Category Archives: OLEDs

December 7, 2011 – The IDTechEx combined Printed Electronics USA 2011 and Photovoltaics USA 2011 event opened November 30 in the Santa Clara, CA convention center with 1200-1250 registered and walk-in attendees, comparable to 2010 attendance.

A morning of keynote addresses filled the large auditorium to about 90% capacity before the crowd split up for the parallel tracks. The speakers in this opening track personified the notion of customer pull, presenting a variety of new applications that have been or are being brought to market, as well as a wish list of things they wish they had. Technical content was hard to find; this market is all about the marketing. Technology is tolerated to the extent that it is indispensable.

Kenneth McGuire, principal scientist at Proctor & Gamble, opened the conference with a presentation on packaging applications for consumer products. Watch your store shelves for a Puffs tissue box with a Christmas EL lighting display, powered by two AA batteries. Since most applications require the integration of logic, memory, display, and power with the overriding constraint of low cost, there is still a lot of development needed before every package on the store shelf is literally shouting for your attention. Expect broad market introduction to be slow.

Michael Londo, director of open innovation at MWV Packaging, discussed the search for matches between available technology and market needs. Collaboration with the printed electronics program at Western Michigan University and with Vorbeck Materials has played a critical role in bringing some new consumer product security systems to market.

Warren Kronberger, R&D director for The Marketing Store, showed several commercial packaging campaigns from other parts of the world that make US marketing look just a tad primitive. Integration of PV power supplies in locations where plug-in power is not readily available is relieving some pressure on developing inexpensive battery technology.

Andrew Ferber & John Gentile, co-chairmen of T-Ink, spoke of the company’s evolution in printed electronics from toys to aerospace over the past decade. Their strategy of using low-tech products to seed discussions for products now being implemented in automobile overhead consoles and smart wear has provided them with steady growth in both market penetration and product complexity. Their touch panel design places the capacitive layers much closer to the panel surface, resulting in a higher s/n and 10

November 2, 2011 — DuPont has signed a technology licensing agreement with a leading Asian manufacturer of active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display products. The display maker will use DuPont process technology to make large AMOLED television displays at significantly lower cost than alternative technologies.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The processing technology is a solution-based printing method that dispenses liquid OLED materials.

AMOLED televisions offer better performance — vivid color, faster response, wider viewing angle, and higher contrast — and energy efficiency than liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and the new DuPont’s process technology will enable cost-effective manufacturing to make AMOLED TVs consumer-price-point friendly, said David B. Miller, president, DuPont Electronics & Communications. Currently, AMOLEDs have been used in small displays, like those in mobile phones, but the cost has been prohibitive for televisions.

In addition to these kinds of partnerships, DuPont plans to sell proprietary DuPont OLED materials, said William F. Feehery, global business director, DuPont Electronics & Communications.  

DuPont reports that the AMOLED television market is projected by industry analysts to grow to over $5 billion by 2017.

DuPont (NYSE:DD) provides innovative products, materials, and services. Visit http://www.dupont.com. For more information on DuPont AMOLED technologies, please visit http://oled.dupont.com.

Watch an animated video on DuPont AMOLED process technology at http://www2.dupont.com/OLED/en_US/knowledge_cente/video_printing_amoled_displays.html?src=pr_techagreement_video
The DuPont solution-based printing process for manufacturing AMOLED displays enables large TV displays to be produced cost effectively. Video courtesy of DuPont.

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November 1, 2011 — The University of Toronto’s organic light-emitting diode (OLED) on plastic reportedly boasts the highest efficiency for plastic-based OLEDs to date, comprable to the top-of-the-line glass-based OLEDs.

Figure. Wang and Helander’s flexible OLED on plastic. SOURCE: University of Toronto.

Materials Science & Engineering Professor Zheng-Hong Lu, the Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Organic Optoelectronics, supervised the research with Ph.D. candidates Zhibin Wang and Michael G. Helander.

Wang and Helander were able to re-construct the high-refractive index property previously limited to heavy metal-doped glass by using a 50-100nm-thick layer of tantalum(V) oxide (Ta2O5), an advanced optical thin-film coating material.

October 28, 2011 — Printed electronics can improve existing electronics and energy applications, replacing non-printed layers in displays or increasing crystalline silicon photovoltaics efficiency, among other applications shared below.

The giant East Asian electronics companies are replacing several non-printed layers in LCD flat screens with one printed layer, greatly reducing the cost, said Raghu Das, CEO, IDTechEx.

