The company today announced a construction of a new roll-to-roll pilot coating line to manufacture OLED lighting within its Hino facility in Tokyo. The pilot line is dedicated to establish production technology toward mass-production and to sell the product on the limited [...]]]> Konica Minolta is planning a new roll-to-roll pilot manufacturing line for OLED lighting panels.

The company today announced a construction of a new roll-to-roll pilot coating line to manufacture OLED lighting within its Hino facility in Tokyo. The pilot line is dedicated to establish production technology toward mass-production and to sell the product on the limited basis. Spending 3.5 billion yen, the line will be completed in the autumn of 2010 and the product will be commercialized within the fiscal year 2010.

Such technologies as material, coating, multi-layer design, and optical design technologies, nurtured through the development of photographic film and optical lens, have been fully adopted in the development of the OLED lighting. For the pilot line, Konica Minolta designed and developed its own roll-to-roll coating method to manufacture flexible plastic-base OLED lighting. This method will serve as the key to accomplishing cost advantage when the OLED lighting flourishes in the future.

[Via Printed Electronics World]

announce that they have jointly manufactured fully functional re-writable polymer memory products in a high-volume roll-to-roll printing process. [...] The Thinfilm re-writable memory together with a reader/writer provides a platform for Toy and Game [...]]]> PolyIC and Thin Film Electronics

announce that they have jointly manufactured fully functional re-writable polymer memory products in a high-volume roll-to-roll printing process. [...]
The Thinfilm re-writable memory together with a reader/writer provides a platform for Toy and Game designers to create the next generation of interactive and evolvable toys and games where the memory could be linked to the online world.

Press Release (pdf)

From the press release:

A joint Thinfilm and InkTec project has been successfully completed to demonstrate fully R2R printed memories with a layout and device structure developed by Thinfilm, targeting applications such as game cards [...]]]> InkTec Co., Ltd. (Korea) and Thin Film Electronics ASA (Norway/Sweden) announced fully-functional non-volatile memory devices fabricated using a high-volume roll-to-roll printing process.

From the press release:

A joint Thinfilm and InkTec project has been successfully completed to demonstrate fully R2R printed memories with a layout and device structure developed by Thinfilm, targeting applications such as game cards and toys. The work has been conducted under the Joint Development Agreement between Thinfilm and InkTec entered in June 2008.

The project has been a huge success with the realization of a R2R production worthy printing process capable of realizing printed memory cells with a yield in the 96-97 % range for the best device structure. Until now, several rolls, each with more than 100 meters of printed memory has been produced with a total of 5 printing steps.

A significant part of the work has been to develop inks suitable for the realization of the desired target. The ink compositions for the electrodes are based on InkTec’s proprietary non-particle based silver complex compound whereas the memory ink is based on a proprietary ferroelectric polymer jointly developed by Thinfilm and Solvay Solexis SA.

Via fabtech.org.

The first practical demonstration of [...]]]> HP and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) have demonstrated a protoype flexible display fabricated using HP’s self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL). SAIL (3D resist mask on a multi-layer stack and several consecutive etching steps) enables the patterning of multiple layers without alignment issues in a roll-to-roll process.

The first practical demonstration of the flexible displays was achieved through collaborative efforts between the FDC and HP as well as other FDC partners including DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink. To create this display, the FDC produces stacks of semiconductor materials and metals on flexible Teonex® Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrates from DuPont Teijin Films.

HP then patterns the substrates using the SAIL process and subsequently integrates E Ink’s Vizplex™ imaging film to produce an actively addressed flexible display on plastic.

[CEO Richard] Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will pay for the [...]]]> UK start-up PolyPhotonix are to set up a production line for large-area OLED lighting at the Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC, part of NETPark in County Durham, UK).
They will be using PLED (polymer OLED) materials under license from CDT.

[CEO Richard] Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will pay for the production line and 30 months of operations.
The firm already has some funding through the Government’s Technology Strategy Board through a project called Manufacturing Emissive Nanotechnology Devices in Polymers (MENDIPs). [...]
PolyPhotonix’ intended main markets are automotive and architectural lighting, but Kirk also expects some interest from makers of general lighting products.
The production line will initially make its OLED emitters on 200×200mm glass substrates. “We are taking the best materials as they are today,” said Kirk.
Flexible plastic substrates are also on the cards once glass-based emitters are in production.

___________________________
Update 2009-02-18: According to IDTechEx’s Printed Electronics World, PolyPhotonix have now raised GBP 4.5 million.

