Project to focus on nanoparticulate layer technology
Cambridge Display Technology (CDT; Cambridge, England) has joined forces with Ilford Imaging Switzerland in a project the companies say should help to pave the way for more optically efficient display devices in the future. The project-which will complete its initial proof-of-principle phase by the end of the first quarter of 2005-is designed to evaluate and quantify the performance advantages that may be available from this novel approach.
Ilford is a manufacturer of precision-coated, ink-jet printing consumables, and has discovered that certain nanoporous structures have potentially valuable properties when applied to polymer light-emitting-diode displays. The new materials, when integrated into a display device, have optical properties that help to transmit light that would otherwise be trapped and lost.
Europeans boost OLED technology with OLLA project
More than 20 of Europe’s leading companies and research establishments in organic electronics and materials as well as lighting applications, have joined together in OLLA (Aachen, Germany), an integrated R&D project to advance organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies. OLLA-“High Brightness Organic Light-Emitting Diodes for ICT (information, communications, and technology) & Lighting Applications”-has a project goal of demonstrating in 2008 high-brightness white OLED light tiles for use in general lighting.
“In recent years, OLED technology has improved to the point where it is now possible to envision OLEDs as the next solid-state light source,” said Peter Visser of Philips, project manager of OLLA. “In order to make this happen, significant advances must still be made in device efficiency, lifetime at high brightness, high-throughput fabrication processes, and the generation of illumination-quality white light. That’s exactly what we will do in OLLA. We will aim for a lifetime of 10,000 hours and an efficiency of 50 lumens/W.”
Nanophotonics market opportunities exceed $33 billion
Companies developing nanophotonic products are aiming collectively at opportunities worth more than $30 billion in large displays and more than $3 billion in other photonic applications, according to a new report from Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA). As is typical of emerging technologies, these applications must be gained one at a time, as the competing technologies are also improving in performance and manufacturing cost. There are already more than 100 companies offering or developing specific nanophotonic products in a range of applications, from the highly speculative (such as displays) to existing products (such as laboratory tools).
According to Strategies Unlimited, most people are still just finding out what nanotechnology is, and it seems very broad and ambiguous today. But in 10 years, nanotechnology will be much more narrowly defined. Its applications are already converging to four major subjects, and each involves nanophotonics: materials, biomedicine, molecular electronics (including displays), and energy (such as solar cells and fuel cells).
“The applications in the first two are certain, but the next few years will determine which of the other two will also define the future of nanotechnology,” said Tom Hausken, author of the report and director of optical-component research at Strategies Unlimited.
Kathy Kincade
For more business news, subscribe to Optoelectronics Report. Contact Jayne Sears-Renfer at [email protected].
Also in the news . . .
Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY) was awarded a contract from the U.S. Display Consortium (USDC; San Jose, CA) to establish and operate the Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing. The USDC will initially provide $10 million in equipment to establish the center, which will combine resources from the USDC, Binghamton University and other academic, government and industry partners to help speed microelectronics manufacturing research and development in a roll-to-roll (R2R) format. . . . Vitex Systems (San Jose, CA) was also awarded a research and development contract from the USDC; Vitex and USDC will share the near $2 million cost of the multiphased project, which will target scaling-up Vitex’s proprietary Flexible Glass substrate technology to high-volume R2R manufacturing capability for the production of flexible OLEDs. . . . A portable micro-optical, microfluidic device that can quickly detect the presence of infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and measles, as well as biological agents such as ricin and anthrax, is the object of a joint university and industry research project. Vanderbilt University’s Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE; Nashville, TN) and Pria Diagnostics (Menlo Park, CA), which specializes in miniaturized medical diagnostics, are collaborating on the device’s development.