Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company based in Germany, working on high performance OLED materials. Back in April 2012 we posted our (third) interview with Merck's OLED unit VP, Dr. Udo Heider.
It seems that the soluble OLED materials market is heating up with recent announcements on printable OLED advances. So we asked Dr. Heider to give us a short updates on the happenings at Merck. As always, Merck are quite discreet...
Q: Dr. Heider, can you update us on Merck's progress in OLED materials with regards to lifetime, efficiency and color?
A: We do see continuous significant improvements in all relevant parameters. This is true for vapor based materials as well as for printable materials. From the ever increasing number of new product announcements in the market it is also clear that OLED materials have come a long way to address the stringent product needs and demands specifically related to the above parameters. The Merck OLED material development is at the cutting edge of this material advancement. In particular the progress in printable materials is remarkable. The performance gap between vapor and printable materials is closed in R&D.
Q: Which applications and products is Merck addressing? Are there any OLED products on the market that use Merck's materials?
A: Merck is directly marketing its OLED materials to customers in all relevant regions and countries and thus addressing OLED applications in general. This could be display or lighting related. Our product portfolio covers transport materials as well as emitters and other functional layers. Merck materials are used commercially in many products on the market.
Q: How close are we to mass production of soluble OLED materials and printing processes?
A: As pointed out above, the material performance gap between vapor based and printable materials is closed in R&D. Good progress has been made in printing and liquid processing. For the material production we are confident that materials can be launched in the market at sufficient quantity with the needed quality and cost performance. The timeline for mass production will be determined by the display & lighting makers.
Q: On October 2012 Merck announced a collaboration with Seiko Epson on printable OLED materials. How close is this technology to commercialization?
A: Indeed Merck is working with Epson since several years on printable OLEDs. In 2012 both companies started to prepare for the commercialization process. Together with Epson the proof of concept for printable OLEDs on pilot scale is achieved.
Q: Can you update us about your OLED activity in Taiwan?
A: For Merck the customer focus is very important to the develop and improve the OLED materials of direct relevance to customer. We are strengthening our technical OLED expertise close to our customers by setting up local laboratories. We have set up a lab in Korea and are in progress to start operation in our lab in Taiwan.
Dr. Heider - thanks again for those updates, I hope you and Merck will have a wonderful 2013...
Disclosure: Merck is an OLED-Info sponsor
