Last month it was reported that Kaneka developed a new OLED panel that achieves a lifetime of 50,000 hours, almost double from the company's current OLEDs. Now it is reported that Kaneka already started producing these new OLEDs, and samples have been sent to some customers for evaluation.
Kaneka further reveals that the 50,000 hours refers to LT70 (i.e. until the brightness falls to 70% of its original value). They measure at 3,000 cd2. As their previous panels had a lifetime of about 17,000 hours (LT70), this means they actually almost tripled the lifetime. This improvement was achieved by optimizing the device structure, and a more accurate thin-film deposition process.
It is also reported that the new panels have a much more stable color temperature - which means that 50,000 hours of use, the color temperature stays within 200K of the original 3000K temperature. This is a 40% improvement over the past panel technology, after only 17,000 hours.
Kaneka aims to accelerate OLED lighting development, to reach sales of ¥50 billion ($435 million USD) by 2020. They target applications such as art and history museums, restaurants, retail stores, hotels, hospital rooms and designer lighting for luxury housing.
