ams OSRAM - Page 9

Ingo Mauer is now showing another beautiful white-light project, using OSRAM's white OLED panels.

The new "object" is called Flying Future,  and is using a bended metal mesh, with over 100 panels attached to it. The whole thing looks like a giant wave. The panels are still not 'commercial', but in a few years it's possible that OLEDs will be ready for white-light.

The companies behind the OLLA project (Philips, OSRAM, Siemens, Novaled and Franhofer IPMS) agreed to fund another OLED lighting project - the OLED100.eu, a follow-up project.

The new project will start on September 2008, for 3 years. The budget is $30 million, $20 million out of which will come from the EU.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is spearheading the effort to develop cost-effective volume production methods for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) under the CombOLED project, a European funded research and development project that was conceived to combine new device structures, advantageous manufacturing approaches and less complex materials with the aim to achieve cost effective OLED lighting solutions.

The objective of the CombOLED project, which is being funded by the EU and coordinated by OSRAM, is to create the necessary conditions for introducing the new light sources into lighting applications, said Bernhard Stapp, Head of Solid State Lighting at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors. This includes methods for cost-effective printing of new component architectures for large-format transparent light sources. As an innovation driver in the LED market and a pioneer in the mass production of semiconductor components, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is bringing valuable know-how to the EU project.

In April 2008, we had the chance of interviewing Mary Kilitziraki, Fast2Light's project manager. Fast2Light is an integrated (9 companies, 3 research institutes and 2 universities) R&D project that aims to research and develop light emitting foils based on OLED tech.

Q: What are the major goals of the Fast2Light project? What will you consider to be a big success in the project?

Fast2Light aims to lay the foundations for marrying large-area roll-to-roll technologies with the field of organic electroluminescence, for all necessary layers in an OLED device on foil. We aim to set in place all the experimental platforms that when integrated will produce a high quality lighting foil. Yet, these technology platforms can be used in other electronic devices. We will indeed think ourselves as successful if we develop and master the new large-area processes and demonstrate these in a 30cmx30cm lighting foil in 3 years time. But equally important, one of the successes of the project will be the exploitation of our results, on platform level, in other fields of electronic devices.

Here are a couple of close-up photos of the OLED panels used in OSRAM's Early Future OLED lamp.

OSRAM also released some more technical details. The OLEDs have a surface of 132x33mm and a luminance of 1000 cd/m². The OLEDs are based on small-molecule materials and achieve a lifetime of 2,000 hours and 20 lm/W.

Update: We've got some more technical details and nice closeup photos of the OLED panels used in the Early Future.

OSRAM has announced the world's first OLED lamp called Early Future. It was designed by lighting designer Ingo Maurer. This is more of a 'prototype' than a real commercial product - they will only make 25 of these lamps, which will cost around €25,000.

The lamp uses 10 OLED panels by OSRAM, sized 132 x 33 millimeters.

Dr. Karsten Heuser, Director of OLED Lighting Technology at OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, is pleased with the excellent intermediate results. Our development team has reached a real milestone for warm white OLEDs with efficiency of 46 lm/W (CIE of 0.46/0.42 measured in the integrated sphere) and a 5,000-hour lifetime, at a brightness of 1,000 cd/m². With these significant increases, flat OLED light sources are approaching the values of conventional lighting solutions and are therefore becoming attractive for a wide variety of applications.

The color rendering index (CRI) of the almost 100 cm² prototype is 80. By March 2009, OSRAM researchers expect that a demonstrator for an energy-saving flat OLED light module comprising several tiles will be able to deliver an overall luminous flux of 500 lm from a power consumption of less than 10 W.

With their pleasant diffused light the color of which can be individually controlled OLEDs will enhance premium lighting design elements such as light tiles that can be attached to any surface. OLED light sources will be particularly welcome where their special properties as flat light sources offer a high quality of light and make a real impression in illuminated wall coverings, atmospheric canopies of light, and light partitions. For widespread applications it will be necessary to produce efficient OLEDs in large numbers at reasonably low cost an essential objective of the OPAL research project.

This breakthrough achievement in OLED lighting is a result of the OPAL research project (Organic Phosphoresce Diodes for Applications on the Lighting Market), an initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and coordinated by OSRAM.

The new feature OLED display is offering advanced OLED technology and retrofit function for customers that were displaced by discontinuations. This model features 128x64 monochrome yellow OLED at 1 bit/pixel. This display is perfect for 1RU rack mount designs, automotive, avionics, and a full range of applications both industrial and consumer. The display offers compatibility with parallel, I2C, and SPI interfaces via a standard 24 conductor ZIF-type 0.5mm pitch flex interface. OLED technology features extraordinary contrast of 160:1 minimum and exceeding 1000:1 in ideal conditions. The display is a relatively large OLED display offered at 2.8 @ 84.0 x 25.8 x 2.2 mm outline dimensions.

For more information, visit OSD

The large-scale prototype of the transparent white OLED tile with color coordinates 0.396/0.404 (CIEx/y main emissive side) lights up an area of nearly 90 cm². The OLED is transparent whether it is powered on or off, and its transparency is currently rated at 55%. As the product is further developed, this value is expected to reach 75%.

The performance results were achieved as part of the project known as OPAL 2008. This research effort is the initiative of the Germany Ministry for Education and Research dedicated to studying organic light emitting diodes for illumination applications.

The relative strengths of the beams in the two hemispheres of the OLED tile can be adjusted within a wide range. This means, for example, that a surface light source installed in furniture or on a canopy can be configured so that light shines only in the required direction.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors will be exiting the production of passive matrix displays based on organic LEDs (OLEDs) at the end of the year. The company will be concentrating its OLED activities on developing market-ready OLED lighting solutions. As a result, the display manufacturing line in Penang, Malaysia, will cease production at the end of the year. The 270 employees there will be transferred to other activities within OSRAM Opto Semiconductors including the new LED chip production facility in Penang. Jobs are being sought in other parts of the company for the OLED product team in the USA. No employees in Germany are affected. OSRAM Opto Semiconductors will honor the existing obligations toward its customers.

Since the end of 2003, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has been manufacturing and marketing passive matrix displays based on OLEDs under the brand name of PictivaTM. Worldwide demand for the displays, which are used predominantly in communication systems, industrial applications and mobile consumer electronics, has lagged far behind the company`s expectations. Against this background, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has decided to withdraw from the display business and concentrate exclusively on the core business of lighting.