Is a Sapphire Screen in Your Smartphone's Future?

Imagine a smartphone screen that is no less tough than an armored military vehicle. Except for me, who doesn’t abuse their smartphone? People stuff it in their back pocket, throw it in their purse or satchel and then try to dig it out. Wouldn’t you like a screen that was almost as hard as a diamond?

GT Advanced Technologies (GT) is trying to make that happen. GT is a worldwide provider of polysilicon production technology. Their headquarters are in Nashua, NH. They produce sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems designed for solar, LED, as well as, other specialty markets. Polycrystalline silicon, also called polysilicon, is a material consisting of small silicon crystals. It differs from single crystal silicon, used for electronics and solar cells, and from amorphous silicon, used for thin film devices and solar cells.

Sapphire is a crystalline form of aluminum oxide. Chances are that it will never be as cheap as Cornings Gorilla Glass, which is used for the screens on iPhones. A screen made from Gorilla Glass costs around $3 compared to a sapphire screen that would cost in the neighborhood of $30. There is talk that the cost for a sapphire screen will drop to below $20 in the near future.

Eric Virey is an analyst for the market research firm Yole Développement. He says that since sapphire performs better than glass, that price could make it cheap enough to compete.

Virey said, “Sapphire is harder than any other natural material except diamond; by some measures, it’s three times stronger than Gorilla Glass, and it is also about three times more scratch resistant. That’s why Apple uses it now to protect the camera on its iPhone 5. All major mobile phone makers are considering using sapphire to replace glass. I’m convinced that some will start testing the water and release some high-end smartphones using sapphire in 2013.”

Imagine a screen that wouldn’t crack if you dropped your smartphone or one that wouldn’t get scratched if it was tumbling around with your keys. Doesn’t everyone want a phone with a screen strong enough to take a fall on a concrete floor?

That is what GT is trying to do. They are using the same strategy that they have been using over the past several years to reduce the cost of crystalline silicon for solar cells. To make the sapphire, aluminum oxide is melted down in a specialized furnace and then allowed to slowly cool to form a large crystal. That crystal is then cut with a diamond-coated wire saw. GT designs its furnaces so that they can be cheaply upgraded to make ever larger crystals as the technology improves, allowing customers to increase production without buying new equipment.

GT is a little more optimistic about the future pricing for sapphire screens. Instead of costing $30, they see a price tag around $9-$12 as compared to Gorilla Glass.

There are several other companies globally that also have proprietary technologies which could lower the cost of sapphire even more in the next couple of years. If the costs can be kept down low enough, as low as GT expects, then these manufacturers would have a large market waiting for them.

I would venture to guess that people would not mind paying just a little extra (not a lot mind you, but just enough extra) to have a screen as strong and resilient as an armored car.