Third-generation lithium-ion batteries are printed and solid state, doubling the all-electric range of new electric cars, Das added.

T-Ink Inc plans to replace heavy, expensive wiring in road vehicles with printed wiring.

DuPont announced recently that it has acquired Innovalight, Inc., a company specializing in advanced nano-silicon inks and process technologies that increase the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. DuPont exceeded $1 billion in revenue from sales into the conventional photovoltaic market in 2010, and it has set a goal to reach $2 billion by 2014 based on continued growth supported by new innovations that improve solar module efficiency, lifetime and overall system costs. Silicon inks used in conjunction with DuPont Solamet photovoltaic metallization pastes boost the amount of electricity produced from sunlight, enabling the production of superior Selective Emitter solar cells.

Kovio in Milpitas is printing the logic in the electronic tickets of the Los Angeles Metro, replacing the silicon chip at a lower price point.

More examples from Das include OTB group ink jet printing in solar cell mass production, Solexant optimizing solar cell production and Boeing Spectrolab further enhancing solar cell efficiency for space PV to terrestrial applications. In the energy arena, battery testers are printed onto Duracell batteries by Avery Dennison, and OLED displays are printed in phones and cameras.

Raghu Das is CEO of IDTechEx and co-author of the annual, "Printed, Organic & Flexible Electronics Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2011-2021" available at www.IDTechEx.com/pe.

IDTechEx hosts Printed Electronics USA, this December in Santa Clara, CA, where many of these applications will be discussed. Learn more about IDTechEx at http://www.idtechex.com

October 10, 2011 — Several speakers at the recent OLEDs World Summit 2011 (9/26-28 in San Francisco) discussed the appeal of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) for large-format image displays, rising in appeal over liquid-crystal displays (LCD).

James Lee, research fellow at LG Display, made the case for using soluble technology for OLED fabrication, a technology the company has been developing. Though there are remaining challenges that have to be addressed, e.g., soluble material performance, particularly for blue CIE Y, Lee noted that substantial cost reductions can be achieved using this technology because of the simple OLED device structure and the simple bill of materials (BOM) associated with OLED displays (OLED displays require no backlight, just one sheet polarizer, and no C/F) and the simple mura-free process LG Display is developing with a printing partner. The company is confident its printing partner will solve the mura-free printing challenge within the next two years. Still-to-be-addressed system requirements include low power consumption (compensation circuitry), continued cost reduction for competitiveness (e.g., going from FMM to FMM-free patterning technology) and design differentiation (e.g., face-seal encapsulation).

According to Lee, 2012 is the first year that OLED TVs will penetrate the premium TV market. LG sees the market share of LED TVs increasing dramatically from 32% to 93% as the price premium narrows down to 20% from 53% in three years. Volume production of OLED TVs is expected to occur in 2013. "The OLED TV market will start to grow substantially in 2015 once the price premium will be reached at 50% like LED TVs," said Lee.

John Richard, VP, DuPont Displays, spoke about the appeal of OLEDs for large-format image displays. They offer visually compelling images with high contrast, large color gamut and rapid response time, he explained. There are also equipment cost and design advantages because of their very thin format, improved power efficiency, and simple panel structure.

However, he noted that three barriers must be overcome to successfully produce OLED TV:

  1. Material performance has to meet the thresholds for TV,
  2. OLED material deposition waste must be significantly reduced, and
  3. OLED material application equipment must scale to the size and productivity of its LCD counterparts.

Continuing the discussion about using solution OLED fabrication, Richard detailed the key materials challenges that are holding up progress:

  1. Being able to coat the blanket layers,
  2. Being able to contain the printing inks in the active subpixel area,
  3. Keeping successive layers from mixing with each other,
  4. Being able to clean the coated materials before encapsulation/bonding,
  5. Being able to print at high speed without visual defects, and
  6. Keeping atmospheric conditions during printing/coating from degrading the organic materials.

To tackle the challenges, DuPont teamed up with Dainippon Screen (DNS) to address nozzle printing for solution OLED patterning. In 2008, the collaboration resulted in a Gen 4 production-scale printer installed for 730mm

September 28, 2011 — Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have failed to meet commercial expectations set a decade ago, and another carbon nano material, graphene, is being considered a viable candidate in the same applications: computers, displays, photovoltaics (PV), and flexible electronics. CNT and graphene transistors may be available commercially starting in 2015, according IDTechEx’s report, "Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene for Electronics Applications 2011-2021".

