OLED Lifetime: introduction and market status - Page 27

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.

Sumitomo Chemical and The Dow Chemical Company announced today that Sumitomo Chemical has purchased the LUMATION Light-Emitting Polymers (LEPs) business from Dow. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sumitomo Chemical's acquisition of LUMATION LEPs will strengthen the company's LEP technology-based business, in line with its strategy.

Sumitomo Chemical has developed fluorescent and phosphorescent LEPs based on the company's long-established display material and conducting polymer technology. Sumitomo Chemical's blue-color material achieved 10,000 hours of brightness half-life. The material is ideal for a printing method, a much simpler and more cost effective production process for large-sized displays than the vacuum deposition method used for small-molecular OLEDs. The company is also developing highly efficient new materials such as dendrimers in cooperation with Cambridge Display Technology.

OSRAM Pictivia New product line Osram Opto Semiconductors continues to expand its Pictiva line of OLED graphic display products and today announced that it is shipping two new solutions designed for the consumer and communications markets.
The new products include a 128x48 pixel solution and a white and blue display format for Osram’s existing 96x36 pixel displays.
Designed for the fast-growing MP3 player market, the new 128x48 display is a standard product available in seven different colors. Depending on the color, this 1.2-inch product offers a lifetime between 10,000 and 40,000 hours.
The new 96x36 product is offered in both white and blue is designed for handset sub-displays, as well as alternative communications and consumer applications with similar size and specification requirements.
Pictiva products are driven by standard IC-driver technology that supports both parallel and serial interfaces

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OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Inc. today announced it has reached the first milestone in its three-year, white OLED project, funded by a $4.65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The 2004 DOE grant was issued to research the potential of white OLEDs to save energy in commercial and residential lighting applications.

The advanced white-light prototype is based on multiple, discrete 2-inch x 3-inch white-light devices fabricated on glass substrates. OSRAM's first-year deliverable is an advanced prototype light source where each tile in the module has a luminous efficacy of 7 lumens-per-watt (lm/W) and a color-rendering index (CRI) of about 80. The prototype operates at an average luminance of 250 nits. At program end, OSRAM will produce a color-balanced OLED white-light source with a luminous efficacy of 40 lumens per watt at 800 nits and an operating half-life of 3,000 hours.

Seiko Epson is on schedule to commercialize OLED TV technology in 2007 according to a company executive. There are still some significant research issues to overcome though. Epson's initial goal is to double the current OLED screen lifetime (to 4,000 hours) by mid-2005 and reach the 10,000 hour mark by 2007. Later in 2007 they will reach 15,000 hours - which will be enough for watching 4 hours per day for over 10 years.

Seiko Epson estimates that the lifetime will double again in 2007. According to the company an OLED TV will cost a bit less than a PDP or LCD TV of the same screen size in 2007. OLEDs will be cheaper as they are easier to make and use less materials (no backlighting and color filters).

United Radiant Technology is unveiling new PMOLED displays that feature an operating lifetime of 7,000 to 50,000 hours. These displays are designed for telecom, portable devices and signboard applications.

The UMOH-7492, UMOH-7493 and UMOH-7553 OLED displays feature low-power consumption, improved resolution and faster response times.

Pioneer says they will start producing 2.4" 240x320 262K colors OLED displays next year.

The screens are aimed toward mobile phones and will have an lifetime of over 10,000 hours.

Seiko Epson plans to develop OLED TV technology within three years, to gain an edge in the market for screens manufactured for TVs and other entertainment applications, according to a company executive. The company's new technology will be based around Ink Jet printing.

Seiko Epson already unveiled three OLED prototypes - a 40" XGA OLED TV panel, a 12.5" VGA panel and a 2.1" 144x176 display (130ppi). The company says that currently the main hurdle is lifetime, and once this reaches 10,000 hours OLED TVs may start to appear commercial.