Cambridge Display Technology - Page 8

Cambridge Display Technology has reached an agreement with IBM Corp. to market IBM's advanced amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology for organic-light-emitting-diode (OLED) displays.

CDT will market IBM's IP in TFT devices, pixel circuitry, drive methods, and active-matrix OLED display modeling for display applications. IBM will manage technology licensing agreements.

Cambridge Display Technology and Sumitomo Chemical have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to form a new joint venture company to develop and supply advanced polymer OLED materials and formulated inks for use in commercial P-OLED display and lighting applications.

The new company, to be based in Tokyo, Japan, will be owned equally by the two parent companies, and will have the largest concentration of PLED material development expertise and intellectual property (IP) in the OLED industry.

Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) announces the achievement of another important milestone with the development of blue polymer OLED emitting devices with 100,000 hours lifetime* from an initial luminance of 100 cd/m².

This latest announcement is one of a series which CDT has made to enable the industry to chart its progress on this key parameter. Figures of 30,000, 70,000 and 80,000 hours (all from 100 cd/m²) were published in May, October and December 2004.

Cambridge Display Technology today reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2005. The Company is a pioneer in the development of PLED technology. In December 2004, the Company completed its initial public offering.Revenues in the first quarter of 2005 were $1.6 million, up from $1.3 million for the corresponding quarter in 2004, an increase of 19%.

The majority of revenues arose from Technology Services and Development and included receipts from several major display producers with whom the Company is currently engaged in development programs, including Kolon, Samsung Electronics and Sumitomo Chemical. Gross profit was $1.1 million, an increase of 1% from last year.

CDT has taken an important step in the development of PLED technology with the commencement of an intensive two-year program to develop 'top emission' display devices.

The aim of the program is to develop a process to enable manufacture of a top-emitting P-OLED device structure utilising a transparent cathode, which will have enhanced lifetime and efficiency compared with bottom-emitting RGB devices. The program will, additionally, develop 'know-how' associated with the manufacture of transparent cathode devices.

Singapore-based Innoled, a licensee of Cambridge Display Technology’s light-emitting polymer technology, is set to commence pilot runs of its OLED production line next month. According to Peter Karlsson, Innoleds's Managing Director, pilot production will take place in The Netherlands at the facilities of Innoled's display equipment provider, OTB Engineering.

The company plans to start commercial production in Singapore by the end of this year, Karlsson added. The products will be marketed under the Nuovio brand name.

Litrex Corporation shipped its milestone 50th inkjet printer, a Generation 2, to a major institute for developing a wide variety of LCD manufacturing applications. This shipment solidifies Litrex's leadership in the development of inkjet printing systems for new electronics manufacturing applications. Litrex's current printers are the most advanced inkjet systems for precisely depositing an array of high-value materials, including electronic polymers, nano-metals, and biomaterials. Currently 25 companies worldwide are utilizing Litrex printers for materials deposition in industries such as OLED, organic semiconductors, and LCD manufacturing.

The new facility has been established at Hsin-Chu with the delivery of three Litrex 142P ink jet printers. The Litrex printers are robust, production-capable units, with the ability to print 370 x 470mm glass substrates at approximately two to five minute intervals, and these have been commissioned with the support of CDT’ s Field Support Engineers based in the region.

When combined with the process technology now being developed at CDT and transferred to Delta engineers as part of the commercial transaction, the facility will pave the way for Delta-Opto’s full-scale production of colour displays.

Among the patents now allowed in the US is a patent relating to OLEDs which comprise hole transport, electron transport and emissive components, using type II interfaces, contained in the same molecule. This is believed to be of considerable importance in the context of the printing of OLED devices. Molecules containing 'type II' interfaces are believed to be important in achieving high efficiency display devices.

Other new US patents allowed include a patent relating to the use of a dielectric barrier layer over the key emissive layer to protect it from damage due to sputtering of a conductive layer. This is expected to have important application in top emitting devices in which the light does not have to pass between the transistors but, more efficiently, through a transparent cathode structure.

Cambridge Display technology reported revenues of $13.3 million for 2004, an increase of 24% from $10.7 million in 2003.

Revenues from license fees and royalties grew to $6.8 million from $4.3 million in 2003, an increase of 58%. Of these revenues, royalties increased to $2.6 million in 2004 from $0.4 million in 2003. The Company is also reporting $0.9 million of other license-related revenues in 2004.

The Company believes that revenue has the potential to grow at a healthy pace in 2005, while the negotiation of any new licenses would add further upside potential.