction characteristics represented another challenge. When the pigments added were changed for each color, the physical properties of the materials also changed. When no suitable pigment was available, we had to find one through a repeated trial-and-error. For each color, we also assessed the material to ensure that it met the required quality standard. In some cases it was very difficult to reproduce the stipulated color accurately, but eventually we were able to achieve the colors sought by the designers.

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[UPDATE] Mercury-free Alkaline Button Battery

There are many types of batteries. Primary (disposable) batteries (such as dry-cell and button batteries) are used once and discarded. Secondary (rechargeable) batteries (which include lithium-ion varieties) can be recharged and used repeatedly. Solar cells represent yet another type of battery. Conventionally, button batteries contain mercury to prevent the generation of hydrogen gas. However, the use of mercury is not without risks. The improper use or disposal of mercury-based batteries carries adverse risks for both the environment and human health. Yet, developing technology necessary to create mercury-free button batteries was an extremely difficult challenge. Sony's commitment to reducing its environmental impact is a reflection of its unrelenting efforts to meet that challenge, and in 2004 it succeeded in developing the world's first mercury-free silver oxide battery. In 2009, Sony achieved what was regarded as an even more difficult task: the development of technology leading to the world's first mercury-free alkaline button battery.

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