Lumiotec announced new "natural white" OLED lighting panels (P06 panels) that feature the world's highest color rendering index (Ra93*1, a CRI of over 90). This is very close to natural light, and Lumiotec targets high-end retailers and museums. The panels come in five different sizes (up to 14.5x14.5 cm in size) and cost between ¥13,000 ($165) and ¥40,000 ($508).

The panels feature an efficiency of 28 lm/W, and Lumiotec told us that they use a hybrid design, comprising of both fluorescent and phosphorescent materials (provided by UDC). We do not know what is the exact mix. Lumiotec signed their license agreement with UDC back in April, and are already producing pure-phosphorescent panels, the P5, which feature 40 lm/W.

Densitron is launching new PMOLED panels that feature higher lifetime than previous models. The company now offers yellow PMOLEDs that feature 100,000 hours lifetime at 100 nits and 150,000 hours at 80 nits. They are also offering PMOLED in different colors, and they say that their OLED panels lifetime is now three times longer than it was when they were first introduced.

Nanomarkets released a new report titled OLED Materials Markets 2012. They analyze the opportunities for OLED materials suppliers in both the display and lighting sectors over the next eight years. According to the new report, the total OLED material market will grow from $524 million in 2012 to over $7.4 billion in 2019 - a CAGR of over 45%.

Nanomarkets say that the current commercial momentum will only be sustained if the material suppliers can close the remaining technology and cost gaps. The most important areas that need to be addressed according to Nanomarkets are blue emitter systems, efficiency, encapsulation, substrate technologies and high performance soluble materials.

Update: it turns out that this alliance was actually established back in June 2011, and it includes 19 members.

Several China-based display makers, including Visionox and Changhong have formed an OLED industry alliance in order to stay competitive with Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese OLED makers. It is reported that the Chinese makers think that OLED is the next-gen display technology and will become the standard for mobile devices in the future.

Visionox AMOLED production line

Visionox is already working on AMOLED displays. Back in August 2011 Visionox officially launched their AMOLED project, which includes a 4.5-Gen production line which will start production in 2013. In November 2011 Visionox said they have successfully developed a 7.6" 800x480 AMOLED panel. Visionox is also developing and producing OLED lighting panels.

A couple of months ago we reported that LG Display is suspected of OLED technology theft from Samsung Display. Yesterday it was reported that 11 people, including a former SMD executive and several Samsung and LGD employees where charged in that case.

SMD held a press conference saying that it stands to lose billions of Korean Wons (a billion Won is about $850,000 US) from the leak, and wants LGD to formally apologize in that case. LGD also held a press conference, denying the accusation and saying it's not responsible for this leak, and in any case the companies use quite different OLED technology so it does not need SMD's tech (which is used to produce Direct Emission OLEDs, but LG is indeed using WGRB, or WOLED-CF based OLED panels).

Researchers from the University of Utah and the Israeli Technion developed a new kind of Spintronics OLED device known as a spin-polarized OLED, that can be brighter than regular OLEDs. This bipolar spin valve device is similar to regular spin valve, but it emits light rather than just adjusting the flow of electrical current through the valve. Using a magnetic field it's possible to align the spin of the electrons and the electron-holes in the organic materials, which then supports more current and become brighter.

The Spin OLED uses a cobalt and lanthanum strontium manganese oxideelectrodes, while the organic layer is a polymer known as deuterated-DOO-PPV (this is the emitter layer). The whole device is only 300 microns wide and tall, and just 40 nanometers thick.

Raymond Soneira, our friend and display guru from DisplayMate have posted a very interesting and detailed comparison of the OLED displays in the Galaxy S, SII and SIII phones. He says that while all three OLED panels performed very well, there has been a rapid and significant improvement in OLED performance (especially power efficiency) in just 2 years.

Raymond says that high-end LCDs are brighter and more power efficient than OLEDs for text and web applications. OLEDs are better for photos and videos. He also says that while the performance is excellent, it's been compromised by Samsung's implementation choices - especially the low brightness due to power constraints (although low reflectence on those devices mean that high brightness is not critical in most situations).

Sony announced today that the Trimaster EL PVM-2551MD (announced back in September 2011) is now shipping. The PVM-2551MD is a 25" Full-HD monitor for the medical industry. It uses the same panel used in Sony's professional HD monitors (such as the recently announced BVM-F250). The panel is the first OLED panel to get an FDA approval for use in surgery.

The monitor is now shipping. The price is Europe is €6,000 (which is 50% more expensive than the equivalent LCD monitor from Sony).

The Korean government is funding a new program ("Future Flagship Program") that will develop transparent and flexible OLED technologies with an aim to produce ultra high-definition 60" flexible OLED displays by 2017. The project will be led by LG Display, and will also include equipment-maker Avaco.

Flexible OLED TV concept (Sony)

The Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy is spearheading the program, and they say that this technology may have a large impact on the Korean economy, creating 840,000 jobs and $56 billion in yearly exports. It will also help to widen the technological gap between Korea and China in the display sector. The Korean government chose several key technologies that will help to further develop the industry, and OLED is one of them.

COMEDD published an interesting article detailing their current R2R research line. The vacuum deposition and fabrication of small-molecule OLEDs is made in the RC 300-MB roll-to-roll vacuum coater (supplied by Von Ardenne Anlagentechnik). This machine is capable of processing metal and plastic substrates (300 mm width). The article also details the encapsulation, inspection and defect-detection processes.

COMEDD (Center for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices) is now an independent Fraunhofer institute (it was established as a department in at the Fraunhofer IPMS originally). COMEDD's aim is to carry out customer R&D and pilot fabrication of vacuum-processed organic materials applications.