Manufacturing equipment - Page 26

Yesterday we reported that Kodak got a 1.7M$ two-year contact from the DOE to develop key technologies and processes for OLED lighting panels. There wasn't much information in the original PR, so we got Kodak to explain it a bit for us, and here's what they say:

"The object of the proposed project is to construct OLED lighting panels with efficacy (> 50 lm/W) and lifetime (>20,000 h) superior to most of the current commercially available luminaires.  The lighting panels will be constructed of 15 cm x 15 cm lighting tiles that can be used to build lighting panels of different sizes and shapes.  The architecture is based on small molecule OLED and comprises four key technology components that enable this achievement: internal light extraction-enhancement structure, low voltage design, stacked architecture, and fluorescent-phosphorescent hybrid emitters.  The proposed project will focus on developing structures and processes suitable for high volume, low cost manufacturing (ie Kodak VIST technology) of these OLED lighting panels."

Samsung electronics and LG has announced that they will co-develop OLED deposition equipment. The two companies are also working on joint R&D projects for LCD equipment. 

According to OLEDNet, Philips are getting ready to release OLED Lighting products by 2010 (which was announced a while back) and are talking with Korean companies to purchase manufacturing equipment.

OLEDNet has also published Philip's OLED Lighting roadmap:

Philips OLED lighting roadmap

Which shows that in the Future Philips will indeed attempt Flexible and Transparent lighting panels. Philips already showed some transparent OLED prototypes a few weeks ago.

Vitex System today announced that it has
expanded its license agreement with Korea-based Advanced Neotech Systems
(ANS), granting ANS rights to develop and manufacture roll-to-roll coating
equipment used in the production of Barix™ Barrier Film.

Vitex made the first agreement with ANS in 2006, allowing ANS to make Barix encapsulation equipment, the Guardian™ System.
ANS has successfully sold eight Guardian systems to produce Vitex's
proprietary Barix technology, including: a pilot system being used by
Samsung SDI to make the world's first foldable OLED and the thinnest OLED
display that was shown at FPD International 2008 in Yokohama; the first
mass production system; and the first Gen 2 (370mm x 470mm) system. 

Over the past year, Vitex has made excellent progress demonstrating the
unique capabilities of its Barix Barrier Film for encapsulation of
thin-film photovoltaic cells. Multiple companies have been able to verify
that, when protected by Vitex's Barix Barrier Film, their thin film
photovoltaic (PV) cells fabricated using either CIGS or CdTe can pass the
damp heat test required by the IEC 61646 standard. 

Vitex has produced a nice video of several OLED products that use their thin film encapsulation technology. Among those products you can see the Samsung's flapping display, foldable phone and curved displays. Several UDC OLED prototypes are in there as well, including their flexible displays, developed together by LGDisplay.

Vitex told us that their tech is used on AMOLED and PMOLED displays, on glass, silicon or metal foil. Some of those products use direct encapsulation, and some use barrier substrate. A few of the photos seen show products that use flexible CIGS PV cells laminated with Vitex's barrier.

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.

Powerlase Ltd. has announced the development of a 400G laser for green laser annealing (GLA) in AMOLED screen manufacture.

The laser products developed by Powerlase are designed in line with specific customer requirements. The 400G has been developed and tested in cooperation with one of the leading display screen manufacturers and is now entering the final development phase before being implemented in high volume manufacturing facilities.

Dainippon Screen DuPont jointly
established a new OLED manufacturing process based on the "multi-nozzle
printing method," which uses DuPont's soluble low-molecular-weight
organic EL material. And the companies employed this process for the
new manufacturing system.

The system has a monthly throughput of 10,000 panels per line (fourth generation).
Dainippon Screen plans to put the system on the market by the end of
fiscal 2009.  They are now showing a 4.3" (480x272) AMOLED manufactured by the new process and machines.

Read more here (TechOn)

A strategic partnership between Powerlase, a UK developer of
diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and France's fibre laser specialist
Eolite Systems will see the companies jointly develop products for new
markets and business opportunities.

The new, broader product line will be applied to multi-stage
manufacturing processes that require multiple laser parameters, such as
the manufacture of photovoltaics or the development of active matrix
OLED displays.

Read more here (Optics.org)

I recently had the chance to interview Mr. Corey Hewitt and Dr. James Buntaine from Kodak OLED Systems. Kodak is where OLEDs were first discovered, and they are still in the fore-front of the technology. This is going to be a long article - these guys have given me a lot of background info, even before answering my questions. But first let's introduce Corey and James:

Mr. Corey Hewitt, Operations Manager & Vice President, Kodak OLED Systems
Mr. Hewitt's responsibilities include worldwide operations, finance, marketing and business development. Corey has traveled and worked closely on a worldwide basis with Dr. Buntaine in determining the future strategy for OLED technology and how it relates to Eastman Kodak Company. Corey received his Business Administration/Finance degree from the University at Buffalo and subsequently completed his Masters of Business Administration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Corey has joined Kodak in 1999, and held several positions before becoming the Operations Manager and VP of Kodak OLED Systems.