Category Archives: Flexible Displays

August 3, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Panasonic Corporation (NYSE:PC, TOKYO:6752) will reform its head office and governance as of October 1, aiming to reduce internally focused work and focus on customer needs.

The strategy involves reviewing the mission of the corporate R&D division, transferring “themes” and personnel to their relevant business domains within Panasonic. Corporate R&D’s new mission will be to create new business and technologies in long-term growth areas and develop uniform technologies across the entire company.

The personnel working on existing business fields will gear their R&D toward midterm business growth. Panasonic recently focused research on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with Sony, and on flexible electronics with imec.

Panasonic is also establishing a corporate strategy head office, staff of about 150, which will oversee midterm strategies and allocate management resources, as well as develop executives and promote cash flow management. Functions other than the above will be realigned as part of a Professional Business Support Sector. Panasonic will regroup some of the related divisions into single divisions and simplify organizations. 

A Group Management Team will evaluate Panasonic’s mid- and long-term strategy and important business moves, with about 10 executives involved. Various meetings will be reorganized as appropriate under this new structure.

Learn more about Panasonic at http://panasonic.net/.

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August 1, 2012 — NanoMarkets announced a new report on the transparent conductor (TC) market which includes the dominant indium tin oxide (ITO), along with other transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), conductive polymers, silver grids and coatings, copper, carbon nanotubes and graphene and nanocomposite materials of various kinds.

Most firms offering alternatives to ITO focus on the touch-screen sensor market; however, this sector is too small for many of these firms to generate significant revenues.

Also read: Soaring indium costs drive hunt for alternative in transparent electrodes

NanoMarkets believes that the current rapid development of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display and lighting market could boost the makers of non-ITO TCs. While ITO is widely used in OLEDs it is not well suited to this application. The OLED sector is already beginning to seek alternative TCs.

ITO also may not work well in high-throughput roll-to-roll (R2R) processes used to manufacture flexible displays. ITO cannot be used in rollable displays, due to its material nature. Flexible displays, primed to become a sizable market, could be major contributors to the mainstream adoption of ITO alternatives for TC.

NanoMarkets expects a resurgence in thin-film solar panels for use in building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). This will boost firms selling tin oxide (SnO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) materials and there is considerable research activity currently seeking the best dopants for these materials for TC applications.

Silver-based TCs seem to have taken off commercially and can now be found in a number of commercial cellphone models.

Nanotube-based TCs have made little commercial progress, although a few well-funded firms — Samsung, Linde and Toray, for example — still back this approach.

Meanwhile, Agfa, Heraeus and Kodak seem to be making progress with their low-cost conductive polymer TCs. The materials have considerable potential for growth in small displays for electronic labels and smartcards.

NanoMarkets provides in-depth analysis of the applications from which TC firms will be able to make money in the next few years including touch-screens, OLEDs, e-paper, thin-film and BIPV, organic/DSC PV, smart windows, etc. The report examines implications for TCs of the rise of flexible and transparent electronics and provides an in-depth discussion of how non-ITO TCs may be able to break into the LCD market. For each application the report contains separate eight-year forecasts in terms of value ($ millions) and volume (square meters). Each forecast is also broken out by material type.

Firms discussed in the report including 3M, Agfa, Asahi Glass, Atmel, Cambrios, Cima NanoTech, Corning, Dow Chemical, Evonik, Ferro, Fujitsu, Harima Chemicals, Heraeus, Hitachi, Idemitsu Kosan, Indium Corporation, Kodak, LG, Linde, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Nippon Mining and Metals, Nitto Denko, PolyIC, Pilkington, Saint-Gobain, Samsung, Schott, SKC, Sony, Oike, Sumitomo, Teijin, Toray, Tosoh, Ulvac, Umicore, Unidym, and many others.

NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging market opportunities in energy, electronics and other markets created by developments in advanced materials. Visit http://www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets’ reports and other services.

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July 27, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Optomec’s Aerosol Jet deposition tools are being used for printed sensor, display, solar cell, CMOS and passive devices, and other development areas, with new installations at CEA Liten (France), Innovation Lab (Germany) and the University of Sheffield (UK).

Optomec supports more than 40 customers in Europe.

