Universal Display Corporation (UDC) - Page 37

With a power efficiency of 45 lumens/Watt (lm/W) demonstrated to date and the possibility of achieving up to 150 lm/W with additional development in the future, white phosphorescent OLED lighting has the potential to lead to significant energy savings and additional environmental or ‘green’ benefits. Additionally, the very thin and transparent form factor of this new lighting concept offers numerous design advantages that may enable a variety of novel uses as compared to existing incandescent and fluorescent lighting products.

Energy efficient technologies and ‘green’ solutions for every day use have gained prominence as fiscal concerns have joined with environmental ones, said Mr. Rosenblatt. Developed, in part, for the U.S. Department of Energy Solid State Lighting initiative, this transparent white OLED lighting panel combines our energy-efficient PHOLED phosphorescent and TOLED transparent OLED technologies into a very exciting lighting concept with a thin and light form factor. Amongst the many new prospective applications, one can imagine that these panels may someday replace standard office windows to provide lighting when day-lighting is insufficient.

Enabled by the Company’s high-efficiency PHOLED technology, which offers up to a 4:1 power advantage over existing fluorescent OLED technology, white OLEDs are seen by the DOE as a leading candidate for next-generation lighting. Universal Display is currently engaged in contract research with the DOE to work in a number of key performance areas for OLED lighting. Under this specific program, lead by Dr. Brian D’Andrade, the Company demonstrated an efficient white OLED with the added feature of being transparent when turned off.

Universal Display Corporation today reported significant progress in the development of P2OLED printable, phosphorescent OLED materials for use with solution-based manufacturing processes, which display manufacturers consider a prospective solution for the cost-effective production of large-area OLED displays.

Reported in a joint paper with Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson) given today at the Society for Information Display’s 2007 International Display Workshop (IDW) Conference in Sapporo, Japan, these advances are the result of a three-year joint development program during which the two companies focused on the successful demonstration of Universal Display’s P2OLEDs for application to Epson’s proprietary ink-jet printing process technology.

Given by Epson’s Takuya Sonoyama, the paper reported progress in red, green and blue P2OLED device performance in spin-coated devices and ink-jet printed devices. Demonstrating the high luminous efficiency of PHOLED technology, the team made significant progress in extending the operating lifetimes of its red and green material P2OLED systems: Red with CIE(0.66, 0.33), luminous efficiency of 9 cd/A and > 50,000 hours of operating lifetime to 50% of initial luminance (at 500 cd/m2) and green with CIE(0.33, 0.63), 35 cd/A and > 50,000 hours (at 1000 cd/m2). The team also reported data for a new sky blue P2OLED with CIE(0.19, 0.40), 18 cd/A and > 3,000 hours (at 500 cd/m2). In addition, results with ink-jet printed P2OLED devices were reported which demonstrate the excellent film-forming ability of the small molecule layers. Ink-jet printed green P2OLED devices were also demonstrated to have the same efficiency as those of the spin-coated control P2OLEDs following an in-depth study of solvent selection and process optimization.

Universal Display’s PHOLED technology and materials, which offer up to four times higher energy efficiency than traditional OLED systems, are today being used in products manufactured using conventional vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE) equipment. P2OLED materials and technology, based on this same PHOLED technology, are designed for use with solution-based processes such as ink-jet printing.

Gizmodo has an exclusive video from UDC - a couple of their flexible screens being attacked by hammers, and surviving. It's a bit silly, but it's cool nonetheless. One of the screens is the one they announced together with LG in May 2007.

View the video (Gizmodo)

In November 2007 Sony has started to sell their 11" OLED TV (the XEL-1). This is an exciting move by Sony, but this cannot be considered a real commercial OLED TV. They are only producing 2,000 of those units monthly, the price is extremely high - around 1,800$ for a 11" TV (and Sony admits they are losing money on each unit). Even the power consumption of those TVs is rather high - higher than compatible LCDs.

But still Sony is clearly committed to OLEDs - and it seems like they are betting the future of their TV business on OLEDs. Sony were late to the Flat-Panel TV "party" and are no longer considered innovators. Now they are trying to be in the forefront of the technology again, and OLEDs is their technology of choice.

The Gizmodo team paid a visit to Universal Display, and they have an interest account of it, complete with photos and a video.

They discuss the different ways of producing the OLED screen - Vacuum Thermal Evaporation,Organic Vapor Phase Deposition, Organic Vapor Jet Printing, and altogether it's a good read. 

