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TOKYO – Nikon Corporation will open and commence operation of “S3S LAB”, a co-creation platform outfitted with a full suite of equipment necessary for developing flexible electronics within its Sagamihara Plant in Kanagawa prefecture on December 10, 2025. “S3S LAB” will house Nikon’s proprietary, cutting-edge Roll-to-Roll (R2R)^*1 maskless lithography system, as well as peripheral equipment utilizing the film deposition and multilayer wiring formation technologies required for flexible device manufacturing. As a new base for innovation, it will provide strong solutions to customers’ challenges, from research and development to commercialization.

Flexible electronics, which form electronic circuits on the surface of film, enables production of lightweight, thin, transparent, and freely shaped devices. This opens up new possibilities in a variety of fields, including displays, sensors, and perovskite solar cells. However, the transition from research and development to mass production poses the challenge of expensive capital investment and co-creation platforms that can consistently verify the R2R process are rare even on a global scale.

“S3S LAB” provides integrated support from prototype manufacturing to mass production process development, enabling customers to promote necessary process verifications for mass production, and commercialization decisions without large-scale capital investment. In the mass production phase, Nikon will contribute to customers’ commercialization and the creation of a new era in the flexible electronics industry by providing process technology and R2R equipment cultivated at “S3S LAB”.

• *1A manufacturing process in which roll-shaped substrates are continuously processed and rewound into rolls. Compared to the sheet processing method, it features superior continuity and high productivity.

Overview of S3S LAB

Features of the R2R Maskless Lithography System

• Achieves 6.0 µm^*2 (L/S^*3) resolution and overlay accuracy within ± 2 µm for films prone to deformation such as distortion and shrinkage due to heat, supporting the production of high-definition and multilayer wiring devices.
• Delivers high productivity of 10 mm per second by utilizing multi-lens technology^*4 developed with Nikon’s FPD lithography systems.
• The polygon scanning method is used to pattern on the curved surface of the roll, enabling continuous patterning.
• Since exposure is based on CAD data, no photomask is required, which contributes to shortening prototyping time and reducing mask costs.

• *21 µm (micrometer) means one-millionth of a meter (one-thousandth of a millimeter).
• *3Abbreviation for Line and Space. Refers to the width of the wiring and the spacing between adjacent wiring.
• *4Nikon’s proprietary technology for FPD lithography systems arranges multiple projection lenses in an array and precisely controls them to achieve the same effect as using a single giant lens. This enables patterning over a wider area in a single scan.

Overview of the R2R Maskless Lithography System

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The legal documents submitted in New York Supreme Court mark the latest development in a prolonged saga over Venture Global’s failure to deliver LNG under long-term contracts while selling on the spot market as prices soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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In a challenge last month to the arbitration ruling, Shell alleged that a third party testified in arbitration that Venture Global had abruptly decided to delay the start of its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant. Shell said it asked arbitrators to study that communication, but said Venture Global avoided disclosure by giving misleading statements.

Venture Global said in its filing on Tuesday that Shell had provided no evidence of the alleged fraud. It said the third party, which was redacted, “did not testify to written communications with Venture Global” and that Venture Global’s counsel did not make misleading statements.

The LNG producer also said in the filing that Shell had breached arbitration confidentiality to share information with Venture Global’s counterparties and their counsel.

EMAIL SUGGESTS INTEREST IN COMMERCIAL RESOLUTION

Shell’s arbitration case centred around cargoes from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility. Shell also has a long-term contract with Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility.

In its legal filing, Venture Global included an email from what it said was a Shell executive, whose name was redacted, signalling an interest in reaching a commercial resolution.

“We remain interested in finding a commercial resolution for both the CP (Calcasieu Pass) and Plaquemines situations and I welcome a conversation at your earliest convenience,” the Shell executive told Venture Global in an email dated the same day the oil major filed its challenge.

The Shell executive also told Venture Global in the email that the arbitration outcome between the LNG producer and BP raised significant concerns about the evidence presented in that proceeding, and suggested that Shell’s arbitration should have been decided in the same way.

Venture Global shares, also under pressure from its exposure to a possible LNG supply glut, have declined 22% since Shell first filed the challenge last month. They are hovering near an all-time low of $6.56 per share compared with $24 when they began trading on the market in January.

that BP won its arbitration case with an argument of unfair behaviour by Venture Global, citing five sources.

BP’s arbitration win in October gave Shell a basis for its challenge, legal experts told Reuters.

“Shell referencing BP’s win (in its challenge) signals that similar fact-patterns led to different tribunal outcomes, strengthening Shell’s argument that full evidentiary access matters,” said Claudio Steuer of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

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