Technical / Research - Page 64

Remember Toshiba's portable OLED lamp? Universal Display donated OLED materials and technology for those lamps. It seems that Toshiba made the actual panels (which was a surprise to us because we didn't know they had an OLED lighting program) as UDC provided only knowhow and materials. This is the first time we hear of a collaboration between UDC and Toshiba, but we don't know whether it extends beyond this specific project.

Toshiba will make 100 units of this lamp, and donate these to quake-hit areas (50 units were already donated to the evacuation center in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture). Toshiba has no plans to sell these to consumers.

The Organic Electronics Association (OEA) recently released their latest OE brochure, to which they attached a very cool demonstrator - an organic solar cell (PV) powered flashlight:

What feels like a bit of cardboard actually contains a a roll-to-roll printed organic solar cell, a flexible lithium-ion battery and a printed electronic circuitry. And of course a small white LED. The association says that this can "give you the feeling" of the next generation of electronics: thin, lightweight, flexible and produced at a low cost.

Novaled announced it has developed a highly power-efficient white OLED structure achieving 60 lm/W at a brightness of 1,000 cd/m² capable of reaching 100,000 hours lifetime (at an initial brightness of 1,000 cd/m²). The new OLED uses red and green phosphorescent materials and a commercially available fluorescent blue material.

Novaled says that a fluorescent blue emitter usually results in much less efficient devices, but their PIN OLED technology and proprietary materials resulted in this highly efficient device. Using this fluorescent materiel has several advantages - good device stability, higher lifetime and it is commercially available. It also enables a broad coverage of the complete visible color range.

Back in April, Philips unveiled a new OLED panel called Lumiblade Plus - which is the world's most efficient panel under production (45lm/w). Back then Philips said that the panel was 'developed by Konica Minolta', but wouldn't say more. Today Konica Minolta issued a press release with some more information: it appears that indeed the materials and structure were developed by KM and the production will be handled by Philips. Production will start in autumn 2011.

While I do not understand the cooperation entirely, after talking to KM it seems that both companies will offer the panel for sale. It's not clear whether Philips will pay royalties for KM on each panel, but it might be so. Philips are already accepting orders for the Lumiblade plus (€120, minimum quantity is 100 units) - but KM says that the panels are not shipping yet. We do not know how many the panels Philips is going to make - but perhaps the agreement with KM was part of the decision to expand Philips' OLED capacity.

The OLED Handbook was launched a few weeks ago - and so far reaction (and sales) have been great. We are now happy to offer a printed (hardcopy) edition of the book. The OLED Handbook costs $149.99 in full-color hardcopy.

You can still buy it in digital form for $97 of course. If you already bought a digital copy and you want to get a hardcopy too, contact us and we'll provide you with a discounted offer.

eMagin issued a press release today regarding their OLED lighting project they are conducting together with the University of Rechester. eMagin says that the partnership will seek to drastically improve the amount of useful light emitted from the device by developing technologies that use nano-particle based plasmonic scattering of light.

So this is an OLED lighting project, and it doesn't seem directly related to microdisplays (although eMagin does say that this can lead to more efficient microdisplays, too). In fact eMagin comments that "Success in this research effort has the potential to revolutionize the multi-billion-dollar markets for home, commercial and industrial lighting systems....We look forward to working with our partners at the University of Rochester to advance the next generation of OLED technology for lighting solutions with an eye toward commercialization.

Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, India developed graphene based quantum dots (GQDs) blended with organic polymers. The new GQDs do not use any toxic metals such cadmium and lead used in today's quantum dots. The new devices actually perform better - less current loss and improved efficiency.

The researchers say that these GQDs may be used in organic solar cells and OLED displays - and indeed they fabricated a prototype OLED display with "good performance". Their work could lead to light-weight, flexible and cheap panels - used in large-area roll-to-roll manufacturing. The efficiency of the fabricated device is still low, and the researchers are working towards increased efficiency.

Last month we reported that the US DOE funded $1.2 million (out of $1.5 million) to a research at the University of Rochester aimed towards increasing the efficiency and light output of OLEDs by improving the device’s light extraction through the use of an internal scattering layer. Today we have some new information on that project.

The three-year effort aims to increase the light output of OLEDs by 3.5 times. The idea is to try and make the light within the OLED scatter randomly and then capture it in metal rods inserted into the organic diode. The researchers will collaborate with eMagin in this project.

SouthWest NanoTechnologies (SWeNT), a US company that produces single-wall and specialty multi-wall carbon nanotubes has been awarded a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) to develop semiconducting inks, based on its single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) technology, suitable for printing thin film transistors (TFTs).

According to SWeNT's CEO, Dave Arther, the company will leverage its current NIST-TIP grant program to produce semiconductor grade SWCNTs, which will be converted into printable inks using proprietary V2V™ ink technology. The company's inks overcome two market barriers, commercial availability and compatibility with standard printing equipment.

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) installed Sunic Systems' GEN-II OLED SUNICEL Plus 400 vacuum evaporation and encapsulation process tool. The FDC now has the ability to manufacture full color flexible OLEDs in-house - and the FDC says that they are already scaling the recently announced 3.8" AMOLED prototype (developed together with Universal Display, shown below) to larger sizes. The FDC purchased that system back in May 2010.

The FDC says that this new Gen II production system will enable the development of not only large-size flexible OLEDs but also solid-state lighting and plastic electronics.