October 2006

eMagin Corporation will begin shipping pre-production version samples of the world’s smallest pixel-pitch display. The SVGA-3DS will be available in limited quantities with a custom interface design & reference kit (IDRK) in December.

Employing the company’s OLED-XL™ technology, the SVGA-3DS microdisplay offers both analog and digital signal processing in a compact (0.44-inch) display with both analog and digital interface capability imbedded, making it an even more affordable, easy-to-integrate solution for many virtual imaging systems.

The new SVGA-3DS microdisplays eliminate the need for extra circuitry and components while allowing for a smaller display module design with increased functionality. Specific improvements include improved pixel uniformity, extremely high contrast (measured in the lab at 10,000:1), improved color gamut, on-chip temperature sensor, and luminance compensation over the entire mil spec range, while retaining the high energy efficiency and high video speed characteristics of eMagin’s approx. 0.6-inch diagonal OLED microdisplays.

For more info, see the attached release (PDF) 

Skin cancer patients at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Scotland have been helping develop a miniature, portable treatment system that will eventually be used by sufferers in their own homes.

A light-emitting device that looks like a sticking plaster with a glowing orange lozenge in the middle is powered with a lightweight battery pack carried in a belt or pocket like an iPod.

Pioneer Announces Business Results for 2Q Fiscal 2007. In the Others segment, sales rose 8.7% to JPY 17,208 million (US$145.8 million), mainly reflecting higher sales of factory automation systems and OLED displays in Japan.

Operating income in this segment was JPY 2,566 million (US$21.7 million) compared with an operating loss of JPY 780 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. This mainly reflected improved profitability in OLED displays due to the benefits of business restructuring measures.

One Stop Displays (OLED & PLED panel maker) changed their name to OSD displays. 

The also have a new logo, and a new site...

Link to OSD's web site 

Samsung SDI will start mass producing active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AM-OLED) displays in January, with low yields at first, and aims to be the No.1 player in the AM-OLED business with more than 30 percent market share.

Samsung SDI plans to volume produce 2- to 2.6-inch QVGA AMOLEDs.

The South Korea-based maker saw sales of its passive-matrix (PM) OLEDs jump 67% sequentially in the third quarter, with shipments of the segment rising from 48 million units in the second quarter to 53 million units in the third quarter, according to a company presentation.

Read more here

Vitex Systems today announced that it has signed a license agreement with Advanced Neotech Systems (ANS) Corporation of Korea. The agreement includes a technology transfer package from Vitex to ANS, and gives ANS the non-exclusive rights to make and sell GuardianTM thin-film encapsulation systems, which can be used in the manufacturing of organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays. While the financial terms of agreement were not disclosed, the license includes an upfront fee and on-going royalty payments based on tool sales.

Thin-film encapsulation is the obvious trend for significant cost reduction and reduced thickness of OLED displays on rigid substrates, and is a must for OLED displays on flexible substrate. Vitex is the leading technology supplier in this field, and we are excited about our ongoing relationship with them, said KB Bae, president of ANS. With the recent investment in our company by SNU Precision coupled with our license agreement with Vitex, we now have the financial strength and technological capability to address the developing OLED display market. Moreover, the addition of Guardian to our deposition equipment portfolio will allow us to be more competitive in the marketplace.

Commenting on its agreement with ANS and licensing successes, Chyi-Shan Suen, director of sales and marketing for Vitex, said, ANS has been one of Vitex's equipment partners for the past two years. Signing this license agreement not only validates ANS’s confidence in Vitex’s BarixTM technology and IP portfolio strength, but also reaffirms the growing adoption and need of our thin-film encapsulation technology to enable future OLED displays. He adds, This announcement follows on the heels of a licensing agreement signed in September with a major optical film manufacturer for our proprietary Flexible Glass technology, which also illustrates the success of our new licensing model."

eMagin had their annual shareholder meeting on the 20th of October. The reverse stock split was approved, and updates were given:

• eMagin OLED microdisplays are placed in major systems (such as the Sagem FELIN system), and they believe that the future of this business section will be good.
• 3DVisor sales are improving. They are going to focus on partnerships and agreements, not on direct sale to consumers.
• Financials are improving, too. Costs are down, and revenues are increasing. We'll hear more in the earnings statement.
• The most important statement was probably this: "the Company has received several inquiries from various strategic relationships ranging from investment to acquisition and that the firm has retained CIBC World Markets Corporation and Larkspur Capital Corporation to assist the company in investigating these and other strategic alternatives."

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors announced a new reference design kit for their 2.7" 128x64 PMOLED panel. The Reference Design Kit serves as a design model and helps customers to easily evaluate OSRAM OLED products, allowing for rapid and efficient integration into their display system applications.

The kit includes all necessary items to power up, initialize, test various modes, and display images on a display module. The kit is already shipping for less than $200.

Samsung shows their new 17" AMOLED display - organic television.

The screen is 12mm thick, and has a resolution of 1600x1200 pixels.

The response time is less than 0.01ms, the brightness is 400 nits. Contras ratio is 1,000:1.

Samsung SDI presented 2.2-inch 0.78mm-thick AMOLED at KES 2006. Featuring micro-second response time, it can play perfect video files 1,000 times faster than the conventional LCDs according to the company. Since it doesn't require back lighting, it can be much slimmer and lighters than existing LCDs. To show this, the company presented 1.6mm-thick dual AMOLED that delivers different images on each side with the two panels put together.