@ CEA: The Aerosol Jet system at CEA is located at PICTIC, which is the first European platform entirely dedicated to printed electronics. Christophe Serbutoviez of CEA Liten states, “The Aerosol Jet system plays a key role in ensuring the digital printing of fine traces of conductor and dielectric materials on flat and 3D surfaces. The system enables our customers to manufacture advanced printed CMOS devices, thermal sensors and passive components such as RLC filters.” CEA Liten is the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives). CEA is active in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. CEA’s PICTIC (Research and Development of Printed Electronic Devices) platform is financially supported by the European Feder funds, Rhône Alpe Region and the CEA.

@ Innovation Lab: The Aerosol Jet system at Innovation Lab is used to develop new manufacturing processes for a number of different printed electronics applications. Kai Sudau of Innovation Lab states, “Aerosol Jet systems offer the opportunity to deposit fluids that could otherwise mainly be processed using spin coating. The Aerosol Jet system enables us to create structured layers of these fluids rather than full layers.”

Innovation Lab GmbH (iL) is an application-oriented organization for research and knowledge transfer in science and business, supported by the Universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim, and by the companies BASF SE, Merck KGaA, Freudenberg & Co., Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Roche Diagnostics GmbH and SAP AG.

@ University of Sheffield: The Aerosol Jet system at the University of Sheffield is currently used to produce a series of photomask samples with positive and negative micro arrays on a glass substrate. Conventional production methods are extremely complex and require special processing equipment. The Aerosol Jet deposition system provides a more cost-effective approach by directly printing the photomasks, eliminating many process steps. The University plans to use the Aerosol Jet system to help solve a wide variety of printed electronics manufacturing challenges.

The Mercury Centre is a multi-million dollar industrially focused facility within the University of Sheffield, accelerating the manufacture of high-technology components across a range of sectors, including advanced manufacturing, energy, health-care devices and electronics.

Optomec is the world-leading provider of additive manufacturing solutions for high-performance applications in the Electronics, Solar, Medical, and Aerospace & Defense markets. Internet: www.optomec.com

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July 25, 2012 – Marketwire — UniPixel, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNXL), engineered films provider for touch screen, flexible printed electronics, lighting and display applications, completed the production-level qualification of its Diamond Guard Hard Coat film with its manufacturing and distribution partner, Carestream Tollcoating.

With Carestream, UniPixel established the capacity to support 100 million+ square feet/year production of Diamond Guard, which is used as a cover glass replacement or protective cover film for displays.

Various pilot production orders from major electronic OEMs, ODMs, and film converters have been fulfilled.

Diamond Guard is a low-cost alternative to glass, with a 6H or higher hardness rating, scratch resistance, gloss finish and shatterproof composition. It is thin, light and flexible. This enables roll-based manufacturing, where Diamond Guard is die- or laser-cut to size. Users can print bezels, logos, borders, or other designs in a roll-to-roll processing method. Diamond Guard does not require special surface treatment for inks to adhere. The Diamond Guard line of protective cover films includes FPR (finger print resistant), AG (anti-glare), and DGU (Diamond Guard Ultra) Hard Coat (up to 9H rating) versions.

Widespread commercialization in the cover glass and protective cover markets will begin with this large-volume certification, said UniPixel CEO Reed Killion. The product will be marketed for small, medium, and large-size displays.

Carestream Tollcoating provides high-precision contract coating services and supplies optical-grade PET film, specializing in the application of aqueous and solvent coatings on flexible substrates.Carestream’s global logistics network boasts supply chain management and distribution capabilities in 56 countries. Diamond Guard can be provided as a raw coating material or as a resin for use in customer coating processes.

UniPixel also will work with OEMs and ODMs to combine Diamond Guard with its UniBoss touch sensor to produce a thinner, cost-effective touchscreen display. Functional prototypes have been developed with better than one-fifth the thickness of current touchscreen displays on the market and at a highly competitive cost. The company aims to market this touchscreen offering in 2013.

Carestream Tollcoating, a division of Carestream Health, Inc., is a premium contract coating services provider specializing in the application of aqueous and solvent coatings on flexible substrates. For additional information, please visit www.tollcoating.com or www.carestream.com.

UniPixel Inc. (NASDAQ:UNXL) delivers Performance Engineered Films to the Lighting, Display and Flexible Electronics markets. For further information, visit www.unipixel.com.

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July 20, 2012 — IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries and JPCA (Japan Electronics Packaging and Circuits Association) released their first operational-level standard for the printed electronics industry, IPC/JPCA-4921, Requirements for Printed Electronics Base Materials (Substrates). The standard defines terms and establishes basic requirements for substrate materials used in printed electronics: ceramic, organic, metal, glass and other.

