April 2005

Both area color and full color OLED products from RiTdisplay use passive-matrix (PM) driving technology at present. However, Wang indicated that the company will start to deliver its active-matrix (AM) OLED product in small volume within this year, and will focus on a 2.2-inch full color product.

As did Samsung, RiTdisplay adopted a-Si TFT technology to develop its AMOLED product. The company believes a-Si technology offers better performance than LTPS; the size of the substrate is another consideration. "When FPD TV happens to be one of the applications of AMOLED, the size of LTPS substrate will become a great limitation in product development. Since the largest LTPS panel available nowadays is only around 20-inch," said Yih Chang, general manager of RiTdisplay.

Singapore-based Innoled, a licensee of Cambridge Display Technology’s light-emitting polymer technology, is set to commence pilot runs of its OLED production line next month. According to Peter Karlsson, Innoleds's Managing Director, pilot production will take place in The Netherlands at the facilities of Innoled's display equipment provider, OTB Engineering.

The company plans to start commercial production in Singapore by the end of this year, Karlsson added. The products will be marketed under the Nuovio brand name.

eMagin Corporation has received notification of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an anode design that features improved stability. The design effectively extends the lifetime of eMagin's OLED microdisplays.

eMagin scientists developed a single-layer, semi-transparent capable anode with efficient hole injection properties. The approach can improve the overall stability of the anode and OLED life by simplifying both the manufacturing process and the device structure.

"As more commercial and military users are attracted to the excellent performance and durability of our OLED microdisplays, we are continuing to incrementally improve upon the technology to make it more broadly useful," said Susan Jones, eMagin's chief marketing and strategy officer. "This new patent represents an important method to make high efficiency, long life OLEDs that should be compatible with a wide range of OLED materials. Aspects of this invention are already proving its worth in our products."

Litrex Corporation shipped its milestone 50th inkjet printer, a Generation 2, to a major institute for developing a wide variety of LCD manufacturing applications. This shipment solidifies Litrex's leadership in the development of inkjet printing systems for new electronics manufacturing applications. Litrex's current printers are the most advanced inkjet systems for precisely depositing an array of high-value materials, including electronic polymers, nano-metals, and biomaterials. Currently 25 companies worldwide are utilizing Litrex printers for materials deposition in industries such as OLED, organic semiconductors, and LCD manufacturing.

The agreement paves the way for Samsung SDI to integrate Universal Display's proprietary OLED technologies into Samsung SDI's active-matrix OLED display products.

Samsung SDI said it intends to introduce Universal Display's phosphorescent materials and associated technology in Samsung SDI's initial active-matrix OLED products. According to the company, PHOLEDs have been shown to be up to four times more efficient than traditional fluorescent OLEDs, which is key for lower power consumption, less heat generation and longer operating lifetimes.

"The worldwide market for OLED displays is estimated to grow to $5.2 billion in 2008. We also expect that [Universal Display's] PHOLEDs having more saturated colors and cost saving advantages over the traditional fluorescent OLEDs would lead the OLED manufacturers to introduce OLED displays into the market quickly," he continued

The growing number of electronics devices using OLED displays shows that, after years of promise, the technology is finding a home in more and more products. But while OLED displays might challenge LCDs as the screens of choice for smaller gadgets, don't expect the technology to become mainstream for notebook PCs or TVs within this decade.

"In 5-6 years from now, I am expecting that OLED technology will become mature enough to play a significant role in the market. Looking at the industry now, we are seeing many companies involved in OLED development. I think that, after a few years, this technology will be suitable for real products to come out, not just for mobile phones, but also for standard PC monitors."
Q: When will you start manufacturing OLED monitors?
A: Again, difficult to say, maybe in five to ten years from now. As I said before, it could be at the beginning of the technology maturity.

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OSRAM Pictivia New product line Osram Opto Semiconductors continues to expand its Pictiva line of OLED graphic display products and today announced that it is shipping two new solutions designed for the consumer and communications markets.
The new products include a 128x48 pixel solution and a white and blue display format for Osram’s existing 96x36 pixel displays.
Designed for the fast-growing MP3 player market, the new 128x48 display is a standard product available in seven different colors. Depending on the color, this 1.2-inch product offers a lifetime between 10,000 and 40,000 hours.
The new 96x36 product is offered in both white and blue is designed for handset sub-displays, as well as alternative communications and consumer applications with similar size and specification requirements.
Pictiva products are driven by standard IC-driver technology that supports both parallel and serial interfaces

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Colorado-based start-up Coled has given further details of its electrode modification which increases the efficiency of OLED displays.

We have a self-assembly system which acts as an energy-adjusting barrier layer between organic and inorganic at the hole-injection electrode, Coled chief scientist and CEO Dr Neil Gough told Electronics Weekly.

This means it is deposited on an ITO electrode before the light-emitting polymer or small-molecule emitter is laid down. Compared to a display without the barrier layer, at the same current you get the same brightness at a lower voltage drop, claimed Gough.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Inc. today announced it has reached the first milestone in its three-year, white OLED project, funded by a $4.65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The 2004 DOE grant was issued to research the potential of white OLEDs to save energy in commercial and residential lighting applications.

The advanced white-light prototype is based on multiple, discrete 2-inch x 3-inch white-light devices fabricated on glass substrates. OSRAM's first-year deliverable is an advanced prototype light source where each tile in the module has a luminous efficacy of 7 lumens-per-watt (lm/W) and a color-rendering index (CRI) of about 80. The prototype operates at an average luminance of 250 nits. At program end, OSRAM will produce a color-balanced OLED white-light source with a luminous efficacy of 40 lumens per watt at 800 nits and an operating half-life of 3,000 hours.