Printed and potentially printed electronics represent the biggest available market for these transistors: the value of devices incorporating CNT and/or graphene will top $44 billion in 2021.

Graphene materials have become commercially available in a short time, prompting application development and processing advances, notes Cathleen Thiele, technology analyst, IDTechEx. Graphene is a fraction of the weight and cost of CNTs, and could supplant it, as well as indium tin oxide (ITO) in some applications. Graphene has no band gap, and therefore must be modified (stacking layers of graphene in certain patterns, for example) to act as an electronic switch.

OLED and flexible PV cells will make up a $25 billion market in 2021, says Thiele, and some of these products will use graphene combined with other flexible, transparent electronic components

Graphene-based transistors are demonstrating high performance and lower cost, thanks to new graphene production methods. Graphene transistors are a potential successor to certain silicon components; an electron can move faster through graphene than through silicon. Tetrahertz computing is a possible application.

CNTs are still a strong research area, Thiele notes. They can be used in transistors and conductive layers in touch screens, and as a replacement for iTO. The cost of CNTs is dropping from prohibitively high levels seen a few years ago. Chemical companies are ramping manufacturing capacity. Carbon nanotubes face challenges related to separation and consistent growth. Electronics applications require CNTs of the same size, as size affects CNT properties.

For more information on “Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene for Electronics Applications 2011-2021,” contact: Raoul Escobar-Franco at [email protected], +1 617 577 7890 (USA), or visit www.IDTechEx.com/nano.

Printable CNT inks and graphene-based inks are beginning to hit the printed electronics market. IDTechEx will host the Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics USA conference & exhibition in Santa Clara, CA, November 30-December 1, www.IDTechEx.com/peUSA, with talks on both nanomaterials.

Graphene:
Dr Narayan Hosmane from Northern Illinois University will share how he almost by accident produced high-yields of graphene instead of the expected single-wall carbon nanotubes using the Dry-Ice Method. He will discuss synthetic methodologies for producing large volumes of graphene.

Kate Duncan from CERDEC, the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, will present on direct write approaches to nanoscale electronics.

Prof Yang Yang, head of the Yang Group at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), will give a brief summary on olymer solar cells and UCLA developments with G-CNTs, a hybrid graphene-carbon nanotube material.

Dr Sanjay Monie, Vorbeck Materials, will give the latest R&D news on the Vor-ink line of conductive graphene inks and coatings for the printed electronics industry.

Carbon nanotubes:
Stephen Turner, Brewer Science, will talk about Aromatic Hydrocarbon Functionalization of carbon nanotubes for conductive applications. Brewer Science’s CNTRENE carbon nanotube material was developed for semiconductor, advanced packaging/3-D IC, MEMS, display, LED, and printed electronics applications.

Dr Philip Wallis, SWeNT, will discuss proprietary V2V ink technology and how SWeNT fabricates and tests TFT devices.

Dr Jamie Nova, Applied Nanotech (ANI), will cover CNT field emission.

September 27, 2011 — The US Department of Energy (DOE) is accepting funding applications through December 15, 2011, for developers of energy-saving lighting technologies. The Obama Administration authorized up to $10 million for manufacturing research and development on solid-state lighting (SSL), such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic LEDs (OLEDs).

The DOE expects solid-state lighting, which can be more than 10x more efficient than incandescent lighting, to reduce the amount of electricity used for US lighting by one fourth by 2030. This would save $15 billion and be the greenhouse gas emissions reduction equivalent of 21 million cars.

Applicants should focus on reducing the cost of LEDs/OLEDs through better manufacturing equipment, processes, and process control. Between 2 and 4 project awards will be granted. These will address the technical challenges facing SSL in the mainstream lighting market, particularly considering cost.

This is the third round of funding directed toward this solid-state lighting research and development program area. Over the course of the program, the Manufacturing Research and Development area has been funded with $28.2 million in federal funding, and leveraged $36.8 million in funding from the private sector.

To apply or for more information, see DOE

September 1, 2011 — University of Florida materials science and engineering (MSE) researchers developed a manufacturing process for quantum dot (QD) light emitting diodes (LEDs) that is lower cost and higher volume than previous attempts. A start-up company, NanoPhotonica, has licensed the technology and is creating a technology development program to capitalize on the manufacturing breakthrough.

