Manufacturing equipment - Page 29

Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) has announced an upgrade to the specification of its Eclipse range of digital test equipment for use in the characterisation of emissive display devices including polymer light emitting diodes (P-OLEDs).

The new specification includes remote calibration which allows the systems to be re-calibrated in situ, and pulsed IVL testing, which combines the ability to test device lifetime and opto-electrical response in one system. CDT has also announced a new 'entry level' Eclipse system with only eight channels, and this is expected to appeal to smaller companies and academic institutions.

While Taiwan and Korea are expected to remain the dominant places where current and next-generation flat panel displays will be built, Japan has positioned itself become the dominant supplier for equipment used for manufacturing Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) displays.
Tokki and Ulvac lead the OLED race, according to iSuppli. Companies including DaiNippon Screen and Hitachi are offering R&D or pilot-scale equipment. In a bid to retain their advantage in this area, the Japanese are keeping many of their OLED secrets close to the vest. Having lost much of their manufacturing advantage in TFT-LCDs to Korean and Taiwanese companies over the last decade, Japanese companies have become more cautious. While this may help maintain Japan's lead in the short term, the lack of communications between Japan's equipment and panel makers and the rest of the industry is slowing the development and standardization of OLED equipment, iSuppli believes.

Litrex Corporation has shipped the first M-Series(TM) Inkjet Systems to a leading display maker. These systems reinforce Litrex Corporation's position as the world leader in inkjet manufacturing systems for display applications. These new "next generation" M-Series(TM) tools build upon the success of over 50 inkjet systems that Litrex Corporation has installed worldwide at 25 customer sites.
The M-Series(TM) Inkjet Systems are built for substrates from Gen 3 to Gen 7 size, and are designed for precise deposition of high value materials such as those in P-OLED, LCD, nano-metals and biomaterials. The M-Series(TM) Inkjet Systems have a modular architecture that builds upon Litrex Corporation's existing experience and allows new equipment to be designed and adapted quickly to other applications.

Litrex Corporation shipped its milestone 50th inkjet printer, a Generation 2, to a major institute for developing a wide variety of LCD manufacturing applications. This shipment solidifies Litrex's leadership in the development of inkjet printing systems for new electronics manufacturing applications. Litrex's current printers are the most advanced inkjet systems for precisely depositing an array of high-value materials, including electronic polymers, nano-metals, and biomaterials. Currently 25 companies worldwide are utilizing Litrex printers for materials deposition in industries such as OLED, organic semiconductors, and LCD manufacturing.

Veeco introduced the WykoNT4800, a profiler intended for applications in OLED displays, radio frequency identification tags (RFID), biosensors and other flexible circuit devices. The new profiler combines high-speed, high-resolution optical profiling with large format staging and is intended for critical R&D and production metrology applications, such as surface shape and texture measurement.

Agilent Technologies has announced a new product line aimed towarsd OLED testing - the Agilent 88000 series FPD array test systems. These new systems provide full TFT array testing of LTPS LCDs and AMOLED panels.

Agilent says that the new 88000 series is ultra-precise and very fast.