Phosphorescent - Page 19

Sony released 0.5" 1024x768 (2,560 ppi, 9.9um pixel pitch) and 0.7" 1280x720 (2,098 ppi, 12um pixel pitch) OLED microdisplays back in August 2011, and now they gave some interesting details about the technology used to fabricate those panels. The 0.5" OLEDs are used in several 'A' class digital cameras, and the 0.7" microdisplays are used in the HMZ-T1 HMD device.

We already know that the microdisplays use white OLEDs with RGB color filters (all OLED microdisplays on the market use this architecture, although eMagin are working on direct-emission ones). Sony are using stacked RGB fluorescent materials. They say they did not choose red and green PHOLEDs because of lifetime, reliability and cost considerations.

RiTdisplay is a PMOLED producer based in Taiwan that has several production lines making PMOLED panels. A few years ago it was considered the world's largest PMOLED maker, although I now hear that due to financial problems the company shut down some of their PMOLED lines (this isn't confirmed though).

At SID 2012, RiTdisplay showed several PMOLED panels, and some 3.5" AMOLED panels. RiTdisplay is Ignis' production partner for its a-Si compensation technology, which basically enables a-Si to be used as a backplane for AMOLED panels (instead of LTPS or Oxide-TFT). This should enable cheaper AMOLEDs. You can read more about this technology at my Ignis-at-SID post.

LG Display had a very big booth at SID 2012, showing lot's of displays. The main item on show was the 55" OLED TV panel, but all the rest of the displays were LCDs. As I said in my first post from SID, LG's OLED TVs stunning with great colors, amazing contrast and excellent 3D effects. Unlike Samsung, LGD had only one TV on show, showing 2D and 3D convent sequentially (the 3D uses passive glasses). LG's OLED panel is extremely thin - 4 mm, you can hardly see it looking from the side.

During LG Display's keynote speech, they made some very interesting comments about their OLED technology and business. First of all, LG expects OLED TVs to grow at 320% (CAGR) from 2012 to 2016, reaching 11% of the TV market, while the rest of the market - LCD/PDP/CRT will only grow at 1.1%. OLED TV is the "next evolution" of TV technology.

Universal Display and L-3 Display Systems have delivered an unbreakable plastic-based knee-mounted AMOLED display system prototype to the US Air Force. The project aims to build an ejection-safe electronic flight bag system designed to replace the paper maps and checklists traditionally held on the pilot’s knee.

The display (which uses UDC's PHOLED materials) is 4.3" in size and features 480x320 resolution on a plastic substrate system. This is the third product design that UDC and L-3 has developed. Back in October 2010, together with LG they delivered 8 flexible wrist-worn prototypes (also 4.3" but with lower resolution: 320x240). Interestingly, back in 2009 UDC was awarded $750,000 to develop an ejection-safe display for the US Air Force, but back then the project called for a 6" display.

First-O-Lite has sent us an update regarding their OLED lighting R&D progress. The company have successfully developed a hybrid tandem WOLED lighting device, which features 77.2 lm/W and a CRI of 87.2 (@2090 cd/m²). The CIE is (0.46, 0.42).

The company's Gen-1 production line will be able to produce samples by the end of the year. They are also developing a Gen-2 production line (in a $40 million investment) that will be able to produce "large sized" panels by early 2013. The plan is to use the Gen-2 fab to make small-scale production for early market development.

My first meeting at SID was with Universal Display's Janice Mahon. UDC had some pretty interesting updates for us at SID, and some nice exhibits in the booth as well - only OLED lighting panels, but quite interesting ones. This post will be rather long...

Universal Display's management presented in an investor conference (Deutsche Bank's Clean Tech, Utilities and Power Conference). They gave an interesting introduction to the company and its business. In the Q&A, Sid Rosenblatt, the company's CFO says that currently their green PHOLED emitter is used in only two products: the Motorola Droid RAZR and the Sony Vita. This is set to change and they expect more products in the second half of 2012.

This explains why UDC's first quarter revenues were lower than expected - while red emitters sales were up 150% over last year, the green emitter sales have dropped, due to low Vita sales and high volume purchases in the previous quarter.

Nippon Seiki has entered the OLED lighting market, and is already producing and offering "low-priced" panels. Low cost is relative of course - the 90x90 mm panel costs ¥8,000 ($100). The company is now offering samples because they want to get user feedback to improve the technology and products.

NS are currently offering three kinds of panels: a 90x90 mm square, a 280x38 rectangle and a 140x38 mm rectangle. All the panels are 1.9mm thick and feature 30,000 hours lifetime (LT70). The brightness is 1,000 cd/m² (maximum 3,000 cd/m²) with color temperatures of either 3,000K or 5,000K.

Universal Display reported their financial results for Q1 2012: revenues were $12.6 million, and the net loss was $1.2 million. This is a surprise as most analysts expected a profit, and the stock price is dropping around 10%. In Q1 2011 the company reported $9.6 million in revenue.

The company hosted a conference call after releasing the results. First of all we learned that Samsung will pay $30 million in licence fees in 2012. The agreement states that Samsung pays twice a year, in Q2 and Q4. The license fees will grow in 2013.

We've got some interesting updates from Visionox today, regarding their OLED lighting program. The company has started to produce new OLED lighting panels. Those panels (product code BCPW030060A, spec here) are 73x42 mm in size (active area 30x60 mm), and are 1.8 mm thick. The lifetime is over 10,000 hours (LT70) at 1000 cd/m², and the color temperature is 4500K-5000K. The panels are actually quite cheap at $70. We do not know the efficiency but apparently it's not very high.

Visionox also unveiled their next generation panels, currently being produced in small quantities on a pilot line. The new panels are 80x80 mm in size (active area 64x64 mm) and feature a color temperature of 4500K, over 80 CRI and a lifetime of over 10,000 hours (LT50 at 2000 cd/m²). The new panels are quite efficient (40 lm/W) and Visionox revealed to us that they are using phosphorescent materials. These panels aren't available to buy yet.