OLED Encapsulation: introduction and market status - Page 22

Researchers have developed an improved oOLED sealing (encapsulation) process to reduce moisture intrusion and improve device lifetime.

OLEDs have better color and flexibility and the capability of larger displays, but companies still need an inexpensive encapsulation method that can be used to mass produce organic electronics that don’t allow moisture in, said Wusheng Tong, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

Manufacturers now seal displays in an inert atmosphere or in a vacuum environment. They glue a glass lid on top of the display substrate with a powder inside the display to absorb moisture that diffuses through the glue. These seals are expensive and labor-intensive to assemble.

With funding from GTRI’s independent research and development program, Tong and his GTRI collaborators senior research scientist Hisham Menkara and principal research scientist Brent Wagner have replaced the glass enclosure with a thin-film barrier formed by a less expensive conventional deposition method.

The researchers selected advanced ion assisted deposition, which utilizes reactive ions to deposit a high-density, pinhole-free thin silicon oxynitride (SiON) film on the OLED surface.

Read more here (Newswise)

Vitex Systems announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Sunic System. The agreement includes a technology transfer package from Vitex to Sunic, and gives Sunic the non-exclusive rights to make and sell Guardian(TM) thin-film encapsulation systems, which can be used to encapsulate various electronic components and devices, including organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, thin film solar cells and thin film batteries. While the financial terms of agreement were not disclosed, the license includes an upfront fee and on-going royalty payments based on tool sales.

Vitex was granted six new patents recently. These new patent grants bring Vitex's owned or controlled patents to a total of 127. This solidifies the company's IP portfolio following its successful reinvention as a licensing and technology development company-a move achieved by leveraging its leadership position in thin-film encapsulation for flexible substrates and organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays.

The recently granted patents are directed at protecting the unique technology Vitex has developed for edge sealing on OLED displays and other electronic devices, as well as for unique tool apparatus needed for the deposition of the proprietary thin-film encapsulation. The six patent wins comprise two each in Europe and China, and one each in the United States and Taiwan.

While the display market continues to be Vitex's primary focus, the company is applying parallel applications to the rapidly emerging thin-film photovoltaic market, which has a strong need for a superior low-cost, thin-film encapsulation.

Vitex Systems today announced its proprietary moisture and oxygen barrier solution demonstrated impressive reliability results when used for high-temperature applications. The company's revolutionary Barix(TM) thin-film barrier was continuously tested at 100 degrees C, 120 degrees C and as high as 140 degrees C for more than 500 hours without losing its barrier integrity. Moreover, results indicated that the barrier can maintain its integrity for more than 1,000 hours in this severe environment.

Vitex's Barix thin-film barrier uses an organic and inorganic multi-layer structure. To demonstrate product compatibility, it was used to create the world's first high-resolution AMOLED, which leverages an amorphous silicon backplane on a flexible metal foil. This flexible display -- jointly developed by Universal Display Corp. and LG. Philips LCD -- was showcased at last month's Society for Information Display (SID) conference in Long Beach, Calif. Similar encapsulation was shown by Samsung SDI on the world's first, and thinnest, full-color top emission AMOLED on a metal foil during last year's show.

OLED-T has demonstrated red, green and blue flexible single colour displays manufactured on a plastic substrate using its OLED materials. The demonstrator displays have been developed using a new family of materials developed by OLED-T that can be deposited by vacuum evaporation at manufacturing temperatures around 300oC. This relatively low temperature has enabled OLED-T to demonstrate flexible plastic OLEDs based on vacuum deposition for the first time.

OLED-T is now focussing research and development effort on encapsulation methods to improve the lifetime of its plastic devices. The lifetime of the initial demonstrator red devices was 60 hours at a luminance of 100 cdm-2 and 72 hours for green devices. The limited lifetime is due to high moisture permeability. The corresponding devices manufactured on a glass substrate have lifetimes in excess of 32,000 hours for the same device structure.