The team solution-processed the LEDs, as opposed to tweaking semiconductor manufacturing processes, said Jiangeng Xue, the research leader and an associate professor of materials science and engineering. They focused on improving existing organic LEDs (OLEDs), which comprise multiple layers of organic materials, such as polymer plastics.

Paul Holloway, distinguished professor of materials science and engineering at UF, led a team developing the quantum dot side of the research. QDs combine sulfur, zinc, selenium and cadmium atoms and emit colored light when electrified. QDs can be fabbed in different sizes to modulate the light color.

Instead of building the hybrid LED via vauum deposition (organic layers) and spin coating (QDs), the teams created a patented device structure that eliminates vacuum deposition and relies solely on spin coating to deposit all the particles and molecules needed for the LED. Device efficiency and lifetime improved compared to previously reported QD-based LED devices, the researchers assert.

The teams will continue the research to investigate continuous roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing or other printing/coating processes that may offer more efficiency and lower costs. "That will remain as a future research and development topic for the university and NanoPhotonica," Xue said.

The QD LEDs could be integrated into large-area flat panel displays or solid state lighting applications.

Results are published in the current online issue of the journal Nature Photonics. Access it here: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v5/n9/full/nphoton.2011.171.html

Other co-authors of this article are Lei Qian and Ying Zheng, two postdoctoral fellows who worked with the professors on this research. The UF research teams received funding from the Army Research Office, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Florida Energy Systems Consortium.

Courtesy of John Dunn, Jiangeng Xue, and Paul Holloway, www.ufl.edu

Also read: Report from the Organic Electronics Workshop

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July 27, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting can be manufactured into aesthetically pleasing, unique products. However, the immature technology is costly today, and even with a price decline of more than an order of magnitude over the next 10 years, OLED lights will remain uncompetitive with other lighting options, Lux Research finds. OLED lighting will comprise a $58 million market in 2020.

Lux Research expects OLED lighting costs to drop from $18/lumen today to $0.71/lumen on glass and $0.18/lumen on flexible substrates by 2020 — not enough to encourage broad adoption. There is no "killer application" for OLED lighting that could catapult the LED technology to high-volume manufacturing, which would drop costs further, laments Jonathan Melnick, a Lux Research Analyst and lead author of "Finding the End of the Tunnel for OLED Lighting."

Lux Research considered potential applications for OLED lighting by market segment for the report: Designer lighting, luminaires, general illumination, wearable lighting, automotive, and aerospace. OLED form factors benefit designer lighting, where aesthetic imperatives can trump price. Commercial flexible panels, expected on the scene in 2015, will boost adoption in this market. The designer lighting market for OLEDs will reach $32 million in 2020.

Luminaires will be the second largest market, hitting $22 million in 2020. The cost of OLED lamps, which can reach to thousands of dollars each, will be prohibitive for many prospective customers.

Flexible OLED lighting will find its niche, beating out conventional glass panels. In 2020, of the $58 million OLED lighting market, Lux Research projects 63% will be flexible substrates.

The report, "Finding the End of the Tunnel for OLED Lighting," analyzes prospects for OLED lighting fixtures. Lux Research provides strategic advice and on-going intelligence for emerging technologies. Visit www.luxresearchinc.com for more information.

The situation is different for OLED displays.

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June 10, 2011 — The Large Area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C) conference and exhibition, June 28-30 in Frankfurt, Germany, will focus largely on organic photovoltaics (OPV) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

OLED lighting will receive particular attention, with a special conference session dedicated to the latest developments and market trends. Osram, Konica Minolta, Moser Baer and DuPont, among others, will present in this session.

The tradeshow as a whole expects 1000 visitors and 90 exhibitors, with 130 companies speaking in the conference.

LOPE-C’s investor forum will connect investors and start-up companies. The investor forum is organized by the OE-A in cooperation with the European Commission (DG INFSO), Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), the European Investment Fund (EIF) and ACCESS ICT. NTERA (IR), Eight 19 (UK), Metalonix (USA), Thin Film Electronics (N), and many other international companies will deliver presentations. A plenary session, "Financing Opportunities in Organic and Printed Electronics" will open the investor forum.

LOPE-C (Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention) is an annual conference and exhibition of organic and printed electronics. Learn more at www.lope-c.com

Formed in 2004 as a Working Group within VDMA (German Engineering Federation), the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) represents the organic and printed electronics industry. Learn more at www.oe-a.org

Also read: Printed electronics update: Roadmaps were wrong, mass adoption on track