History
| 1980 - 1990 | |
|---|---|
| 1980 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. was founded in Setagaya, Tokyo |
| 1982 | Achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 8.01%/AM1(100mW/cm2) in an NIP amorphous solar cell formed with a stainless steel substrate and set a new world record |
| 1984 | Succeeded in developing the solar battery by a laser scribing method for the first time in the world |
| Achieved an average photoelectric conversion efficiency of 8.67% and a peak of 9.41%, in PIN amorphous solar cell made with 100cm2 glass substrate, the highest in the world |
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Began production and sales of a photo CVD apparatus 
■ Photo CVD apparatus hν-2 |
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| 1985 | Increased capital to 50 million yen |
| Achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 9.90% (100cm2) for PIN amorphous solar cell on glass substrate, and set a new world record | |
Moved the head office and laboratory to Atsugi, Kanagawa 
■ Company building after moving to Atsugi
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| 1986 |
Developed the world’s first diamond deposition apparatus, and began sales  ■ Diamond deposition apparatus μH-2
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| 1987 |
Participated in the 1st World Solar Challenge, a solar powered car race in Australia  ■ Solor car
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| 1989 | Made a capital participation in Giant Technology Corporation (GTC), a project established by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan |
| 1990 | Increased capital to 480 million yen |
| Participated in the 2nd World Solar Challenge, a solar powered car race in Australia | |
| Achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 12.29% (1.05cm2) for PIN amorphous solar cell on glass substrate, and set a new world record | |
| Ranked 3rd for the number of U.S. patents in the Superconductor category | |
| 1991 - 1995 | |
| 1991 | Achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 12.65% (1.05 cm2), and set a new world record |
| Achieved a polycrystalline TFT with a mobility of 329cm2/Vsec, a world record | |
| 1992 |
Completion of a linear laser crystallization system, LS-6  ■ Linear laser crystallization system LS-6
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| 1993 | Made a facility investment for trial fabrication of thin-film integrated circuits |
| Merchandised a flexible solar cell by TDK Corporation | |
| 1995 | Announced the world’s first active-type organic EL (Electroluminescent) panel from TDK Corporation |
| 1996 - 2000 | |
| 1998 |
Announced the world’s first CGS® (Continuous Grain boundary crystal Silicon) technology with Sharp Corporation 
■ CGS(dark brown: amorphous state/light brown: crystalline state)
■ CGS TFT liquid crystal panel (1280×1024pixels) |
| 2000 | Presented Active-type Organic EL at CEATEC JAPAN |
| 2001 - 2005 | |
| 2001 | Co-founded a joint venture company ELDis, Inc. for the purpose of mass production and sales of TFT substrates for organic EL panels, with Tohoku Pioneer Corporation and Sharp Corporation |
| 2002 |
Announced the technology of forming CPU on a glass substrate with Sharp Corporation  ■ CPU on a glass substrate
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| Sharp Corporation began mass production of CG silicon | |
| 2003 | Increased capital to 4,348 million yen |
| Built IP Center | |
| Exhibited Dual Emission Organic EL panel at a joint booth in the 13th FPD Manufacturing Technology Expo & Conference (FINETECH JAPAN) |
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| Developed 4.3-inch VGA Organic EL panel with the world’s highest density of 188ppi (260,000 colors) | |
| 2004 |
Succeeded in forming and driving CPU on a plastic substrate for the first time in the world ■CPU on a plastic substrate |
| Developed and announced a 1.5-inch QXGA Organic EL panel with the world's highest pixel density of 423 ppi (aperture ratio: 75 %) | |
| 2005 | Succeeded in developing and driving a flexible RF circuit |
| Announced the achievement of successfully forming RFCPU on flexible substrate and glass substrate at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) | |
| 2006 - 2010 | |
| 2006 | Founded Advanced Film Device Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary |
| 2007 |
Announced success in the world’s first operation with communication signals in UHF band (915 MHz) at International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) ■RFCPU® |
| Obtained certification of International Standard, ISO/IEC27001 | |
| Exhibited Ultrathin Flexible RFID Tags in collaboration with TDK Corporation at CEATEC JAPAN 2007 | |
| 2008 | Exhibited Flexible RFID in collaboration with Advanced Film Device Inc. at Cartes & Indentification |
| 2009 | Presented Oxide Semiconductor (OS) TFT at SID Display Week 2009 |
| Received Best Paper Award for Presentation of Oxide Semiconductor (OS) TFT at AM-FPD’09 | |
| 2010 |
SID Display Week 2010 Presentations Oxide Semiconductor (OS): 5 papers Organic EL Lighting: 2 papers |
| Obtained certification of International Standard, ISO9001 | |
| 2011 - 2015 | |
| 2011 | Received Best Poster Award for presentation of Oxide Semiconductor (OS) TFT at ECI Semiconductor Technology for Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuits and Thin Film Transistors III |
