ams OSRAM - Page 8

Lumiotec is showing new OLED lighting panels. Lumiotec has equipment for developing 300x300 mm OLED panels (although the ones on show are 142x142mm). The panels are 3.5mm thick with a 3800k-4000k color temperature.

Lumiotec plans to begin mass-production in January 2010, which is great news. The company is in contact with the big 3 lighting companies - OSRAM, Philis and GE (all of them has independent OLED Lighting programs).

OSRAM are announcing new advances in their transparent OLED lighting panels. They have developed a large (17x17 cm2, with a 210cm2 luminous area) transparent OLED, which is only a few hundred micrometers thick. The samples have been developed as part of the TOPAS project (scheduled to produce a 1 meter-square OLED module by 2011).

OSRAM says that there is a "clear demand" for large, low-profile transparent light sources.

The OLED-Lighting design conference is the world's first (and only) OLED lighting design conference. It will take place in December 2nd in Boston. The event organize, OLED Insider say they gained backing from the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), The Professional Lighting Designers' Association and The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) for the two-day conference.

Highlights of the event include discussion about design capabilities and new challenges that OLED lighting presents, how can one use OLEDs capabilities and attractive price point to win over new customers and tap into new markets for lighting design, and the efficacy of OLEDs. The Summit will also provide an exclusive insight into how OLED technology will add value to many types of light installations and broaden design capabilities through improved colour range, viewing angles etc.

The OLED100.eu project is a European 3-year OLED lighting project. The 30M$ project is a followup to the OLLA project, ended in June 2008, and it is lead by Philips, OSRAM, Siemens, Novaled and the Franhofer IPMS.

Dr. Stefan Grabowsky, the project's manager has been kind enough to talk to us, answer a few questions and give us more info on the project. Dr. Stefan has a Ph.D in Physics,  from the University of Duisburg. In 2000 he joined Philips Research labs. He's working on OLEDs for several years now, with a focus on device physics and OLED stack development. Since September 2008 he is the project manager for OLED100.eu.

Q: Stefan, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Can you tell us a bit about OLED100.eu?
OLED100.eu is an European integrated research project that has brought together a consortium of experts from leading industry and academic organizations to accelerate the development of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies. It has received €12.5 million funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme to form the technological basis for efficient OLED applications for the general lighting industry in Europe.

Large-area OLED from Philips

Osram is showing a model "Light House' to showcase OLED lighting. OSRAM are using thin, flexible and even transparent OLEDs, applying them to all sorts of surfaces - windows, ceilings and floors:

OSRAM light house model

BASF and Osram Opto Semiconductors have developed a highly efficient white OLED panel. The efficiency is over 60 lm/w. This development was part of the OPAL project which launched in 2008. Other partners in this project include Aixtron, Philips and Applied Materials.

Applied Materials, which made its name by designing equipment for semiconductor makers and television manufacturers, is bulking up to become the chief equipment maker for the greentech industry.

The company is building up an internal group to sell equipment to manufacturers of energy storage devices, such as batteries and fuel cells, say sources close to the company.

Applied also wants to sell equipment to manufacturers of OLEDS. The company is one of the charter members of the European OPAL 2008, which aims to develop cheap OLED lights. Other members include Aixtron, Osram, Philips and BASF. It also has an investment in Plextronics.

Ingo Maurer, who designed Early Future - the beautiful OLED lamp using OSRAM OLED panels, says he hopes the first two lamps will be deliveres this month.

In total, they will only make 25 of them, which are probably very expensive and not very practical - as the the light is reportedly rather dim and the panels have only 2,000 hours lifetime (D50).

Osram is giving some more information about their OLED lamp the Early Future at the CEATEC 2008 exhibition.

The OLED panels have a lifetime of 5,000 hours (up from 2,000), and OSRAM says that these lamps will be available by 2011 or 2012. The efficiency is 46 lm/W (1000 cd/m2).

In July 2008, I had the chance of interviewing Dr. Michael Fiebig from OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. Dr. Michael Fiebig gained his PhD in Physics at the University of Hanover in 1998. He joined OSRAM Opto Semicondutors in 2001, and since 2008 he is leading the Marketing and Business Development in the business segment Solid State Lighting at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors.

OSRAM is part of the Industry sector of Siemens and one of the two leading lighting manufacturers in the world. Its subsidiary, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH in Regensburg (Germany), offers its customers solutions based on semiconductor technology for lighting, sensor and visualization applications. OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has production sites in Regensburg (Germany) and Penang (Malaysia).