Technical / Research - Page 63

LG announced a new mobile phone, the Optimus Sol - and this is the first phone that uses LG Display's new AMOLED displays (at 3.8"). LG brands these Ultra-AMOLED, and they say that they use new technology that makes them better under sunlight (and also offer better colors and reduced image degradation). We guess that (like Samsung's Super-AMOLED) these display include the touch-sensor in the display panel itself. Or perhaps they include a polarizing filter like Nokia's ClearBlack displays. The phone also includes a new "Dark UI" which conserves power on the AMOLED display - around 20%-30% according to LG.

LG Display are currently making 4,000 monthly substrate in their new 4.5-Gen AMOLED plant (which is about 500,000 3" displays). The company announced they will not invest further in small AMOLED production and will focus on large panels for OLED TVs.

Researchers from UCLA demonstrated an intrinsically stretchable transparent PLED device. The device was fabricated using a simple process that uses single-walled carbon nanotube polymer composite electrodes. The interpenetrating networks of nanotubes and the polymer matrix in the surface layer of the composites lead to low sheet resistance, high transparency, high compliance and low surface roughness.

The new P-OLED prototype can be linearly stretched up to 45% (see photo below) and the composite electrodes can be reversibly stretched by up to 50% with little change in sheet resistance. They say that this is the first stretchable OLED. Back in 2009, researchers from Tokyo demonstrated a stretchable "rubber like" OLED panel which made from many small individual panels (it's not clear whether each small panel was stretchable by itself).

A few weeks ago we posted MBraun movies showing some of their OLED Processing equipment (the UV_03 cleaner, the Vacuum Hotplate and the Convection Oven). Today MBraun released another set of three films. The first film shows their Slot Die Coater - which can be used in fabs from Gen-1 to Gen-4.5:

The second film is about the Edge Bead Remover (EBR):

Update 2: It's official - the OLED microdisplay is made by Sony.

Update: We got this rumor confirmed by a trusted source.

We just got an interesting rumor sent to us by an anonymous tipper. Remember Sony's A77 OLED viewfinder? Our tipper says that the microdisplay is made by Samsung. Samsung is using a "laser based technology" and not FMM (see more on Samsung's upcoming move to LITI here). Samsung is also using "new organic colors".

The display itself is 0.9" in size and has a 4:3 format. According to earlier reports the resolution is XGA (1024x768).

Researchers from RIKEN (Japan) developed a new efficient copper complex that can be used to replace Iridium phosphors in OLEDs - and would be much cheaper (copper is about 1/2000 cheaper than Iridium).

The researchers altered the molecular environment in which the copper sites - wrapping each copper ion with a newly designed organic ligand. The ligand forced the copped to become three-coordinate (three bonds to the ligand), rather than the usual four. This caused the efficiency (EQE) of the copper complex to increase dramatically.

I just had an interesting talk with two industry insiders (one of them is a Samsung supplier) - about Samsung's upcoming Super AMOLED HD display. It turns out that these displays are indeed real - and will be unveiled soon. We can expect 5" to 6" smartphones in fall 2011 (the first will probably be the GT-I9220 with a 5.3" display) and 7" tablets by the end of 2011.

A 7-inch Super AMOLED prototype

According to my sources, Samsung managed to achieve HD resolution on these small displays by using PenTile matrix again (like in the original Super AMOLED displays). They have also developed a new manufacturing process and are using new materials. It might be that they have finally started to use Universal Display's green PHOLED (we reported that Samsung is using a green phosphorescent in their new 5.5-Gen plant, but perhaps they will only start using it in the HD displays).

Researchers from Rice University created thin hybrid metal-graphene electrodes - that outperform ITO electrodes, are also more transparent and less resistance to electric current. This can be useful for transparent and flexible OLED displays or lighting panels.

The new electrode is a thin film of single-layer graphene and a fine grid of metal nanowire. It's basically a hybrid-graphene electrode. The metal is used to enhance the conductivity at the required transparency. The metal grid strengthens the graphene, and the graphene fills all the empty spaces between the grid. The researchers found a grid of five-micron nanowires made of inexpensive, lightweight aluminum did not detract from the material's transparency.

UK's Printable Electronics Technology Center (PETEC) recently launched their OLED/OPV prototyping line called LACE. The LACE is suitable for processing both air sensitive and non air sensitive material sets for the production of devices on a range of substrate sizes up to 200mm square.

LACE provides capability to materials companies, device designers and end users the opportunity to optimize their technologies within a fully automated, controlled environment. The system was built by Mbraun (who just recently released three videos showing their OLED processing equipment).

Apple filed a new patent for a glasses-free 3D device that uses multiple transparent display layers. The different layers would actually allow for visual depth to be seen by the users.

Apple's patent specifically mentions OLED panels as the technology used to make the transparent displays: "The use of OLED panels may provide an advantage over traditional display devices, since OLED panels do not require a backlight to function, and may therefore be much thinner and lighter than backlit display panels. OLED panels are further capable of displaying deep black levels and can naturally achieve a high contrast ratio."