Technical / Research - Page 110

Honeywell plans to develop materials for the flexible electronics used in OLED television displays. The company entered into an agreement to develop the components with the U.S. Display Consortium. Honewell will develop materials to prevent short circuits in flexible OLED displays. Honeywell says the new material will be tested at Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center in Phoenix, which receives U.S. Army funding to develop flexible technology.

TMDisplay has succeeded in doubling their OLED efficiency using a metal membrance. The new design allows them to run the OLEDs at half the brightness, and thus gain twice the lifetime. TMDisplay did not disclose when they will start making OLED TVs, although the new design should not delay the TVs.

They have also showed a 20.8" prototype.

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.

NexTech FAS' Advantage Series coating systems offer high performance extrusion (spinless) coating of liquid materials onto substrates during the manufacture process of Flat Panel Displays. The systems, which are currently supplied for Gen 2 through Gen 8 panel sizes, are capable of coating a wide variety of process chemistries, including tough-to-coat OLED materials which are often deposited at submicron thicknesses with stringent uniformity and environmental requirements.

The customer originally purchased NexTech FAS' equipment line in the third quarter of 2006 and later placed a follow-up order in the second quarter of 2007. The Advantage II Extrusion Coating system is designed to work in a fully-automated and controlled environment and is being implemented in a pilot/R&D line at the customer's site. The use of these tools enables the customer to further its R&D objectives and optimize its development process. This order paves the way for potentially significant future equipment orders used in the process and development of OLED displays and technology

Competitive Technologies and Articulated Technologies today announced that they have signed an agreement for CTT to license and commercialize Articulated's patented OLED technology for adaptation to solar power. The agreement provides for revenue sharing between CTT and Articulated of royalty and licensing payments.

In addition to the solar panel technology, Articulated is the innovative leader in logical, yet truly disruptive, technologies for roll-to-roll LED solid state lighting, OLED manufacturing, and device structures of thin film, flexible, light emissive materials in ILED (Inorganic Light Emitting Diodes) and OLED applications. These applications include lighting, signage, displays, and backlighting, and medical, automotive, architectural and safety products. Articulated also holds IP on new methods of packaging microelectronics and semiconductors, and on printed electronics.

Universal Display Corporation today announced that it has been awarded a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the DOE’s solid-state lighting program.

Work under Phase II of the SBIR grant will focus on the demonstration of a simpler white OLED design that should reduce manufacturing costs, without compromising performance. This program is based on Universal Display’s proprietary PHOLED technology and materials - keys to achieving the energy efficiency targets for white lighting.

The new white OLED design will use two PHOLED emitters that will be specially designed to emit broadly so that the color spectrum can be optimally covered. The device is targeted to have a high color rendering index (CRI), an important metric for lighting applications, as well as excellent power efficiency.

Vitex Systems announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Sunic System. The agreement includes a technology transfer package from Vitex to Sunic, and gives Sunic the non-exclusive rights to make and sell Guardian(TM) thin-film encapsulation systems, which can be used to encapsulate various electronic components and devices, including organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, thin film solar cells and thin film batteries. While the financial terms of agreement were not disclosed, the license includes an upfront fee and on-going royalty payments based on tool sales.

• Leadis announced a strategic partnership with VP Dynamics on RGBW technology for small and medium mobile displays. Leadis will license VP Dynamics' VPW(TM) RGBW technology for use in LCD, AM-OLED and other display drivers, empowering products with lower power consumption, higher resolution, excellent brightness, and better contrast.
• Leadis announced the acquisition of intellectual property from Nuelight Corporation designed to correct image sticking issues that can occur with the display of static content and significantly improve manufacturing yields in AM-OLED displays. This technology has the potential to accelerate AM-OLED market share gains by making it more lack the visual experience and low-power advantages offered with AM-OLED displays. reliable and cost competitive with alternative display technologies that

Novaled and Sunic System will develop a new generation of deposition tools and organic materials to improve the deposition process and lifetime of TFE. In this collaboration Novaled will call on its experience in organic structures and skills in organic materials. Sunic System will provide its expert knowledge on both organic and inorganic deposition and encapsulation equipment.

"A new organic material for TFE needs to be developed together with the associated deposition tool," states Gildas Sorin, CEO of Novaled. "The cooperation with Sunic System will bring to market a turn-key solution enabling customers to rapidly ramp-up to high volumes at reasonable 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.