Substrate - Page 9

PolyPhotonix, a UK based OLED-lighting startup is building its first production line. They want to make 3M efficient OLED panels with high yields. They say their main markets are automotive and architectual lighting. In fact they got their first funding through a project called MENDIP, in which Sanko Gosei (a Japanese car interior maker) is another partner.

The production line will make the OLEDs on 200x200m glass substrates, at least initially. Later perhaps they will use flexible plastic substrates.

After receiving investments totaling billions of dollars over the past decade, the OLED industry is finally poised to take off. According to NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm based here, the markets for OLED materials will reach $2.7 billion by 2015.

UDC is saying they have produced an ultra-thin flexible OLED display. The entire thing is less than 50 micrometer thick.

R.Ma from UDC says "We have chosen thin metal foils as the substrates for flexible displays because of their excellent thermal, mechanical and permeation barrier properties and good flexibility. Metal foils as thin as 25 mm have been used and planarization process has been developed. Another key challenge is to develop a flexible thin film permeation barrier. OLEDs degrade as a result of exposure to atmospheric oxygen and water. Working with Professor Wagner’s team at Princeton University, we have identified a flexible, highly impermeable barrier layer that is deposited from environmentally-friendly and inexpensive precursors in a single-chamber reactor. The lifetime of OLEDs encapsulated with the layers exceeds the industrial target of 1,000 hours and also the lifetime of conventionally sealed glass packaged OLEDs. Many materials are used in a flexible AMOLED: organic, inorganic and metallic systems."

Demonstrating an OLED TV just 0.3mm thick at the D: All Things Digital event, Stringer said: it’s a glass, we can produce this in plastic and you can wrap it around your arm, we’re not quite sure why you would want to. We’re looking for applications for the next generation of the plastic version but this will come out in a 27-inch version fairly soon. Within the next 12 months, we haven’t given a date.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $7.5 million core technology research (round 5) funding opportunity as part of its Solid State Lighting (SSL) program. The OLED 3 areas of interest are: High Efficiency OLED Materials and Structures,OLED Encapsulation and Substrates and OLED Fabrication.

The DOE anticipates making ~5-10 awards for specific advances in LED and OLED lighting under this round and says that awards will not exceed $600,000 per year for up to 3 years. The closing date for applications is June 19.

OLED-T today announced the launch of its low temperature organic electron injector material EI-111-2Me. OLED displays are manufactured from a sandwich of different materials including the electron injector layer. This layer is responsible for injecting electrons from the cathode into the OLED structure, the efficiency of which is critical to the performance of the display.
 
EI-111-2Me is a low temperature replacement for Lithium Floride (LiF), the material typically used by OLED display manufactures as the electron injector layer within an OLED display. Low temperature OLED materials reduce the cost of manufacturing and the potential damage to the underlying layers of the display, thereby improving the lifetime and voltage drift over the lifetime of the OLED device.

EI-111-2 Me enables display manufacturers to improve the efficiency and lifetime of an OLED display, as well as reduce the operating voltage and minimising voltage drift. In customer trials using EI-111 as a direct replacement for LiF, display efficiency improved by 25 per cent and lifetime by 10 per cent.

EI-111-2 Me evaporates at 200oC as opposed to LiF which requires a temperature of over 600oC, making the deposition faster and more controlled and introducing the potential of using plastic as a substrate rather than glass. The reduced manufacturing temperature also eliminates the need for costly evaporation crucibles reducing the overall cost of manufacturing.

As the market for OLED matures display manufacturers are focused on reducing cost throughout the display supply chain. EI-111-2Me provides companies with a significant opportunity to reduce cost at the same time as improving the performance of OLED displays, said says Myrddin Jones, Chief Executive Officer at OLED-T.

OLED-T is sampling of EI-111-2Me with immediate effect and will commence volume production from the fourth quarter of 2008. The new material complements OLED-T’s already strong OLED material portfolio.