Printed electronics is still in its infancy, with commercialization spurts and lacking standard manufacturing practices. Printed electronics are generally made with long-established technologies combined with recent innovations, IPC and JPCA point out. Electronics can be printed on diverse materials, which both opens new opportunities and limits growth/targeted development programs. “It’s difficult to grasp the breadth of opportunities when a range of materials can be printed onto various substrates to produce from very simple electronic circuits to the highly complex,” said IPC Director of Technology Transfer Marc Carter.

For this technology to become a stand-alone industry, it must have some commonalities that help build a structure, said Carter. The standard aims to provide a common language for designers, equipment makers and manufacturers.

Individuals who have worked with flexible circuits are most likely to feel the most familiar with details in IPC/JPCA-4921, but they will also find a number of significant differences. “Some of the materials are similar or the same, but people are leveraging different intrinsic materials attributes to enable novel applications,” adds Carter.

Printed electronics are being developed for different tasks: the inner layers of a circuit board, printed electronic active components, advanced automotive applications, and low-cost displays for portable computing and mobile applications, among other applications.

IPC/JPCA-4921 provides a starting point for IPC’s Printed Electronics Initiative to establish a critical segment of the infrastructure that will help the industry expand more quickly. This initiative includes a dedicated management council for companies to discuss issues and to help develop tools and studies; a printed electronics conference track and exhibition area at IPC APEX EXPO 2013; and more industry standards, in continued partnership with JPCA.

Because the printed electronics industry is growing and evolving rapidly, IPC/JPCA-4921 may have to be updated at a more frequent pace than other industry standards.

IPC members may request a single-user download of IPC/JPCA-4921 by sending an e-mail to [email protected], free when requested within 90 days of the document’s publication. For more information, visit www.ipc.org/4921.

IPC is a global industry association dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. Learn more at www.IPC.org.

JPCA is a Tokyo-based trade association serving about 400 member companies in the electronic circuits industries. JPCA supports the industries through global trade shows, including JPCA Show, Large Electronics Show, Microelectronics Show and JISSO PROTEC; industry standards; management programs; market/statistics/technology research; and environment/ foreign trade/government relations programs. JPCA works cooperatively with other organizations of the World Electronic Circuits Council (WECC), including more than 40 years of friendship with IPC; Japan-China Relationship Council under JPCA/CPCA; MOU of JPCA/KPCA and JPCA/TPCA. Internet: www.jpca.org.

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July 19, 2012 — FlexTech Alliance, focused on developing the electronic display and flexible, printed electronics industry supply chains, completed a project with Polyera Corporation to develop printable n-type organic semiconductors. FlexTech Alliance provided $300 thousand in funding.

Polyera’s aim was to develop printable materials that worked on flexible, lightweight substrates, enabling the manufacture of electronics with novel form factors such as roll-up displays and flexible solar panels. 

Historically, only p-type organic semiconductors have been viable when deposited on flexible substrates. With Polyera’s advances in n-type organic semiconductors, CMOS devices from displays to RFID tags can be printed.

These new organic materials function similarly to traditional inorganic materials, but can be dissolved into solution, like ink. CMOS circuits are therefore manufactured via ink-jet, rotogravure, and other roll-to-roll printing processes.

“There is a growing list of novel applications previously impractical due to the limitations of traditional materials,” said Brendan Florez, Assistant General Manger, Polyera.  “During the project we have developed and optimized several new n-channel organic semiconductors for printed thin film transistors demonstrating unprecedented performance. These environmentally friendly formulations are now available to customers."

“In addition to achieving targeted performance metrics, Polyera has successfully printed functional thin film transistors, CMOS inverters, and complementary ring oscillators — basic building blocks for consumer devices, displays and photovoltaics,” said Nick Colaneri, Director of Flexible Display Center, Arizona State University.

The FlexTech Alliance is devoted to fostering the growth, profitability and success of the electronic display and the flexible, printed electronics supply chain.  FlexTech Alliance offers expanded collaboration between and among industry, academia, government, and research organizations for advancing displays and flexible, printed electronics from R&D to commercialization.  To this end, the FlexTech Alliance, based in San Jose, Calif., fosters development of the supply chain required to support a world-class, manufacturing capability for displays and flexible, printed electronics.  More information about the FlexTech Alliance can be found at www.flextech.org.

