OLED Encapsulation: introduction and market status - Page 18

Corning developed a new ultra-slim flexible glass that can be used as a barrier film for flexible OLED displays. Corning claims that this new glass has the same barrier performance (for oxygen and moisture) as normal rigid glass. The whole thing is just 100 microns thick (0.1mm) and can withstand heat up to 400 degrees.

Corning is still developing the manufacturing process of this material, we do not know when it will be commercialized. A while back Corning published a nice video (a day made of glass) showing what's possible with flexible glass.

Update: We've got a video of this cool prototype... see below

Universal Display shows new flexible OLED lighting panels at SID 2011. The new panels use the company's solution-processable P2OLED materials and the new single-layer encapsulation technology. UDC says they are showing this prototype to demonstrate how flexible OLED lighting and display technologies are accelerating towards commercialization.

The new prototype is pretty small - but UDC applied a motion sensor so this serpentine like lamp can recoil and uncoil... see more in this video:

Universal Display and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) have successfully fabricated full-color, flexible AMOLED display prototypes that use the FDC's bond/de-bond manufacturing process. The new display use UDC's PHOLED materials and the new single-layer encapsulation technology. The OLED are made on DuPont Teijin Films Teonex polyester film.

The displays made are 3.8" in size and offer QVGA (320x240) resolution. They produced several displays, some on LTPS and some on IGzO backplanes.

Nanomarkets released a new OLED lighting report (OLED lighting global market forecasts 2011). According to the new report, the OLED lighting market will grow to $4.8 billion in 2016. Mass production will start by 2014, and one of the sectors that will lead the demand will be the automotive industry.

Nanomarket predicts that in 2016 general lighting will reach $2.7 billion in revenue, architectural applications will reach $950 million and automotive applications will reach $800 million in sales.

Jusung Engineering (a Korean maker of semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment) announced it is entering the OLED market - for both display and lighting. Jusung will offer a 'total solution' - from vacuum deposition to encapsulation. The company currently offers 4-Gen OLED equipment, and they plan to establish a joint-venture outside of Korea to enter the worldwide OLED lighting market.

Jusung's CEO Hwang Chul-joo unveiled an OLED lighting panel that measures 730x920mm (we believe that's the largest panel ever unveiled), produced by vacuum deposition on a glass substrate. The lighting panel was produced in the company's pilot production line in Gwangju, Geongi-do. Hwang claims that their production equipment technology is at least one year ahead of the competition.

Universal Display unveiled a new single-layer hybrid organic-inorganic encapsulation technology for OLED (or other thin film devices). The new technology can be used on rigid and flexible substrates and may accelerate commercialization of plastic substrates based displays.

The new technology uses environmentally-benign and non-toxic materials in a potentially low-cost process. UDC collaborated with the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University to demonstrate the technology effectiveness, and the implementation was supported by the US DoD, DoE and the National Science Foundation.

Henkel announced it will join the Holst Centre, and the two companies will partner on flexible electronics. Henkel is into adhesives and sealants - and these kind of technologies are important for flexible OLED lighting panels and displays.

This joint research will allow Henkel to further evaluate and develop its optically clear, electrically conductive and moisture barrier technologies on actual devices.

Tera-Barrier Films announced today that Kisco has become a strategic investor in the company, and will be the exclusive distributor of their products. The funds will be used by Tera-Barrier to commercialize their moisture-resistant films for flexible OLEDs and organic solar cells. The company is already providing small-volume samples and expects to start large-scale manufacturing in the 'near future'.

Tera-Barrier says that defects such as pinholes, cracks and grain boundaries are common in thin oxide barrier films when fabricated onto plastic substrates. Current barrier technologies focus on reducing these defects by using alternate organic and inorganic multilayers coated on plastic. These multiple layers stagger corresponding pores in adjacent layers and create a ‘tortuous’ lengthy pathway for water and oxygen molecules, making it more difficult to travel through the plastic.

We had the good chance to talk with Gerd Guenther, Novaled's Chief Marketing Officer. He was kind enough to answer a few of our questions, and give us some information and updates from Novaled.

Gerd, thanks for your time. Can you explain Novaled's business model to us?

When Novaled started as a spin-off from Fraunhofer and Technical University of Dresden in 2001 with just 3 people, the idea was to market its doping technology Novaled PIN OLED^®) along with its proprietary materials. Today, quite an impressive number of well known display and lighting makers are customers of Novaled. That means we offer IP, licensing and technology transfer packages but also R&D contracting as well as trainings.

Novaled 15x15 cm white OLED

Nanomarkets has released a new OLED-Lighting report (OLED Lighting Materials Market Trends and Impact). According to the new report, the sales of materials for OLED-Lighting will reach $1.4 billion in 2015.

Nanomarkets says that electron transport layer (ETL) materials will contribute the largest revenues with $370 million in sales in 2015, sales of emissive layer materials will reach almost $210 million. Substrates and encapsulation will together account for almost 20% of the OLED lighting materials market in 2015.