| 2012 | Announced a new technology, C-Axis Aligned Crystal (CAAC®), of oxide semiconductor co-developed with Sharp Corporation |
| Announced a CPU incorporating a nonvolatile memory, which does not deteriorate in principle | |
| Exhibited prototypes of display panels and non-display application using CAAC-OS® at FPD International 2012 (co-presented with Sharp Corporation) | |
| Began distribution of smartphones using CAAC-OS through Sharp Corporation | |
| 2013 |
Received Gold Award in Display of the Year at SID Display Week 2013, “LCD using oxide semiconductor IGZO, incorporated in smartphones manufactured by Sharp Corporation” (co-recipient with Sharp Corp.) |
| Received Paper Award for presenting CPU using CAAC-OS at SSDM 2013 | |
Exhibited displays at FPD International 2013 and received Outstanding Achievement Prize for “Flexible display, lighting and battery using oxide semiconductor” ■Wearable Device Incorporating Flexible Battery exhibited at FPD International 2013 |
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| Received Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Prize of the 27th Chunichi Industrial Technology Awards, “Mass production LCD panels “IGZO” using oxide semiconductor” (co-recipient with Sharp Corp.) | |
| 2014 |
Received Distinguished Paper Award for the presentation of OLED Display Using CAAC-OS FETs at SID Display Week 2014 |
Received Display Innovation Award, Grand Prize for Ultra High-Definition and Ultra Thin Flexible Organic Display exhibited at Display Innovation 2014 ■8.7-Inch Tri-fold Display with Touch Panel Sensor exhibited at Display Innovation 2014 |
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| 2015 |
Exhibited a 13.3-Inch 8K OLED display at IBC Content Everywhere MENA 2015 and at other exhibition venues in collaboration with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) ■13.3-Inch 8K OLED display |
| Received SID’s Special Recognition Award for President Yamazaki's contributions to the discovery of CAAC-IGZO® | |
| Received Distinguished Paper Awards for the paper on "Apparatus for Manufacturing Flexible OLED Displays" and for the paper on "New Pixel Circuits Using OS-FET" presented at SID Display Week 2015 | |
| 2016 - 2020 | |
| 2016 | Received ACerS Corporate Technical Achievement Award for the discovery of CAAC-IGZO and its development for application products (co-recipient, Sharp Corporation) |
| President Yamazaki received ACerS Medal for Leadership in the Advancement of Ceramic Technology for his outstanding contributions to oxide semiconductor technology and energy-saving display devices | |
| Received Distinguished Paper Awards for the paper on "A 2.78-in 1058-ppi Ultra-High-Resolution Flexible OLED Display Using CAAC-IGZO FETs" and for the paper on "13.3-inch 8k4k 664-ppi 120-Hz 12-bit OLED Display Using Top-Gate Self-Align CAAC-OS FETs and 12-bit Source Driver IC " presented at SID Display Week 2016 | |
| 2017 | President Yamazaki published three jointly edited books on crystalline oxide semiconductor CAAC-IGZO® from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
| Exhibited at AI World Conference & Expo, and President Yamazaki made a keynote speech "Power Consumption: Roadblock for AI Moving Forward" | |
| 2018 | Received Distinguished Paper Award for the paper on "Highly Efficient Deep Blue Fluorescent Dopant for Achieving Low Power OLED Display Satisfying BT.2020 Chromaticity" presented at SID Display Week 2018 |
| President Yamazaki received W. David Kingery Award from ACerS for pioneering industrial leadership and seminal contributions to oxide semiconductors that have led to several innovative materials technologies | |
| 2019 | Received Distinguished Paper Award for the paper on "5291 ppi organic light-emitting diode display using field-effect transistors including a c-axis aligned crystalline oxide semiconductor" presented at SID Display Week 2019 |
| Smartphone using c-axis aligned crystal indium-gallium-zinc oxide (CAAC-IGZO) technology (e. g., AQUOS R2 and AQUOS R2 compact) received 2019 R&D 100 Award. (co-recipient, Sharp Corporation) | |
| 2021 - | |
| 2021 | Received The American Ceramic Society Richard M. Fulrath Awards |
| 2024 | President Seo received 2024 MEXT Commendation for Science and Technology for "Development of Highly Efficient and Long-life OLED Device" |
| Received Distinguished Paper Award for the paper on "High-luminance and Highly Reliable Tandem OLED Display" presented at SID Display Week 2024 | |
| Chairman Yamazaki received the Rustum Roy Lecture Award from ACerS in recognition of his significant contributions to science, technology, and society, and delivered an award lecture titled "Proposal of oxide ceramic LSI device for putting the brakes on global warming accelerated by AI-age computers" at the ACerS Annual Meeting | |
| 2026 | Chairman Yamazaki received the Mrityunjay Singh Bridge Building Award from ACerS for his contributions to the field of engineering ceramics, and delivered a lecture titled "Oxide ceramics LSI devices to mitigate global extreme weather due to computers in the AI era" |
*CGS, RFCPU, CAAC, CAAC-OS, and CAAC-IGZO are registered trademarks of Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
(Japanese trademark registration No. 4335464, No. 4963906, No. 5473530, No. 5759619, and No. 5494218).