OPV - Page 7

Competitive Technologies and Articulated Technologies today announced that they have signed an agreement for CTT to license and commercialize Articulated's patented OLED technology for adaptation to solar power. The agreement provides for revenue sharing between CTT and Articulated of royalty and licensing payments.

In addition to the solar panel technology, Articulated is the innovative leader in logical, yet truly disruptive, technologies for roll-to-roll LED solid state lighting, OLED manufacturing, and device structures of thin film, flexible, light emissive materials in ILED (Inorganic Light Emitting Diodes) and OLED applications. These applications include lighting, signage, displays, and backlighting, and medical, automotive, architectural and safety products. Articulated also holds IP on new methods of packaging microelectronics and semiconductors, and on printed electronics.

The pilot fabrication system consists of clusters combining thermal evaporation and organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD) modules. The usable substrate size is 370 x 470 mm² on glass substrates and foils. The targeted tact time is three minutes, resulting in an annual capacity of approximately 13,000 m². The system is designed for efficient materials usage and flexibility in substrate format and organic stack. It is one of the worlds first pilot production systems for OLED lighting and organic based solar cells.

The order of the fabrication system is the first step to establish COMEDD at the Fraunhofer IPMS. To speed up the time to market for OLED lighting, organic solar cells and OLED-on-CMOS-devices, the Fraunhofer IPMS is building three pilot production lines. Germany’s state and federal government, as well the EU, are investing € 25 million into COMEDD to establish the leading European institution for R&D and pilot production of small-molecule organic devices.

The order of our tool is for us an important step to OLED lighting fabrication machine market. says Dr. Hoon Lim, CEO of Sunic Systems.

The integration of an OVPD® module is a milestone for our business to integrate next generation fabrication technology into new market segments. notes Dr. Bernd Schulte, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at AIXTRON AG.

Read more here (Azom)

Vitex Systems announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Sunic System. The agreement includes a technology transfer package from Vitex to Sunic, and gives Sunic the non-exclusive rights to make and sell Guardian(TM) thin-film encapsulation systems, which can be used to encapsulate various electronic components and devices, including organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, thin film solar cells and thin film batteries. While the financial terms of agreement were not disclosed, the license includes an upfront fee and on-going royalty payments based on tool sales.

The NanoMarkets report, Printed Electronics: A Manufacturing Technology Analysis and Capacity Forecast, provides the first complete analysis of the commercial environment and manufacturing capacity for printable electronics manufacturing. It includes an assessment of the printing equipment used in this space and of the strategies of the manufacturers and integrators supplying the technology.

The report profiles 11 leading firms currently producing PE products, describing their current and future manufacturing plans, the kinds of equipment they are using and how they are creating the first printable electronics fabs, to meet their expectations of the market. The report also includes a forecast from 2007 to 2013 of printing equipment shipments broken out by type of equipment and whether the equipment is used in an R&D or full-scale production facility.

Scientists at National Taiwan University have found a way to improve the contrast by integrating OLEDs with solar cells. Not only do solar cells positioned behind an OLED provide a contrast superior to that achieved with polarizers, but they can also recycle energy that is usually wasted.

The scientists explain that OLEDs generally consist of a reflective back electrode, organic layers, and a semi-transparent electrode for light to exit. The reflective back electrode means that the device constantly reflects light, even when the device is off, and degrades the contrast when the display is on. Previous approaches to reduce the ambient light reflection and enhance the contrast result in lost energy from both the incident photons and the stifling of some internal OLED emission.

Novaled and Heliatek have entered into a licensing agreement concerning the use of Novaled PIN OLED™ technology for solar cell application.

With this agreement, Heliatek will develop high performing organic solar cells using the power efficiency given by the Novaled PIN OLED™ technologies and Novaled unique molecular dopants. Both Companies in addition will cooperate on further developing the organic based photovoltaic technologies.

NanoHorizons, a developer of applied nanoscale materials and solutions, announced today that it has received a notice of allowance from the US Patent Office for its innovative nanoscale photovoltaic cell design. NanoHorizons' design enables dramatic improvements in solar cell efficiency and breakthrough reductions in fabrication costs. Brighter, more efficient OLEDs are also made possible.

The new technology will be available via NanoHorizons' new Technology Licensing Program.
NanoHorizons' design utilizes a single nanoscale-engineered structure to perform both absorption and collection: An array of efficient vertically- aligned collector "nano-spikes" (made of nanofibers, nanowires, nanotubes, or nanoparticle chains) rise throughout a layer of light-absorptive material. By integrating vertical nano-spike collectors into the absorption material itself, energy collection now occurs at 90 degrees to the absorption process.