OTB Display today announced that it received an order from Universal Display Technology (Jilin) for in-line equipment for the manufacturing of full color OLED displays. The fully integrated OLED production system is based on solution-processed polymers and OTB's thin-film encapsulation technology, making it one of the world's first production lines that integrates the complete display cell manufacturing process.

Universal Display Technology (Jilin) Co., Ltd. acquired an OLED manufacturing turn-key solution including equipment, related services and process know-how. OTB Display will build up mass production capabilities at Universal Display Technology (Jilin) Co., Ltd manufacturing facility, which is located in the Changchun National High-Tech Industries Development Area in the Jilin Province of the People's Republic of China. The Universal Display Technology (Jilin) Co., Ltd. will commence mass production of OLED displays in 2008.

GE Global Research and TOKKI Corporation announced a joint agreement to develop PECVD Film Encapsulation technology and equipment for manufacturing organic electronics such as OLED displays.

The goal is to develop and demonstrate equipment that could serve as the foundation for the future manufacturing and sale of glass-based displays that are thinner in design and much lower in cost.

As part of the agreement, GE Global Research will license its patented PECVD film encapsulation process to TOKKI for use in the company's state-of-art OLED manufacturing equipment. OLED devices require a high degree of hermetic sealing or "encapsulation," since moisture and oxygen can impede the devices' functionality.

Vitex Systems today announced a strategic relationship with Samsung America. Under the agreement, Samsung America will gain exclusive rights to distribute to Samsung-affiliated companies licenses for Vitex's proprietary Flexible Glass and thin-film encapsulation technologies.

Vitex continues to conduct research and development in the ultra-barrier film and thin-film encapsulation fields to enhance its technology and strengthen its IP portfolio while it pursues its new business model.

OTB Display today announces that it is able to produce thin film encapsulated OLED devices that meet the shelf-life requirements for commercial use. Not only are these displays manufactured on OTB's in-line mass manufacturing equipment, but also the deposition of the thin film encapsulation has been proven to render the same optical performance as the conventional, more expensive glass-can encapsulated devices.

Barry Young, senior vice president at DisplaySearch, states: "Compared to conventional glass can encapsulation methods, thin film encapsulation substantially reduces costs by eliminating expensive parts such as glass cans, getters and epoxies. Furthermore, thin film encapsulated devices are much thinner, lighter and make more efficient use of the glass substrate, providing the most viable route towards flexible OLED displays."

Bas van Rens, CEO of OTB Display, explains: "Our integrated in-line mass manufacturing equipment now routinely produces displays which pass the accelerated shelf life of 504 hrs at 60oC / 90% humidity. In our development program we observe rapid progress and we expect to be able to announce shelf lifes exceeding 1000 hours at 85 oC/ 85% this year"

Vitex Systems together with Advanced Neotech Systems (ANS), Pyungtaek, Korea, today unveiled a lower cost version of its proven Guardian™ thin-film encapsulation system, the G200E. Designed to extend the company’s reach into markets where price may be a gating factor, the G200E will enable institutions, universities and industrial development groups to also explore the myriad benefits associated with Vitex’s proprietary Barix™ encapsulation process. Based on Vitex’s flagship Guardian System, the G200E can provide basic thin-thin encapsulation capabilities without sacrificing the quality and performance that has become a trademark of the Guardian platform.

Thin-film encapsulation is a fundamental technology that can be used in the production of OLEDs, photovoltaics, thin-film batteries, organic semiconductors, bio sensors, etc. Specifically, Vitex’s Barix technology—applied via the Guardian tool—can eliminate the packaging components used within the manufacture of these devices by delivering the moisture/oxygen protection, or barrier, necessary to ensure integrity. It also offers added flexibility and enables new design opportunities. Since different applications (e.g. cell phone vs. photovoltaics) have different lifetime requirements, they require different barrier properties. Vitex’s unique ability to customize its technology to address various barrier requirements opens up a number of new markets. At the same time, Vitex and ANS recognized early on that the extensive capital required for thin-film encapsulation made it difficult for some organizations, such as universities, to procure the necessary equipment needed for further research in this area. This prompted the development of the low cost G200E—thereby, expanding the company’s potential customer base.