Technical / Research - Page 105

OLEDs are a 'cold' flat light source - they emit no heat - and thus are safe to touch. This means that it's possible to use them as a touch-light-controller. The Fraunhofer IPMS institute showed (at the Plastic electronics 2008 conference) the world's such device

The touch function generate a completely new feeling of light. It´s
like magic: turn on the light simply by a hand movement, noted Jörg
Amelung, head of business unit of organic materials and systems at the
Fraunhofer IPMS.

Read more here (Science daily)

Alps Electric Co developed a P-OLED panel using printing technology. The panel uses a film substrate on which a getter, in addition to the emission layer and the electrodes, is formed by printing. The getter is used to absorb water, etc.

The emission colors are yellow and white. Both types have a luminance of 100cd/m2. The luminance half-life of the yellow emission type is longer than 1,000 hours and that of the white type is longer than 300 hours. The drive voltage of both types is 7-25V.

The latest polymer OLED panel was developed in collaboration with Add-Vision Inc, according to Alps.

Digitimes reports that AUO will base its OLED production on a-Si technology. AUO estimates it will enter mass production in 2011.

CT Liu, vice-president and general manager of consumer product display business group of AUO indicated that AUO is going to start developing OLED again in the fourth quarter of this year and concentrate on commercializing small-sized panels.

Vitex and Novaled are going to combine advantages of the Vitex Barix
thin film technology with the Novaled doping technology and
materials targeting very thin and high efficiency long lifetime OLED
products.

TMDisplay (JV between Matsushita and Toshiba) says it developed an OLED panel with the world's longest lifetime and best efficiency. The 2.2-inch OLED panel has a lifetime of 60,000 hours and power consumption of 100 mW.

TMDisplay has developed the new panel in cooperation with Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese oil refiner active in OLED materials development. They say they aim to start commercial production of the advanced OLED panels by March 2009 for cellphones and other mobile devices. It has yet to decide the size of production. Previous reports say that TMDisplay will invest 140M$ on OLED production, and that they set their monthly output of 1.5M units a month (at 2.5").

University of Utah physicists suggest it will be more difficult than thought to make highly efficient OLED, as findings hint such LEDs would convert no more than 25% of electricity into light rather than heat, contrary to earlier estimates of up to 63%.

A 2001 Nature paper by other University of Utah physicists suggested it might be possible to make OLEDs that converted 41% to 63% of incoming electricity into light. But the new study suggests 25% efficiency may be correct at least for the organic polymer studied pure MEH-PPV and possibly for others.

Konica Minolta and Universal Display Corporation today announced the signing of an OLED Technology License Agreement. Under the agreement, Konica Minolta will be able to integrate Universal Display's proprietary OLED technologies into Konica Minolta's white OLED lighting products, thus securing Konica Minolta to accelerate commercialization and to strengthen the competitiveness of its white OLEDs.

"We have been collaborating successfully with Universal Display in the OLED development for several years, and we are very much pleased that we have entered into the OLED Technology License Agreement with Universal Display today" stated Masatoshi Matsuzaki, Chief Technology Officer of Konica Minolta Holdings.

In June, Universal Display announced a major breakthrough in white OLED power efficacy, 102 lm/W, in an all-phosphorescent OLED device. UDC reported that this device also provides an operating lifetime of 8,000 hours to 50% of initial luminance (at 1000 nits and without enhanced optical outcoupling), an operating voltage of 3.5 volts, a pleasing white color with a color rendering index (CRI) of 70, and a color temperature of 3,900 Kelvin.

The discovery and development of UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED technology was a major breakthrough that has enabled the potential use of white OLEDs for solid-state lighting, said Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display. Using this technology, power-efficient, bright and thin white OLEDs reduce energy consumption, while  remaining environmentally benign, especially compared to mercury-containing fluorescent lamps. White OLEDs also offer exciting new product design opportunities and an abundance of new  product applications. Our continuing advances in phosphorescent and white OLED technologies are now significantly accelerating solid-state OLED lighting towards commercial reality.

The ISIS synchrotron at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, UK, has launched a second target station for neutron beams which will allow scientists to study a range of new systems: from polymers and materials that sequester carbon dioxide, to soft matter and biomaterials. 

Experiments on the £145 million station at the facility - which is owned and run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council - are expected to start in October 2008, following five years of design and construction. A test beam to generate the first neutrons at the new target was due to be fired in the first week of August. From 2009, scientists around the world will be invited to apply for beam time.

Seven neutron scattering instruments have been initially installed at the target station. The first instrument to receive neutrons will be Inter, a high-resolution, high-flux reflectometer designed by ISIS scientist John Webster to study chemical interfaces by bouncing neutrons off them. 

Inter will study a wide variety of systems, says Webster - including the behaviour of biosurfactants, the interfaces between layers of thin polymer films used in organic LED screens, and the way drug molecules interact with membranes in the body.

During this SSL Product Development Project, Universal Display and its subcontractor, Armstrong, will develop and deliver an integrated ceiling illumination system that is targeted to exceed the DOE’s 2010 performance goals. The white OLED lighting panels will be designed and fabricated by Universal Display using its high-efficiency phosphorescent OLED technology. The panels will then be integrated by Armstrong into its innovative TechZone™ open-architecture ceiling system. In addition, the team will deliver a white OLED lighting panel fabricated on a thin metallic foil substrate using Universal Display’s UniversalPHOLED and other OLED technologies, to demonstrate the commercial product potential of white OLEDs with a flexible form factor.

A tremendous opportunity exists for white OLED lighting products, based on their potential energy efficiency and environmental advantages as compared to existing products, stated Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display. Through its Solid State Lighting program, the U.S. Department of Energy has been a very strong proponent of white OLED lighting, and it has been instrumental in helping to drive the performance of this technology to where it is today. With white OLED performance rapidly approaching commercial targets, we are delighted to be collaborating with Armstrong World Industries, a leading developer and manufacturer of innovative building systems, to develop and demonstrate a novel product concept using white OLEDs. Together, our goal is to make energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly, and economical white OLED lighting a commercial reality.

Armstrong is pleased to be able to support the kind of leading edge effort in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability represented by Universal Display’s solid-state OLED lighting research program, stated Stephen J. Senkowski, Executive Vice President of Armstrong World Industries and Chief Executive Officer of its Building Products Division. The ability to couple ground-breaking developments in the field of lighting with the proven benefits of commercially accepted building systems like TechZone™ is a key goal of this DOE supported project.

Through the use of its UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED technology, Universal Display recently announced a major research milestone for white OLEDs of 102 lm/W. Compared to incandescent bulbs with less than 15 lm/W and fluorescent lamps typically from 60 - 90 lm/W, this research result is a significant advance toward achievement of the full set of performance requirements for commercial products.

Power-efficient white OLEDs may reduce energy consumption dramatically and lower the amount of by-product heat, further reducing energy and environmental burdens. White OLEDs are also environmentally benign, especially compared to mercury-containing fluorescent lamps and newer compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Combining these important ‘green’ features with a very thin, lightweight and durable form factor, white OLEDs offer significant new lighting design opportunities, such as the one envisioned in this Armstrong ceiling system concept.