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July 9, 2012 — Ushio Inc. (TOKYO:6925) launched its thinnest ultraviolet (UV) irradiance meter "UIT-q365 (UIT-Theta365)." The meter is 4.9mm thick, used to keep major UV processes within spec. It can be used during optical film manufacturing for flexible electronics, as well as during adhesion of precision optical parts.

The meter is launching at SEMICON West 2012. USHIO will also demonstrate its dedicated Android application “BladeNavi,” used for measurement, monitoring, and analysis of UV irradiance, which is set to launch in October 2012.

More SEMICON West product previews: Metrology, inspection, and process control products, Lithography products, packaging products, Wafer processing and handling products

The UIT-q365’s thin unibody design incorporates a meter, sensor, and secondary battery to allow measurement of UV irradiance in hard-to-reach locations or in-situ setups. Measurements are reportedly highly accurate and repetitive measurement even for scattered continuous light. With a rechargeable battery, re-use is unlimited.

The product operates in- or off-line. In off-line data-logging mode, it can be placed on a film running on a production line to log measured data, then removed from the line for processing measured data. In on-line mode, it provides real-time measurement of irradiance of a spot UV light. With “BladeNavi” the tool can be operated with one hand.

Visit USHIO at SEMICON WEST, July 10-12 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, South Hall, Booth 2544.

USHIO INC. handles a variety of light sources for a broad range of industrial applications, including high-brightness discharge lamps for cinema projectors and data projectors as well as halogen lamps for general lighting and OA equipment and UV irradiance meters. It also manufactures and markets products incorporating its own light sources, such as optical systems for manufacturing FPDs and other electronic components and devices as well as imaging equipment led by digital cinema projectors. Visit www.ushio.co.jp/en.

Check out Solid State Technology’s coverage of SEMICON West 2012!

July 5, 2012 — Indium tin oxide (ITO) is the basis of more than 90% of transparent conductive films (TCFs), used in displays, flexible photovoltaics, and other devices, reports Cathleen Thiele, technology analyst, IDTechEx. With indium prices rising, and technical challenges related to indium’s brittle nature, manufacturers are looking to new technologies, such as finely printed conductive meshes, layers of silver or copper that are highly transparent, organic transparent conductors and variations such as carbon nanotubes and graphene.

The TCF market is valued at more than $2 billion in 2012. ITO is an entrenched technology for displays manufacturing, said Thiele.

Figure. The commonly used options (excluding uses of transparent conductors that are not in displays, photovoltaics or touchscreens) with their market share. 

Transparent conductor Main uses 2012 value ($M) 2012 market share (%)
Indium tin oxide (ITO Displays (LCD, e-paper, OLED)
Photovoltaics
Capacitive touchscreens		 1527 93
Other metal oxides (FTO, AZO) Photovoltaics (CdTe, a-Si, Silicon PV) 106 6
Transparent organic conductors (PEDOT:PSS), CNTs, graphene Flexible photovoltaics, bi-stable displays 0.6 <0.1
Metals, composites (Metal grids or nanowires) Flexible devices 1.4 0.9

Source: IDTechEx http://www.IDTechEx.com/TCF 

Transparent conductors based on nanosilver and PEDOT:PSS are getting a lot of interest, in addition to carbon nanotubes and graphene. There are also hybrid approaches – using nanosilver to print fine lines, filled with a transparent conductor such as PEDOT:PSS.

Most of the focus is on use as a transparent conductor for display, solar and touchscreen applications – representing the biggest need and opportunity.

In comparison to other types of transparent conductors ITO has a very competitive conductivity-transparency-ratio. However, an issue not only for ITO, but also many other types of TCF, is that they are not particularly flexible. Sputtered ITO and other TCO layers on plastic films are known to be brittle, and they crack upon a few percent strain.

As more and more flexible devices are required, the market for transparent conductive films increases. The trade-off between conductivity, transmittance, and flexibility is best met with materials other than the traditional conductive oxides, which are expected to get more expensive as in the case of ITO, and many companies and research institutes work on alternate technologies.

Flexible E-readers and touchscreens

The recent developments in the e-Reader market are a good example of the interest to move to flexible displays: While the first devices where rigid and based on glass, new versions are intended to eventually be somewhat flexible, though a rollable device is still a dream.

In addition, some are targeting to replace ITO in applications where high conductivity is not needed – e-readers are an excellent example of that.