At ECN, organic photovoltaics are being researched for almost a decade. The knowledge of materials, system designs and production processes has come to a point where transition to large scale [...]]]> The ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands) is teaming up with the Holst Centre to transfer their lab-scale solar cell processing to Roll-to-Roll production:

At ECN, organic photovoltaics are being researched for almost a decade. The knowledge of materials, system designs and production processes has come to a point where transition to large scale manufacturing has to be envisaged.
At Holst Centre, the recently opened Roll-to-Roll research line for printed electronics will be used to complement the knowledge of ECN and support the further research towards low-cost, large-area manufacturing. To guarantee the low-cost potential, the upscaling will initially be done with active materials that are abundantly available, although an eye will be kept on new high-performance materials. In a first phase the investigated processes will be slot-die coating and gravure printing. Within the ECN labs, efficiencies of over 4% have been obtained. Aim is to at least sustain this level of efficiency when going towards roll-to-roll production.
Being research centres, ECN and Holst Centre will not take any of the technology in production themselves. The open-innovation program aims at industrial parties to subscribe and assign resident researchers to join the research teams on site.

First products include displays for smart-cards, reconfigurable keypads for mobile devices, and optical-shutter windows.

In the future Citala also [...]]]> Citala are making flexible, reflective displays using roll-to-roll manufacturing. The Active Pixel Display (APD™) technology is based on their proprietary Onyx™ layer sandwiched between two ITO coated PET foils. A matel layer is added for reflective displays.

First products include displays for smart-cards, reconfigurable keypads for mobile devices, and optical-shutter windows.

In the future Citala also plans to manufacture high-resolution, active matrix displays:

Citala’s development strategy is to integrate Onyx™, the core of APD™ technology, and roll-to-roll manufacturing with an innovative partner capable of producing a flexible active-matrix backplane. The company expects to achieve a fully functional integration in the near future.

have signed a joint agreement to accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies for consumer and electronic applications. Under the agreement, the mutual goal is to bring Konarka’a organic photovoltaic material, Power Plastic®, to market.

“Konarka’s Power Plastic is [...]]]> Konarka (organic photovoltaics) and Toppan Forms (Data Print Services and information management services)

have signed a joint agreement to accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) technologies for consumer and electronic applications. Under the agreement, the mutual goal is to bring Konarka’a organic photovoltaic material, Power Plastic®, to market.

“Konarka’s Power Plastic is flexible, thin, printable and low in cost, providing our organization with promising new business opportunities as we strive to become an integrated information management service company,” commented Masanori Akiyama, president and CEO of Toppan Forms. “With the full-fledged advent of the ubiquitous society under way, we need an ever-present power technology that can be integrated with pervasive networked devices for information collection and distribution. We are delighted to collaborate with Konarka, the world leader in OPV technologies, to accelerate the commercialization of this transformational power technology to the market place.” [...]

“The partnership with Toppan Forms represents a key milestone for the commercialization of Power Plastic,” commented Rick Hess, president and CEO of Konarka. “This relationship enables each company to focus its expertise and resources on key product development processes, continuing our go-to-market strategy of partnering with leading global companies for a variety of applications.”

started [to] volume produce active-matrix (AM) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels in May, with monthly capacity able to reach 500,000 2-inch equivalent panels at present. Zhe-yang Chen, president of CMEL, said the company has begun shipping 2-inch AM OLED panels to China- [...]]]> According to DigiTimes, Chi Mei EL Corporation (CMEL), a Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) subsidiary,

started [to] volume produce active-matrix (AM) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels in May, with monthly capacity able to reach 500,000 2-inch equivalent panels at present.
Zhe-yang Chen, president of CMEL, said the company has begun shipping 2-inch AM OLED panels to China- and Japan-based customers and end products adopting CMEL’s panels will hit the market in July at soonest. [...]
The company now sees related yields at 60%, which will be improved to 80% by year-end, said Chen. Achieving high yields in the AM OLED industry is not easy; even leading makers such as Samsung SDI only targets yields at 60-70% initially, he pointed out. [...]
Prices for an AM OLED panels now are still 1.8 times higher than those for the same-size TFT LCD panels. The company expects to see the price gap between the two segments narrow to 1.5 times in the future, according to Chen.

Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will together transfer the process technology and finalise [...]]]> Polymer Vision (Eindhoven, NL) has announced its cooperation with Innos (Southampton, UK) to manufacture rollable displays:

Following 10 years of research, Polymer Vision has spent the past three years processing displays in its own pilot facility in Eindhoven to develop the technology to maturity. Polymer Vision and Innos will together transfer the process technology and finalise qualifications in Southampton, UK, where Innos has already started installing equipment in its newly built cleanroom. In line with their strategy to use mainstream Thin Film Transistor (TFT) equipment, Polymer Vision is confident that they will rapidly scale up to commercial volumes in 2007.

