June 2006

The company said it had developed a lighting device using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, a potential new driver of earnings growth.
A Konica Minolta spokesman said it planned to launch the product in the next business year from April 2007, and aimed to generate 20 billion yen ($175 million) in sales from the new business in the year through March 2011.
OLED has primarily been seen as a promising technology for next-generation flat panel displays because OLED screens can produce bright, colourful images visible from a wide viewing angle without consuming a lot of power. But Konica Minolta said it would use the technology to create a device that could be used to illuminate offices and homes. Its new device emits white light at 64 lumens per watt, roughly on par with conventional fluorescent lights.
The new device can last 10,000 hours before its brightness level is cut in half, similar to fluorescent lighting, the spokesman said.
OLEDs are typically built on glass but can also be made on flexible substrates. This could allow for the development of bendable lighting.

The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) and National Starch and Chemical Co. (NSC, Bridgewater, N.J.) today announced that their joint R&D project on packaging technology for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays has yielded commercially viable sealants and packaging adhesives. NSC has commercialized several of these products under the Eccoseal(TM) brand name within its Emerson & Cuming division, and will continue to launch products derived from the program in 2006-2007. Begun in October 2002 under a grant from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, the contract was completed last month, with a total R&D investment of $2.21 million, cost-shared between USDC and NSC.

The contract outlined a program for developing a radiation-curable perimeter sealant for both plastic and glass OLED packages.

eMagin Corporation will provide several thousand microdisplays to Icuiti for production of its Tac-Eye(tm) display system. The agreement calls for an initial delivery of one thousand units with additional units to follow.

The Tac-Eye system combines ultra-low-power electronics and eMagin's industry-leading OLED microdisplays to deliver up to six hours of operation on a lithium battery. Brightness controls allow the operator to adjust for lighting conditions, daylight to darkness. Its high-contrast SVGA (800x600 triad pixels) OLED display combines with Icuiti's Quantum Optics (tm) to provide imaging from a wearable computer, laptop, thermal imager or vehicle-mounted computer system.

Cambridge Display Technology announced that it has extended its current co-operative relationship with H.C. Starck, by which the company will supply customized formulations of Starck organic materials used in PLED displays manufacture.

As per the deal with Starck, Cambridge Display said it will distribute materials solutions which it will formulate for specific ink jet printing applications.

OLED microdisplays from eMagin provide power-efficient information displays for Liteye Systems' new LE-700 and LE-750 head-mounted displays (HMDs). Based on Liteye's new patented prismatic optic, the new 700 series HMDs also take advantage of the company's patented universal mount, which lets users locate the display in virtually any position.
The LE-750 provides a see-through configuration that fulfills the rest.

Like all Liteye personal displays, the 700 series is built rugged and water tight for use in any environment. It employs eMagin OLED microdisplays for power efficiency and ready operation, even in extreme heat and cold. Its new prismatic optic provides the clearest image and the greatest eye relief of any product in its class.

Small and lightweight, the ZEN V Plus is ergonomically designed so your music, pictures and video are right at your fingertips. So tiny it tucks away perfectly inside the coin pocket of your jeans, the ZEN V Plus has such great curves and contours and is so lightweight that you'll almost forget it's there except for its phenomenal sound quality. Its beautiful 1.5-inch color OLED screen displays stunning digital photos, video and color menus.

Creative has also introduced the ZEN V, with all of the features of the ZEN V Plus except video and FM playback. Available in July for only US $199.99 for the 4GB model in glossy black with blue accents, the ZEN V is also available for only US $149.99 for the 2GB model in glossy black or white with green accents. A 1GB model in glossy black or white with orange accents will be available for only US $119.99.

India, despite its talent pool, has never been a global leader in technological development. Lack of investments in research and development and infrastructure have often been cited as reasons for the country lagging behind in terms of innovation and discoveries.

Things are, however, changing with the concept of partnership between the government, industry and university taking shape. In certain instances it has almost reached a stage of fructification and ready to take the global leadership position in various areas of technology.

A case in point is the prototype development unit in the Samtel Centre for Display Technologies at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. The prototype unit, which was recently dedicated to the nation by Union Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, is set to become the nursery for India's quest to be leaders in the Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), which are now finding increasing usages as full colour displays in applications such as digital cameras and mobile phones.

Ron Mertens from OLED-Info.com recently had the opportunity to interview Myrddin Jones, OLED-T's new CEO.

OLED-T is engaged with research, development and commercialization of a pioneering class of OLED materials, called ELAMATES®. For more information on OLED-T, check out the corporate background and technological background documents they sent us.

Q: Myrddin, First of all, thank you for accepting to do this interview session with us... Now, obviously there are many OLED IP and material companies out there. What makes OLED-T unique? What are the advantages of your materials and IP?

OLED-T lead electron transporter material can replace existing standard materials using the same production process and offer advantages in terms of efficiency, voltage, colour and lifetime as a direct result even with no other changes in materials or structure. In addition, OLED-T has prototype display production in-house allowing optimum structures to be developed and proposed to customers. See attached technology overview.

As competition intensifies in the small-to-medium display market, OLED manufacturers are working to introduce lower cost fabrication techniques.
While displays based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) continue to dominate technical discussions at this year's Society of Information Display (SID) conference, analysts at iSuppli warn that OLED manufacturers must reduce prices to compete in the small to medium display market.
Semenza concedes that OLED makers have made real progress in increasing production volumes, with unit shipments forecast to increase from 88 m in 2006 to 364 m in 2012. Revenues over the same time frame are predicted to increase from about $0.7 bn to $3.5 bn.

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