OLEDs and paper-like display technology are rapidly leading to new opportunities in the display industry according to a new report from NanoMarkets. The report predicts that combined sales of OLED displays and paper-like displays will reach $10.2 billion by 2011 and then go on to reach $14.7 billion by 2013.
Thin-film encapsulation materials supplier Vitex Systems Inc. plans to change its business model to focus on the company’s portfolio of IP and related engineering services.
Vitex (San Jose) has for the past few years done significant development of its Barix thin-film barrier encapsulation technology for manufacturing OLED displays as well as roll-to-roll Flexible Glass technology. The company had a pilot production plant in Windsor, Ct., that manufactured some materials. Under the new business arrangement, Vitex will close the plant and license the core IP to substrate makers having high-volume roll-to-roll manufacturing capacity.
In addition, capital equipment makers will be able to license the IP for Vitex’s Guardian thin-film deposition system with access to the company’s hardware and software.
Vitex expects the revised business model to enable OLED display manufacturers and producers of organic optoelectronic devices to speed time-to-market for thinner, lighter, lower-cost products.
During a session at the Flexible Display Conference here earlier this week, a presentation updating the cost model in roll-to-roll manufacturing painted a less-than-glowing picture of the technique. Presented by consulting firm Abbie Gregg Inc. (Tempe, Ariz.), the study concluded that a combination of high costs and poor availability of production tools are hindering the adoption of roll-to-roll manufacturing.
The study found that the tooling cost of setting an active-matrix flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) substrate line amounted to roughly $177 per square foot. The cost of tooling a passive-matrix polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) line is far less, at $45 per square foot.
GE Global Research is presenting details on its successful development of a substrate system for flexible OLEDs at the Flexible Displays & Microelectronics Conference, Feb. 6-9 in Phoenix, Ariz. The system features a developmental high-temperature Lexan polycarbonate (PC) film from GE - Plastics combined with a transparent, ultra-high-barrier coating to help protect the OLED device against oxygen and moisture.
This research, jointly funded by the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) and GE, is designed to address the critical need for plastic substrates that can enable cost-effective, lightweight, flexible organic displays. Min Yan, GE materials scientist, will give a presentation on the new substrate system, which is currently being produced in batch mode and will ultimately be moved to a roll-to-roll process for cost efficiency. In addition, GE - Plastics is featuring a variety of plastic films for electrical/electronic display applications during the exhibition.
MicroContinuum Inc. and Next Sierra have both been awarded contracts each totaling nearly $1 million by the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) for advanced display process and component development.
MicroContinuum Inc. was awarded a contact to develop a process to pattern conductors on flexible substrates utilizing its roll-to-roll processing technology. MicroContinuum will use the process to form patterns in indium tin oxide (ITO), an optically transparent, conductive material used in display manufacturing.
Next Sierra will use the USDC contract to design and develop two versions of an integrated circuit for AM-OLEDs.
Vitex Systems announced that it has been awarded an R&D contract from the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) to scale up its flexible glass substrate technology to roll-type manufacturing for producing flexible OLED displays.
Vitex has developed a thin-film encapsulation solution, called Barix, to resolve moisture and oxygen sensitivity problems common in flexible substrates. Under this new USDC contract, Vitex will explore producing the flexible glass substrate on a high-volume, roll-to-roll manufacturing line with the improved barrier performance and lower defect levels needed to meet stringent quality requirements associated with producing OLED displays.