Eastman Kodak sees the opportunity for their PEDOT formulation in applications where customers seek cheaper alternatives than ITO and where a more resistive film is acceptable. Together with Heraeus they presented a milestone at the Printed Electronics USA 2011 Show – a polymer-based 14" touch screen panel featuring completely invisible conductive patterns. Fabricated by GSI Technologies the panel features Kodak HCF-225 Film/ESTAR™ Base and transparent Clevios™ PEDOT:PSS coating with a surface resistivity of 225 ohms/sq.

Flexible photovoltaics

The same is true for photovoltaics; thin-film solar cells based on compound semiconductors or amorphous silicon (a-Si) are manufactured in industrial scales on glass, but flexible versions on plastic substrates are available and will open new applications and markets.

Moreover, the PV market seeks very large areas of transparent conductive material and therefore must reduce cost as much as possible to maintain competitive cost/watt pricing. Therefore some in the PV market have moved away from ITO already: a-Si manufacturers for example use ITO, FTO and AZO, First Solar (CdTe solar cells) is using FTO and most CIGS PV manufacturers use AZO.

This report focuses on the requirements and achievements to date on the topic of transparent conductors, where high transparency and high conductivity are required, particularly flexible versions. Worldwide research and design efforts are presented, both from research institutes and companies that are developing the necessary materials and processes – in total 53 organizations are profiled. Several technical solutions available are compared, and forecasts are given for the next 10 years, based on assessing the need from different applications.

To learn more about the topic please read Transparent Conductive Films 2012-2022 

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July 3, 2012 — Technology for making electronic circuits with organic materials, non-vacuum processes, and flexible substrates has made striking progress, but it’s been a challenge to find applications where the new technologies — and the whole new ecosystems needed to integrate them into useful products — offer must-have advantages.  Flexible and large-area organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays and lighting offer perhaps the largest tangible opportunity, and hybrid products using solution-processed layers and flexible substrates are starting to come to market.

Flexible active matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays will enter mobile phone applications by the end of 2012, and may show up in tablet applications in 2013, reports Jennifer Colegrove, NPD DisplaySearch VP of Emerging Display Technologies. OLED technology advanced rapidly in 2011, a trend that NPD DisplaySearch forecasts will continue through this decade in its recent OLED Technology Report. Progress has been made in organic materials, color patterning, electronic driving methods, and encapsulation. Enthusiasm has increased recently as Samsung Mobile Displays has started manufacturing AMOLED displays in a Gen 5.5 fab, and both Samsung and LG Display have announced plans to build Gen 8 (2200 x 2500mm) fabs, while several other suppliers entered or re-entered OLED display manufacturing, including AUO, CMI, IRICO, Tianma, and BOE. Also read: Samsung Mobile Display sources OLED materials from Novaled

These technology improvements and investments indicate that AMOLED will compete in larger-size applications, such as in TV and mobile PCs, within 2 years. Samsung released a 7.7” AMOLED tablet PC in December 2011, more tablet and other mobile PCs are expected in 2012. Both Samsung and LG are expected to bring 55” AMOLED TV to market in 2012. Also read: Sony, Panasonic combine OLED manufacturing expertise

However, the ability to scale OLED display manufacturing to fabs larger than the current Gen 5.5 has yet to be demonstrated, and the cost of larger panels remains in question. It is not clear if vacuum deposition of the organics at the larger size will be economical, or if printed layers will be practical to reduce costs. Challenges remain for printed and flexible processes, for example, organic material life time is still shorter with solution processes than with chemical vapor deposition.

“I think OLED technology has made good progress and is ready to enter large-size applications, but low-cost manufacturing for large sizes is still a challenge,” says Colegrove. She’ll discuss OLED technology trends, include printed and flexible OLEDs, as well as provide the most recent market forecast in her presentation at SEMICON West.

Panasonic uses printed hole injection layer, continuous evaporation process

On the OLED lighting side, more efficient mass production process technologies developed in part in the Japan’s NEDO research project are enabling production of OLED lighting with brightness of up to 1000 cd/m2 with efficiency of some 130 lm/W in the lab, reports Takuya Komoda, Research Director at Panasonic Corp’s Core Technologies Development Center. He will discuss this technology enabling the Panasonic-Idemitsu OLED Lighting joint venture to produce commercial 2mm thin, ~8cm2 OLED panels with integrated electronics for easy integration by lighting designers, with warm 3000K light and good color rendering (CRI>90), with 10,000 hour life (70% lumen maintenance.)