In conventional white-light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to [...]]]> According to CNET, Cyberlux are developing white LEDs combining an inorganic semiconductor with an organic phosphorescent layer:

In conventional white-light LEDs, a semiconductor emits blue light. The blue light passes through the phosphor and becomes white light. The phosphor is thin film on a substrate; the substrate has to be placed in intricate proximity to the semiconductor. Positioning the phosphor is one of the more expensive steps in creating an LED, Schmidt said.
In the coming prototype, the conventional phosphor is replaced with a sheet of polymer, which sort of applies itself to the LED, almost like a layer of shrink wrap. The technology was invented by UC Santa Barbara’s Steven DenBaars, who has been a big advocate of LED lighting as a way to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases, and Nobel Prize winner Alan Heeger. Heeger also helped found solar-technology company Konarka Technologies.

will start commissioning and qualification of its new production plant in the Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden early in 2007. The move comes following the on-time handover of the purpose built cleanroom and delivery of the tool set from ANS Korea.

The 350 m2 purpose built cleanroom is [...]]]> According to their press release, MicroEmissive Displays (MED, Edinburgh, UK)

will start commissioning and qualification of its new production plant in the Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden early in 2007. The move comes following the on-time handover of the purpose built cleanroom and delivery of the tool set from ANS Korea.

The 350 m² purpose built cleanroom is state of the art and is located within the substantial facilities of the Fraunhofer IPMS campus. Construction of the cleanroom was completed on time; equipment is in place and installation is already underway. The tool set, delivered from ANS Korea in December, comprises polymer OLED based deposition and thin film
encapsulation equipment for mass production.

At the same time MED has announced that

it has received a £2m order for its new polymer-OLED eyescreen™ microdisplay. The order, from a manufacturer of consumer products in the Far East, will also be the first to ship from the company’s new manufacturing facility in Dresden.

The order relates to MED’s new eyescreen™ ME3204 microdisplay. The new device is a compact 6 mm (0.24”) colour P-OLED QVGA display. The P-OLED technology is emissive and so does not require a backlight; as a result eyescreen™ ME3204 is ideal for portable applications such as video glasses or head-mounted displays, electronic view finders and night vision systems. The microdisplay can be combined with magnifying optics to produce a large virtual image that appears to the eye to be equivalent in dimensions to the picture on a TV screen or computer display.

In addition eyescreenâ„¢ ME3204 features a digital video interface together with an integrated display driver eliminating the need for additional driver ICs. This design feature saves space and reduces both power consumption and BoM costs.

that it is able to produce thin film encapsulated OLED devices that meet the shelf-life requirements for commercial use. Not only are these displays manufactured on OTB’s in-line mass manufacturing equipment, but also the deposition of the thin film encapsulation has been proven to render the same optical performance as the conventional, [...]]]> OTB Display announced

that it is able to produce thin film encapsulated OLED devices that meet the shelf-life requirements for commercial use. Not only are these displays manufactured on OTB’s in-line mass manufacturing equipment, but also the deposition of the thin film encapsulation has been proven to render the same optical performance as the conventional, more expensive glass-can encapsulated devices. [...]
Bas van Rens, CEO of OTB Display, explains: “Our integrated in-line mass manufacturing equipment now routinely produces displays which pass the accelerated shelf life of 504 hrs at 60oC / 90% humidity. In our development program we observe rapid progress and we expect to be able to announce shelf lifes exceeding 1000 hours at 85 oC/ 85% this year”

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the [...]]]> Plastic Logic announced that it has raised $100 million to build a factory for flexible active matrix display modules in Dresden (Germany).

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the seed financing of Plastic Logic, Intel Capital, Bank of America, BASF Venture Capital, Quest for Growth and Merifin Capital also participated. The financing is one of the largest in the history of European venture capital. [...]
The facility will produce display modules for portable electronic reader devices – a product category that is predicted to grow to 41.6 million units in 2010. It will have an initial capacity of more than a million display modules per year and production will start in 2008. Dresden in the ‘Silicon Saxony’ region of eastern Germany has been chosen as the facility location following an extensive worldwide site selection process.

an anthracene derivative containing free positive ions and a ruthenium, complex containing negative ions. When the two are joined, ions diffuse across the junction creating a difference in energy levels that facilitates [...]]]> George Malliaras and coworkers at Cornell created a novel type of organic diode with an “ionic junction” by laminating together layers of

an anthracene derivative containing free positive ions and a ruthenium, complex containing negative ions. When the two are joined, ions diffuse across the junction creating a difference in energy levels that facilitates rectification, electroluminiscence and photovoltaic response.

The technique is potentially suitable for low-cost fabrication of flexible photovoltaics and LEDs.

The work is described in the Sept. 7 issue of the journal Science in a paper by Cornell graduate researchers Daniel Bernards and Samuel Flores-Torres, Héctor Abruña, the E. M. Chamot Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell, and Malliaras.