Researchers at Purdue University have created the first active matrix display that uses a new class of transparent transistors and circuits. The researchers say this is a first step towards flexible color monitors and heads-up displays in car windshields.

The transistors used in the display are made of nanowires, which are tiny cylindrical structures assembled on thin glass or plastic films. The nanowires used by the researchers for the display are as small as 20 nanometers or about a thousand times thinner than the average human hair. The nanowires were used to create an OLED display that rivals current flat-panel TVs in brightness.

Europe joins forces in the form of a new integrated R&D project that aims to research and develop light emitting foils based on OLED technology. A group of 14 companies, research institutes and universities, leading in the fields of printing and electronics has formed the consortium of Fast2Light and will align efforts to demonstrate that high quality and cost-efficient lighting foils are the future for lighting and signage applications.

"The steady progress of light-emitting materials in recent years, identify OLED technology as the next solid-state, large-area light source. Within this project consortium we are able to combine European leading partners in the fields of printing, electronics and roll-to-roll processing and to create critical mass for the development of OLED lighting foils. Fast2light aims to set in place the manufacturing platforms so as to accelerate the introduction of lighting foils into the market when the light-emitting polymers meet the product specs" said Mary Kilitziraki of Holst Centre, project manager of Fast2Light.

The project, partially funded under European Union’s 7th Framework program as part of the ICT (Organic and large area electronics, visualisation and display systems) priority, will address all layers that are part of a lighting foil. It will start with the plastic substrate, and introduce high-throughput deposition and patterning methods for all of the materials necessary to fabricate the final lighting foil. Ultimately, the project will demonstrate a 30cm x 30cm, high quality lighting foil, manufactured with new optimised, disruptive R2R processes. While the project will focus on polymers, the platforms developed will be fully compatible with SMOLEDs.

Saint-Gobain and Novaled have demonstrated the feasibility of large area OLEDs, based on a new high-performance metallic anode, with Saint-Gobain Recherche technology and Novaled OLED proprietary developments.

The goal of a two-year research cooperation programme between both partners has been to develop basic technologies for high-performance white OLEDs. Researchers at Saint-Gobain Recherche (SGR) have created a highly conductive transparent electrode Silverduct™, bringing up to 10 times better surface conductivity than traditional ITO (Indium Tin Oxide). Thanks to Novaled PIN OLED™ technology for high efficiency OLEDs, samples were successfully manufactured on large area surfaces. SGR and Novaled now see the possibility to produce homogeneous OLED devices up to 100 cm² which will ease the manufacturing of large OLED lighting products.

Traditional ITO coated glass impedes the race to large area OLED, due to its limited ability to carry current over distances longer than a couple of centimetres. Therefore, for large area OLEDs, the ITO layer must be topped with a thick metallic grid to prevent gradient of light emission caused by the sheet resistance of ITO alone (typically 30 Ohm/sq). The new anode Silverduct™ has a sheet resistance of less than 4 Ohm/sq, thus enabling large area OLEDs without additional metal grids. This is an important step especially for transparent and bottom emission OLEDs in which the metal grid is visible. Additionally, by eliminating the metal grid Silverduct™ offers significant potential for reducing manufacturing costs.

Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest quality steel maker, and Novaled, OLED technology and material provider, have joined forces for a new OLED project. The partners are developing top-emitting OLEDs on flexible substrates for signage and lighting purposes since 2006.

By using Arcelor Mittal's steel plates as substrates, remarkable properties for bendable OLED applications can be achieved. Metallic substrates offer several advantages. Compared to standard glass-sheets they are more robust and durable and commonly produced by roll-to-roll process. This production method can be adapted to a subsequent inline process for OLED-deposition enabling high through-put manufacturing with low tact time. In this collaboration Novaled contributes both its broad technical experience with respect to highly efficient and stable OLED device architectures as well as its material know-how for doped transport layers.