Solution based OLEDs - Page 10

Back in June 2012 I posted about the new Chinese "Stimulated Blue company" and its AMOLED project. Now I got some new details and corrections for my original story.

First of all, the company's name is AIV-BEX,and not Stimulated Blue. The holding company is Aivtech International Group, a NASDAQ-listed (ticker:AIVI) Shenzhen based maker of audio&video products. The Henan provincial government will provide some of the funding for this project. In fact in November 2012 company official met with Representatives from the Henan government and it seems that the project is progressing smoothly and is actively being supported by the government. In fact they regard it as one of Xinyang Industrial City's key projects.

BOE Display developed a 17" Oxide-TFT AMOLED prototype that was produced in an ink-jet printing process. They say that this is the first time these an Oxide-TFT OLED panel was ink-jet printed successfully, but I'm not sure if that's actually true because I think Panasonic's printed 56" OLED TV shown at CES also sports an Oxide-TFT. Still this is a great achievement by BOE.

BOE Ordos 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab

A few months ago we reported that BOE started construction of their 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab in Ordos (Inner Mongolia) which will produce 54K substrates a month. According to earlier reports, the fab cost is estimated at $3.44 billion. BOE's plan is apparently to first start with LTPS LCD and only in 2014 start producing AMOLED panels as well. It's probable that the ink-jet based process is even further away...

According to Pocket-Lint, Panasonic plans to stop producing LCD TV panels in its Himeji plant, and instead use the fab to produce OLED TVs and 4K 20" tablet LCD panels. Panasonic is using printing technologies to produce its OLED TVs (with some help from Sony, too) - and they're confident their OLED panels will be "significantly cheaper" than what others makers can do.

Back in September 2012 it was reported that Panasonic has taken steps to streamline its R&D and put more focus on OLED TV development, and earlier it was reported that the company plans to convert a production line in Himeji to AMOLED production (an R&D line at first). Back then Panasonic said they will continue to produce LCD TVs, but now it seems the company will buy its LCD TV panels from a third party, and focus on tablet 4K displays and 4K OLEDs.

Panasonic unveiled a 56" 4K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel prototype that was produced using an all-printing method. Panasonic calls this the "RGB all-printing method" and they say that all the organic materials were deposited using ink-jet printing. Panasonic says that their OLED panels deliver superb image quality, high contrast and fast response rate. The panels are efficient, ulta-thin and light weight. Panasonic considers OLED as a "promising option for next-generation displays".

Panasonic's panel uses a top-emission structure with a transparent cathode, which results in a more efficient panel (Sony's OLEDs use the same structure, this may be Sony's technology). The panel's TFT substrate was supplied by Sony (so it's probably an Oxide-TFT based panel) as part of the two companies collaboration. Interestingly, even though it seems that they use red, green and blue sub-pixels, Panasonic applied a color filter layer as well - to tune the emission color and achieve high color purity and "superb color reproduction".

Heraeus is introducing new polymer OLED materials. The HIL-E grades is a combination of Hole Injection Layer and a high conductive electrode - and so provide an economic ITO alternative. These are PEDOT formulations designed for the OLED lighting industry.

The HIL-E materials feature excellent planarization properties and a refractive index that matches glass and plastic substrates. The formulations are also pH neutral. Regular and high work function grades are available. These polymer-based materials are suitable for slot-die coating, ink-jet printing and other deposition processes.

Sumitomo Chemical is showing PLED lighting panels at the FPDI 2012 conference. Some of these panels are color tunable, I think it's the first time we see those kinds of panels from Sumitomo:

Back in March 2012 we posted an update on Sumitomo's OLED program. According to the company's roadmap, by 2015 they plan to produce PLEDs on plastic substraces which will feature between 20,000 and 30,000 hours of lifetime and 60-80 lm/W. These plastic based OLEDs will also be flexible.

Merck has signed a cooperation and licensing agreement with Seiko Epson. According to the agreement, Epson will supply Merck with ink technology that dissolves Merck's soluble OLED materials so that they can be used for the production of printable OLED displays. This brings Merck closer to providing production-ready OLED printing materials.

The two companies will also continue their close cooperation to create a strong ink-formulation roadmap in order for Merck to commercialize and address current and future requirements of the OLED TV industry, including the creation of industry-standard inks for manufacturing OLED TVs using inkjet technology.

German startup Cynora unveiled a new mostly-solution-based flexible OLED prototype - aimed for smart packaging applications. Cynora developed the low-cost emitters (based on copper precursors) and developed the prototype in collaboration with InnovationLab (in a project titled cyFlex).

Cynora are now working towards the integration of the wiring into the thin film layers of the OLED. Cynora are using solution processing (coating and printing).

Digitimes reports that AUO has started to develop a printing process to make OLED panels, with hopes that this new process will lower the production cost and increase the material utilization. AUO is suffering from low (50%) yields in its current production process - which uses vapor deposition. The report suggests that AUO is also developing Oxide-TFT backplanes for OLEDs - but this isn't news - AUO unveiled an Oxide-TFT based 32" OLED TV prototype back in November 2011.

Actually all OLED makers are looking into more efficient production processes based on printing so this is hardly a surprise. It's likely that it will take some years before we'll start seeing printed OLED panels on the market though.

Sumitomo Chemical has joined the Holst Centre's shared research program on Printed Organic Lighting and Signage. The program's aim is to develop new manufacturing processes that enable low-cost flexible OLEDs. Sumitomo will help the program's investigation of multi-layer solution processes for high-efficiency OLEDs, using the company's PLED materials.

Flexible OLED lighting prototype

Sumitomo will provide other program members access to its OLED materials - especially the emitting materials. Sumitomo will be able to use the program's expertise in order to optimize its own materials for low-cost production and flexible substrates.