Read more here (Gizmodo) 

For the third quarter of 2007, the Company reported a net loss of $2,960,565 or $(0.08) per diluted share, versus a net loss of $2,943,287 or $(0.09) per diluted share for the third quarter of 2006. The Company’s net loss for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2007 was $12,719,737 or ($0.38) per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $10,777,978, or ($0.35) per diluted share, for the same period in 2006.

Universal Display is in a solid financial position as our revenue mix reflects momentum in the commercialization of our PHOLED technology, said Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Chief Financial Officer of Universal Display. While revenues and net loss were about the same for the third quarters of 2006 and 2007, sequentially, we saw a significant increase in our commercial chemical revenue for the third quarter of 2007 compared to the second quarter. Revenue increased from $2,315,170 in the second quarter to $3,077,281 in the third quarter, and our net loss was reduced from $5,175,371 in the second quarter to $2,960,565 in the third quarter, as our PHOLED technology and materials continue to be incorporated into more commercial products. The OLED industry is closer than ever to realizing broad commercialization of OLED technology in personal electronics, TV’s and other display applications.

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.

Universal Display Corporation today announced that it has been awarded a $935,000 contract extension by the U.S. Army Communication Electronics Research and Development Engineering Center (CERDEC). The extension builds on an existing Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III grant with CERDEC for the development of flexible, active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display technology for demonstration in a prototype wrist-based communications device.

Development efforts under the contract extension will focus on combining Universal Display's PHOLED(TM) phosphorescent OLED technology with LG.Philips LCD (LPL) amorphous-Silicon (a-Si) TFT technology. Bringing LPL, a leading manufacturer of thin-film transistor liquid crystal displays (TFT-LCDs), to the program as a development partner marks an important step toward the commercialization of flexible OLED display products. In May, the two companies showcased the world's first high-resolution AMOLED display built on flexible metal foil at the 2007 Society for Information Display Conference and Symposium. Building on this initial demonstration, Universal Display and LPL plan to work on a prototype with key design and performance enhancements under this program.

L-3 Communications Display Systems (L-3 Display Systems), a leading supplier of ruggedized display systems for military uses and a long-standing partner under this program, is responsible for designing and integrating its advanced communications components with the QVGA, full-color, flexible AMOLED display into the prototype wrist-mounted communications device for delivery to CERDEC.

Universal Display was awarded Phase III of the SBIR grant by CERDEC in January 2006. The Company's work with the U.S. Department of Defense also includes flexible AMOLED display development for the U.S. Army Research Laboratories (ARL), the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories.

Revenues for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2007 were $2,315,170 and $5,329,800, respectively, compared to $3,009,316 and $6,280,722 for the same periods in 2006. Revenue components for the second quarter and first six months of 2007 were as follows:

Commercial chemical revenues were $229,631 and $1,542,631, for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2007, respectively, compared to $336,365 and $734,844 for the same periods in 2006. Commercial chemical revenue for the first six months of 2007 was positively impacted by material shipments almost entirely to Samsung SDI. In 2006, commercial chemical revenue was mainly from material shipments to AU Optronics.

Royalty and license revenues were $163,295 and $291,195 for three months and six months ended June 30, 2007, respectively, compared to $807,185 and $1,738,031 for the same periods in 2006. Royalty and license revenue decreased in both periods of 2007 due to AU Optronics discontinuing its purchase of materials for which in 2006 we recognized both commercial chemical and license revenue, unlike the agreement with Samsung SDI for which royalties will be recorded after Samsung SDI sells the products.

"While we continue to experience a shift in our revenue mix as our technology is commercialized, we have and expect to continue to experience fluctuations in revenues as the market for our OLED technology continues to develop," said Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Chief Financial Officer of Universal Display. "The next year will be an important time for Universal Display as we continue to advance our PHOLED technology for displays and lighting applications, and as display manufacturers continue to incorporate our OLED technology and materials into their commercial products. We believe that the Company is in a strong technological and financial position as it enters a new era in display technology."

The market for printed and organic lighting will exceed $2.9 billion ($US) by 2012, according to a new report from NanoMarkets. The report claims that the higher energy efficiencies and ability to create novel lighting products provided by OLED and carbon nanotubes in particular will push the entire printed and organic lighting market up to $5.9 billion by 2014.

NanoMarkets says that most of the new business will come from the backlighting, general illumination and architectural/specialty industrial lighting applications with significant opportunities also in vehicular lighting, signage and a variety of niche markets.