February 2006

Designed around the classic Hasselblad 503, with Carl Zeiss Planar CFE 2.8/80 mm lens, 2.2-inch OLED display, FireWire 800 output and a 16 megapixel 36.7 x 36.7 mm sensor, the Hasselblad 503CWD may well be the most beautiful digital camera ever made.
Of course, at about $14,000, it's not for everyone. Which may explain why Hasselblad is only making 500 of the cameras, to commemorate the 100th birthday of company founder Victor Hasselblad.
No, this isn't a camera for carrying around to take candids of the kids.
But if you've got the cash and long for a high-end studio digicam with a sense of history, get in line. Those 500 are probably going to go very quickly.

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The world market for organic light emitting diodes is set to grow 64 percent by volume and 45 percent by value in 2006, to reach 100 million units and $900 million, according to DisplayBank, a South Korean display market researcher.

In 2005 the market was $620 million and 61.1 million units, which represented annual volume growth of 65 percent from 2004, the company said. DisplayBank said Samsung SDI shipped a total of 16.58 million OLED units in 2005, which accounted for 27 percent of the world’s market volume, and retaining its position as the top shipper OLEDs in 2005.

Researchers using an in-line vertical OLED manufacturing process aim to set milestones in terms of cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

A cheaper technique for mass-producing OLED displays and lighting tiles might be a step closer thanks to research being carried out at Fraunhofer IPMS in Germany. The unique vertical in-line tool operates with continuous vertical substrate flow and linear sources for depositing organic and metallic materials. The production line at IPMS is designed for a substrate height of 400 mm and width of 470 mm or larger.

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Osram Opto Semiconductors has announced progress on its OLED Lighting project. The project, funded by a $4.65 million grant from the US Department of Energy, was initiated in 2004 to research the potential of white OLEDs as an energy-saving product for commercial and residential lighting.

The company has achieved a 25-lm/W polymer OLED. The cool-white-emitting diode uses a solution-processable, phosphorescent, blue-emitting device in conjunction with an external inorganic phosphor layer. This 14 lm/W of blue color was achieved by embedding an efficient phosphorescent blue emitter in a polymer host.

The company has also demonstrated a 20-lm/W phosphorescent device based on a white-emitting polymer blend. This diode employs no external phosphors, and the white emission comes directly from the phosphorescent polymer. The company hopes to use the advances as a basis to develop large-area light tiles.

The polymer OLED enables color tuning, using a design based on three separate, printable polymer inks emitting in the red, green and blue portions of the spectrum. Ink-jet was used to pattern the small, three-color segments. The product’s driver circuitry enables users to regulate color from dark blue to white. The technology offers large-size scalability without losses in optical and electrical properties.

Universal Display says there is no row between it and UK organic LED company Cambridge Display Technology following a patent UDC revealed recently. The patent is primarily about the ability to ink-jet print OLEDs using small molecular materials, instead of polymeric materials, for light emission, Janice Mahon, v-p of technology commercialisation at US-based UDC told Electronics Weekly. CDT’s patents largely cover polymeric emissive materials and it is unlikely the patent will cause a conflict.

However, while UDC’s technology in this new patent is fundamentally small-molecule and not polymer, UDC’s patent portfolio broadly covers phosphorescent OLED technology, said UDC’s Mahon. It is too early to tell what structures will be commercialised. We have a very important phosphorescent portfolio just as CDT has a very important polymer portfolio, said Mahon. Mahon added: The competition is LCD, it is not polymer versus small molecule.

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.

Universal Display Corporation announced today that the Company has entered into an agreement with AU Optronics, to supply the Company's proprietary PHOLED(TM) phosphorescent OLED material for use in an active matrix OLED product.

Universal Display's proprietary PHOLED technology offers up to four times higher efficiency than conventional OLED technology - a feature that is very important for today's battery-operated cell phones and other portable devices, as well as for tomorrow's large-area TVs and solid-state lighting products. Over the past few years, the Company has announced a series of record-breaking performance milestones for its red, green and blue PHOLED systems. The Company's PHOLED materials, manufactured by PPG Industries exclusively for Universal Display, are currently being evaluated and used in commercial production by a number of electronics manufacturers.

Anders Electronics has added a 2.7" PMOLED module to its range of low-profile, low-power video-capable displays, presenting an easy upgrade path from LCD modules that are thicker and heavier and also require a backlight. A quick start guide and rapid evaluation hardware are also available from Anders Electronics, for fast and easy system-level integration of OLEDs in a wide range of sizes and resolutions including the new 2.7in module. The new Osram Pictiva 2.7" OLEDs are 128 columns x 64 rows resolution, enabling clear display of text or graphic images.

Yellow or green versions are available, each having 4bit grey-scale colour depth. Offering the established benefits of OLED technology, the new modules have 180 degree viewing angle and 2000:1 contrast ratio for excellent readability in a wide range of situations in audio products, industrial equipment or medical instruments. The latest 2.7" displays are only 3.4mm thick, for easy mounting in very thin panels, and consume 0.05mW in sleep mode.

Mitsui Chemicals and Idemitsu Kosan have reached the agreement to establish a business alliance in R&D and manufacturing of OLED materials. MCI and Idemitsu continually examine to strengthen business areas in common, taking occasion to "the agreement to comprehensively study for cooperation in Chiba area" in February 2004.

The development of new OLED materials will be conducted by each firm. However, MCI and Idemitsu will significantly enhance efficiency of developing materials by combining "advanced molecular design and synthetic technology" of MCI and Idemitsu with "material's integration technology and practical evaluation technology", in which Idemitsu gains predominance.

eMagin Corporation is supplying SVGA 3D OLED microdisplays for NordicNeuroLab's new VisualSystem. The VisualSystem product provides true 3D visual stimuli for fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) applications.

According to Dr. Tormod Thomsen, Managing Director, NordicNeuroLabs, "Studies show that visual stimulation for fMRI measurements are more reliable with direct input through video goggles than with the conventional use of projection screens. eMagin's OLED microdisplays provide the contrast, color, and 3D capability to deliver the convincing visual stimuli required."

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