The manufacturing process is made economical by coating the initial hole injection layer with a slot die printer, and depositing the emitters with a new hot-wall continuous evaporation tool developed with Choshu Industries that increases the deposition rate to 10nm/second and significantly cuts down waste of the expensive emitter materials.

The company got best lifetimes of 150,000 hours to half decay at 1000cd/m2 and 55lm/W efficacy with a fluorescent/phosphorescent OLED system on a light outcoupling substrate.  Using all phosphorescent emitters improved efficacy to over 80 lm/W, while maintaining half decay lifetime at a still respectable 30,000 hours.  The 130 lm/W efficacy was achieved with a 1cm2 OLED fabricated on a hemispherical high-refractive lens.

IMEC uses low-temp metal-oxide TFTs for flexible OLED displays, RFID tags

Imec’s approach to making flexible AMOLED displays laminates a flexible PEN substrate to a temporary carrier, then builds a stack that includes a moisture barrier, backplane with metal-oxide TFTs fabricated at 150°C, an interlayer dielectric, a top-emitting OLED, and a thin-film top encapsulation, reports Serge Biesemans, imec VP of wafer technologies and smart systems, who plans to talk about the new materials and process technologies developed for this stack. Imec’s research program with partner TNO in the Holst centre aims at overcoming the challenges towards high-volume manufacturing of flexible active-matrix OLED displays on flexible plastic foils: high resolution, low power consumption, large area, outdoor readability, flexibility and light weight.

Imec is also making thin film transistors on flexible plastic, combining the n-type transistors of the metal oxide AM backplane with organic p-type semiconductors to make RFID circuits and display line drivers. For the RFID tag, a complementary hybrid organic-oxide technology was used, combining a 250°C solution-processed n-type metal-oxide TFT with typical charge carrier mobility of 2cm2/Vs with a pentacene p-type TFT with mobility of up to 1cm2/Vs. A high-k Al2O3 dielectric was used, which increases the transistors’ current drive.

Imec, Holst Centre and their partners in the EU FP7 project ORICLA have fabricated an RFID circuit in this low-temperature thin-film technology that allows reader-talks-first communication, by transmitting identification data when the reader transmits power to the tag. In retail applications, many tags will usually try to contact the reader at the same time when powered by the RFID reader, requiring an effective anti-collision mechanism, which is complicated and slows reading time. Reader-talks first tags could more simply be used to provide buyers with information on price, characteristics, or freshness, or to allow vendors to implement automated billing and inventory management.

Learn more about the progress of these technologies in markets that matter at the SEMICON West program on printed/flexible electronics, July 12, in San Francisco, Practical Plastic Electronics: Bringing Disruptive Flexible and Organic Materials into Volume Electronics Manufacturing.

Read Paula Doe’s other SEMICON West previews:

Guide to LED and OLED programs at SEMICON West

Guide to MEMS at SEMICON West 2012

MEMS manufacturing changes with HV consumer apps

Maturing MEMS sector looks at ways to work together

For more information on attending or exhibiting at SEMICON West 2012, please visit www.semiconwest.org.

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June 29, 2012 — OLED thin film encapsulation technology is the one of technologies emerging as the core technology of flexible OLED, and technology development and patent securing competition between world’s leading OLED companies such as VITEX, 3M, GE, UDC, Samsung, LG, Philips, and DuPont will increase accordingly, shows Displaybank’s report, “OLED Thin Film Encapsulation Technology Key Patent Analysis.”

Figure. OLED Thin Film Encapsulation Patent Application Trends. SOURCE: Displaybank.

Encapsulation protects organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) from the external environment. Methods include CAN, glass, thin film, and hybrid encapsulation technology. Of these, thin film encapsulation is expected to be the enabling factor for lightweight and thin large-area OLED as well as flexible OLED. These architectures will support next-generation displays and OLED lighting.

OLED thin-film encapsulation patents are growing in line with increasing interest in flexible OLED and OLED lighting technology and the acceleration of technology development competition.

The report examines worldwide patent application trends, particularly from Korea, Japan, the US, and Europe. In addition, in-depth analysis such as key patent status of major companies, technology development, citation relation analysis, key patent point analysis, and key patent example analysis were performed by extracting 135 key patents around U.S. patents. Access the report at http://www.displaybank.com/_eng/research/report_view.html?id=875&cate=1

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