March 2006

Samsung Korea has officially announced the SBH-300 Bluetooth Audio player with 2GB memory.
It can function as a Bluetooth stereo headset for handling phone calls when linked with a Bluetooth-enabled handset.
The SBH-300 has a OLED display capable of dispalying 262k colors. It supports MP3 playback and can display image files.
It also includes a FM tuner and supports voice recording. Storage is not limited to the onboard 2GB Flash memory it can be further expanded via the Micro SD card slot.
The SBH-300 includes earphones with an inline microphone and volume control, necklace strap, and a USB data cable.

LCD maker Varitronix Int. Ltd has announced plans to enter the OLED market by taking up as much as 29.91 percent in OLED developer and marketer Ness Display Holdings Ltd.

"Ness Display's experience and production capability for OLED offers the company a quick entrance to the market," said Varitronix Chairman Chang Chu Cheng.

The researchers, located at the Technical University of Braunschweig, are claiming the development to be a world's first. Their approach is to use transparent TFTs (thin-film transistors) made of a 100-nanometer-thick layer of zinc-tin-oxide, which transmits more than 90 percent of visible light. Such transistors are more often made of silicon, which is used for LCDs (liquid crystal displays) but is highly absorptive in the visible part of the spectrum.

In the devices developed by the researchers, the brightness of the OLED pixels varied from 0 to 700 candelas per square meter by changing the voltage of the driving TFTs. By comparison, typical computer screens today reach a brightness of approximately 300 candelas per square meter.
Thomas Riedl, head of the organic and inorganic lasers team of the High-Frequency Institute at the Technical University of Braunschweig expects the first prototype transparent OLED displays to be available in two years.

Researchers at GE Plastics have detailed a plastic-substrate system that they claim will lead to OLED (organic-light-emitting-diode)-based displays that are more flexible, lighter, more durable, and less costly to build than those based on glass substrates.

The system combines a high-temperature Lexan polycarbonate film with a transparent coating that protects the display from oxygen and moisture. The high clarity and high temperature resistance of the Lexan film enable the construction of a 125-micron-thick substrate that can withstand the heat involved in OLED fabrication and still allow optimal light transmission, according to the company.
In addition, the system should be amenable to high-volume-manufacturing processes that will drive down cost.

A new organic molecule developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists may significantly improve the efficiency of organic solid state lighting. Direct conversion of electricity to light in "solid state" thin films of organic molecules occurs in organic light emitting devices which can be far more efficient than conventional "incandescent" light bulbs.
In an OLED, light emitting molecules harvest positive and negative charge carriers from oppositely charged electrodes to create excitons, which collapse to give light emission. By using organometallic phosphors, a photon can be emitted for every electron used so there is no wasted current.
But until now, no good host materials were available to transport the charge to blue phosphorescent light emitters. And, without an efficient blue component, it is not possible to generate the high quality white light required for indoor lighting. The PNNL team is solving this problem by linking small organic molecules together using inorganic "phosphine oxide" connecting units to make larger molecules that transport charge but do not interfere with the blue light emission process.

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With 13 of the 70 technical sessions at the Symposium, OLEDs represent the largest single technology concentration at SID 2006. Sessions will focus on OLED device structures, active-matrix (AM) OLEDs, OLED manufacturing, materials, and blue-emitting OLEDs. Notable OLED papers will cover flexible AMOLEDs on stainless-steel substrates (one paper each by Samsung SDI and Universal Display Corp.), and white OLEDs (Novaled GmbH).

Global-Tech Appliances announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Consortium Investment has entered into an agreement with Anwell Technologies a publicly listed company in Singapore, to form a joint venture company, Lite Array Holdings Limited, with its manufacturing facilities in China to exploit synergies related to the production of OLED systems.

The West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF) announced today that it has invested $500,000 in Plextronics, the world leader in developing active layer technology that enables broad market commercialization of printed electronic devices, to accelerate the development of Plexcore™ HIL for solid state white lighting (SSL).
Plexcore HIL is an organic non-acidic, solvent-based hole injection layer for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Plexcore HIL for SSL is an extension of the Plexcore HIL product line. The flexibility of the Plexcore™ platform enables the polymer design to be modified at the nano-molecular level and an ink to be formulated that optimizes the solid state lighting application. This ink when printed becomes an "active layer" which drives performance of the lighting device.
The investment by WPPSEF will allow product development in Plexcore HIL to expand and include emitters used in SSL applications. A key area of development will be improving the lifetime and efficiency of the device, two challenges to broad market commercialization.

Revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2005 of $1.3 million increased 146% from $518,000 at December 31, 2004. Full year revenue of $3.7 million increased 4% from $3.6 million in 2004. Backlog remains consistent at approximately $28 million.
Net loss and loss per share applicable to common stock for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2005 was $4.8 million, or $0.05 per share and $16.5 million, or $0.19 per share as compared to a net loss of $3.0 million or $0.04 per share and $12.7 million, or $0.20 per share during the three and twelve month periods ended December 31, 2004.
Balance sheet showed $6.8 million in cash at December 31, 2005 and inventory of $3.8 million.