Technical / Research - Page 54

Osram unveiled their second generation OLED lighting panel, the square Orbeos SDW-058. The new panel (which is built in the new pilot production line in Regensburg) is more efficient at 40 lm/W (up from around 25 lm/W), and it's also larger (119x119 mm). We do not have more information about the new panels yet.

Osram also unveiled a new connector system - a plug&play solution for Orbeos panels. Osram says this is the first step toward a standardized contact system for OLED components. Just one click is need to connect all Orbeos panels (both mechanically and electrically). The new system also allows to connect two Orbeos panels back to back.

LG Display is touting their 4.5" True HD IPS-LCD display (which does not support Full-HD, mind you, the resolution is 1,280x720). The company posted some slides comparing the HD IPS-LCD display to Samsung's Super AMOLED HD (as used in the Galaxy Nexus and other devices). LG Display says that the LCD is more sharp and clear (due to the Real Stripe matrix vs the Pentile one used in Samsung's AMOLED):

Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company based in Germany, working on high performance OLED materials. We're happy to post this third interview with Merck's OLED unit VP, Dr. Udo Heider:

Q: Dr. Heider, thanks for taking the time to do yet another interview with us.

Thanks Ron. I do appreciate this opportunity to communicate about our recent Merck OLED activities.

I'm assuming that Merck is still focused on Solution Processable materials. Can you give us a short update on the current status of your materials?

Yes, of course, we are very diligently focused on solution processable materials development based on our customers requests. As communicated in the past, Merck is working on solution processable small molecule materials. Our chemists have devised ways to redesign an evaporable small molecule and optimize its performance within a soluble device stack, applicable to the various soluble "printing" process windows.

Samsung is getting ready to release flexible OLEDs soon, and have announced that these displays will be branded as YOUM displays. Today the OLED association released some interesting information regarding Samsung's flexible OLED manufacturing program. According to this report, products that use these displays will be introduced in Q4 2012, while mass production will begin as early as next month.

Back in May 2011 Samsung announced a joint venture with Japan's Ube Kosan to develop and produce polyimide resin - to be used as substrates for their flexible displays in a $18 million investment. Now we hear that the curing equipment for the hardened polyimide will be provided by Korea's Tera Semicon.

Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) say they have developed the world's lowest-color temperature OLED lighting panel. The researchers say that high color temperature lighting can lead to insomnia, biological clock disorder and even cancer according, and this new OLED can be safer.

The new OLED panels will go into trial mass production soon, in collaboration with ITRI. This research follows the team 2009 research that developed OLED lighting panels that can change color temperature to match sun-light throughout the day (2300K-8200K).

Engineered Conductive Materials is introducing a new low-temperature curing conductive adhesive DB-1541-LTC, targeted for OLED and OPV panels. ECM says that the DB-1541-LTC can be cured as low as 100°C, but has a dispensing work life greater than 48 hours (measured as a 25% increase in viscosity), while maintaining optimized rheology for dispensing and excellent damp heat resistance and conductivity stability on tin, tin-silver and silver-plated ribbons.

The new adhesive features a rubber-like flexibility - good for flexible applications with high peel strength to withstand the stresses induced in reel-to-reel manufacturing processes.

Lumiotec released an interesting article that discusses the company's Multi-Photon Emission (MPE) stacked device structure and how it helps to achieve high luminance and long lifetime, their light out-coupling and encapsulation technologies and the company's mass production process. The paper also includes a discussion on the development of their next generation panel which uses phosphorescent materials provided by Universal Display Corporation to improve the efficiency.

Here's our own review of Lumiotec's Hanger and Vanity OLED lamps, and here's our review of the company's first-gen OLED lighting panel. Here are a couple of videos showing Lumiotec's panels and lamps:

LG Display announced today that they have started to produce 6" E Ink panels on a plastic substrate. Those displays will be used in e-readers, and the first one (from a Chinese based ODM) will be released in Europe next month. The panel features XGA (1024x768) resolution and is only 0.7 mm thick and weighs just 14 grams - half the weight of a glass based E Ink panel.

If true, this will be the first time that a plastic based E Ink is in production, and this means that LGD is quite advanced in its plastic substrate program - which they also plan to use for OLED displays. LG Display is reportedly building a pilot 3.5-Gen (730 × 460 mm) flexible OLED production line. They have ordered the equipment, which will arrive by 3Q 2012, and the line will become active by the end of 2012. It was reported that it will take LG another 1-2 years to fully develop the technology, but LG Display is trying to accelerate the development.

Last week we reported that Tianma is showing a 12" AMOLED prototype at FPD China 2012. It turns out that the company unveiled two panels (3.2" and 12") and they kindly sent us a couple of slides showing details about these panels.

The 12" panel features 1280x800 resolution, 400 cd/m2 brightness and a contrast that exceeds 10,000:1. It is aimed towards TV and tablet applications.

Last week we reported that Sumitomo Chemical is planning to start mass producing OLED lighting panels later in 2012 based on their PLED technology in a ¥5-6 billion ($60-70 million) investement. Now Sumitomo finally announced that they plan to unveil panels at the L+B 2012 exhibition, and also unveiled a web page with lot's of info on their PLED lighting program. It seems that the company will commercial PLED panels for "decorative lighting" in 2013, and for general lighting in 2015.

In L+B2012 Sumitomo will show new PLED panels that are about 10 centimeters square each. There will be panels in sixty different colors, which are made using printing technology (all layers except the electrodes). The booth was designed by world-renowned Japanese lighting designer Motoko Ishii, with the theme The Colors of Japan The Colors of Harmony, in an innovative attempt to replicate—by means of lighting—the elegant and refined colors of ancient Japan in a modern day setting of a Japanese traditional tearoom. Here's what the booth will look like: