Displaybank has announced that organic EL panel shipments grew 23% compared to the previous year to about 71.25 million units or $530 million (USD) in 2006. According to the company's announcement in March 2006, organic EL panel shipments were 61.1 million units and sales were $620 million in 2005.

By manufacturer, Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. of Korea won the largest share in terms of shipment volume. Its shipments surpassed 15.7 million units and sales were $120 million. RiTdisplay Corp. of Taiwan came after Samsung SDI. Its shipments reached 13.3 million units. However, both manufacturers saw their shipments decrease compared to 2005. Samsung SDI's shipments declined 5%, while RiTdisplay's dropped 15%.

Read more here (TechOn) 

The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC), an industry-led public/private partnership providing a common forum for flat panel display manufacturers and developers, FPD users and the supplier base, and Plextronics a world leader in developing and delivering active layer technology for printed electronic devices, announced today that Plextronics has received Phase II funding of a $1.8 million contract. This contract supports the continued development of Plexcore™ technology to increase the lifetime and efficiency of organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays. The USDC and Plextronics will continue to share the costs associated with the project. The objective of Phase II is to expand Plexcore HIL development to enable commercial performance of small molecule organic light emitting diode (SMOLED) displays.

During Phase I, Plextronics increased the lifetime and efficiency of OLEDs utilizing commercial polymeric emitters (PLED) with Plexcore HIL. This resulted in Plexcore HIL devices exhibiting greater than 4X the operating lifetime compared to devices made with current commercial hole injection layer (HIL) materials. As a result of this project, Plexcore HIL for OLEDs is currently in qualification with a leading Asian display manufacturer.

The goal for Phase II is commercial ready solution processed HIL formulations specifically designed for SMOLED displays. This project will provide a necessary component for rapid commercialization of high performing SMOLED displays via inexpensive solution processing methods. These results will ultimately improve the Plexcore HIL technology for all solution processed based OLEDs.

Art.Lebedev say that production of the custom OLEDs for the Optimus 103 has started.

They expect to have the OLED keys in April 2007.

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Japan-based Showa Denko plans to start producing OLED panels as large as 30cm2 in 2007, according to the Japanese-language Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Read more here (Digitimes) 

Synova today announced tool orders from a Korean organic light-emitting diode (OLED) manufacturer and a leading U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturer's Korean facility. The first order was placed for Synova's Laser Stenciling System, LSS 1200, for OLED mask manufacturing, and the second for the company's Laser Grinding System, LGS 200A, for thin-wafer edge grinding. Both orders mark Synova's penetration into the Korean market, and ultimately, the increased adoption of its Laser MicroJet® for leading-edge electronics manufacturing.

The order wins replace traditional cutting and grinding methods used in each of the manufacturers' respective processes. For OLED mask manufacturing, the LSS 1200 supplants chemical etching for mask cutting. While chemical etching is the dominant approach, the method faces significant challenges in accuracy, feature size limitations, flexibility and fab footprint. As OLEDs continue to advance in both efficiency and size, a novel approach is required to continue to reach new heights while remaining cost effective, paving the way for Laser MicroJet.