Sumitomo Corporation

There's more to life than OLEDs and electrophoretic displays...

At IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA in Santa Clara on the 30th of November and the 1st of December 2011, there will be a focus on technologies such as OLEDs and electrophoretic displays, with leading innovators such as Sumitomo, Panasonic and E Ink discussing their progress. But there's other display technologies emerging, at earlier stages of commercialization that promise performance enhancement, cost reduction and new possibilities. Two of these technologies, QD Vision's QLEDs and Opalux 's photonic crystal displays are described below.

Printed Electronics: What can we do better?

IDTechEx has tracked the printed electronics market since 2002. We have conducted extensive research programs, run our own events internationally and attended most other relevant events. Being impartial, we state the good and the bad. So what have we learnt?

The University of Texas announces agreement for battery patents

The University of Texas at Austin has announced an agreement with Canada-based Hydro-Quebec for lithium-ion material technology invented and patented by Dr. John Goodenough, a world-renowned scientist at the university.

Aluminum-celmet extends battery life

Aluminum-Celmet can be used to improve the capacity of lithium-ion secondary batteries and capacitors.

OE-A elects new Board of Directors

The members of the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) elected a new Board of Directors at their annual General Assembly meeting.

Comments from S.I.D. 2011

S.I.D. is the successful display technology exhibition and conference. It was held last week in Los Angeles and had well over 5,000 attendees, and it included some aspects relevant to printed and flexible electronics. The show is often a great gauge of current interest in different display technologies and this year it was evident that the latest focus is on 3D television and touch screen technologies.

CDT agreement with ONDL

The National University of Singapore (NUS) Organic Nano Device Laboratory (ONDL) is recognised worldwide for its innovative research in P-OLED and organic semiconductors.

Flextech conference 2011 highlights

Flextech conference 2011, 8-10 February, Phoenix, Arizona. Highlights of the presentations at the Flextech conference in Phoenix included talks from General Electric, Bayer, Plextronics and Sumitomo.

Breaking the rare earth necklock by China

Breaking China's rare earth necklock on supplies is now a major focus of industry outside China.

Konarka appoints organic electronics veteran to Board of Directors

Dr. David Fyfe's career in chemical Industry spans 40 years with extensive experience in commercialization of printed electronics polymer based technology

New OPV company launched

Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge's commercialisation office, and the Carbon Trust have announced the launch of Eight19 Limited, a new solar energy company which will develop and manufacture high performance, lower cost plastic solar cells for high-growth volume markets.

Development of roll out solar cells

Rhodia, an international chemical company, has joined with the UK's Carbon Trust in a £4.5 million investment in solar energy start-up Eight19 to develop organic photovoltaic technology.

eMagin building next generation OLED deposition machine

eMagin Corporation a leader in OLED microdisplays and virtual imaging technologies has signed an agreement to build its first production OLED deposition machine, one that will leverage the latest advances in the Company's proprietary manufacturing processes.

UK's first printed lighting panel to start in November 2010

An initiative to develop low-cost OLED lighting in the UK has secured government funding and will officially start in early November.

Printed Electronics in Asia - the hot sectors

There are about 3,000 organizations worldwide actively involved in the development of printed electronics. By number of organizations, Europe has the edge over the U.S., then comes Asia. However, this disguises the fact that those involved in Asia tend to be large conglomerates that can invest much more than those in the West.

Where art thou OLED?

David Fyfe, the ex CEO of CDT who now works as a consultant for its parent company Sumitomo, gave a presentation on the OLED market at LOPE-C this week. Speaking to the history of OLEDs, he says that LCDs have drastically closed the performance gap, perhaps fuelled by the threat of OLEDs.

OE-A's 5th anniversary

With its 135 members all over the world, the OE-A has become a highly dynamic and constantly growing network of leading international companies and institutes in the past five years", said Wolfgang Mildner, Chairman of the OE-A and Managing Director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary celebration of the OE-A - the industry association for organic and printed electronics - in late February at the Holst Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In December 2004, 35 members founded this working group within VDMA. "One of the founding principles of the OE-A five years ago was the goal to build an international industry association to jointly develop this future multi-billion Euro market", emphasized the Chairman of the OE-A. "Cooperation all along the value chain is essential in this phase; no company can achieve it alone."

OLEDs and the competition

One of the biggest obstacles for large OLED panels is the rapid improvement in the performance of competing LCD panels. So what now for OLED displays?

Highlights from the 2010 Flexible Electronics and Displays Conference

Chris Giacoponello introduced NTERA's concept of "printegration", the possibility to integrate a display, a sensor and a battery by using successive printing steps. NTERA's technology is based on viologen inks that change colour upon accepting electrical charge. Without a need for a transparent conductor, they can be directly deposited on any opaque substrate (e.g. paper, PCB) with better reflectivity and lower cost (avoiding costly ITO).Company demonstrators include RF-powered displays (co-operation with poly-IC), solar powered ones (co-operation with Plextronics) and a device comprising a printed display & battery stack, demonstrated in June 2009.