Rohm has unveiled a new planar LED (not OLED) lighting panel. The panel is made by using LED packages on a plane surface and a light diffusion plate which makes it seem like a planar device - like an OLED lighting panel. It has a very high CRI (98) - achieved by using a white resin layer on the package which prevents the sulfuration of the lead frame.
Rohm says that the panel is superior to OLED panels - in terms of cost and efficiency (the life time is also very good at 50,000 hours). Of course OLED lighting is still a new technology which improves rapidly - and will offer features that will be hard to achieve using LEDs (transparency, flexibility, low-cost printing processes, etc). Rohm haven't yet decided when to commercialize this panel, but they say that the technologies needed are "almost completed". Israeli's Oree is already producing similar LED panels.
Rohm is also researching OLED lighting, and is one of the holders in panel-maker Lumitoec. Rohm is developing efficient OLED panels and also flexible OLED lighting panels.
