Kyulux

Samsung Display's Lee Chang-hee, VP and head of SDC's research center, gave a talk during K-Display 2024, and updated that Samsung is progressing towards a next-generation blue OLED emitter technology in two tracks.

SDC is working with Universal Display, to adopt the company's blue PHOLED system. This is progressing, but SDC says that the pace is slow - indeed we heard from UDC lately that the introduction of a commercial material will take longer than expected.

OLED emitter materials are the heart of the OLED device, and the materials that make the most impact on the performance of the OLED display. Most OLED displays utilize red, green and blue emitters.

The efficiency of the current state-of-the-art commercial red and green OLED emitters is excellent - it is in fact close to 100% internal quantum efficiency (IQE) which means that you cannot improve much on the efficiency of the emitter itself (there's still work to be done on getting the light out of the device). Blue OLED emission is a completely different story - current commercial blue emitters suffer from very low efficiency, around 25%. This means that three quarters of the energy goes to waste. Changing to a 100% IQE blue emitter could end up improving the total display efficiency by 20-30%.

Japan-based Hyperfluorescence materials developer Kyulux announced that Jimyeong Yu will join its executive management team, as the company's new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). 

Jimyeong Yu will take over as Kyulux’s CFO, replacing Akira Minakuchi, who passed away in September 2023. As CFO of Kyulux, Jimyeong Yu will oversee financial accounting operations including procurement activities, and as a member of the management team, will be involved in formulating and implementing future business plans.

Kyulux announced that it has raised $28.6 million USD in its Series C funding round, led by El Camino Capital and the MCP Group. This brings Kyulux total funding so far to $86 million USD.

A part of the Kyulux team based in Fukuoka, Japan

Kyulxu says that it will use the newly raised funds to further accelerate its product development, strengthen its IP portfolio and achieve full-scale mass production of its emitter system by 2025, with its affiliated chemical companies.

Second-generation OLED phosphorescence emission features an internal quantum efficiency of almost 100% - which would normally mean you cannot get more efficient than that.

As Kyulux explains in a recent post, though, phosphorescent suffers from a wide emission spectrum. In order to achieve a good color gamut (for which as narrow-spectrum emission as possible is best) display makers have to filter out the "tail" of the emission. This results in reduced brightness and efficiency.

Kyulux gave a very upbeat presentation at SID Displayweek, during which it updated on its latest material specification and its commercialization plans.

Kyulux managed to increase the lifetime of its Hyperfluorescence emitter systems (which features an IQE of 100% and a narrow emission spectrum) quite dramatically in the past year its green material now offers a lifetime of 59,000 hours (LT95@1000 nits, top emission), while the red material is at 20,000 hours. The blue material has also increase from280 hours to 450 hours in the past year.

In recent years, we have seen accelerated OLED materials development, aided by software tools based on machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. This is an excellent development which contributes to the continued improvement in OLED efficiency, brightness and lifetime.

Kyulux's Kyumatic AI material discover system

The promise of these new technologies is the ability to screen millions of possible molecules and systems quickly and efficiently. Materials scientists can then take the most promising candidates and perform real synthesis and experiments to confirm the operation in actual OLED devices.

Hyperfluoresence emitter system developer Kyulux announced that its green material is getting close to commercialization. The company is now working closely with OLED makers, preparing for early adoption.

Kyulux says that its green emitter has not only met the required performance of OLED panel makers, in terms of efficiency, lifetime and driving voltage - but has actually surpassed the performance of green phosphorescent emitters in top emission devices. The green HF device achieves higher current efficiency, longer lifetime and offers a narrow emission spectrum and can thus enable better chromaticity.

During SID Display Week 2021, Kyulux detailed its latest TADF material performance. The red and green materials are "close to commercialization", and the company reports "excellent progress" with its blue emitter.

Using simulations, Kyulux shows how its Hyperfluorescence system is more efficient than a comparable phosphorescence emitter. While both emitters feature pretty much the same EQE, the narrow spectrum of the HF system which results in higher light intensity and can enable more efficient displays - by around 10%, according to Kyulux.

TADF materials developer Kyulux announced that it has finalized its Series-B-prime funding round, raising $34.3 million USD from several VCs and companies. Kyulux will be able to now accelerate its product development and drive for adoption of its materials in smartphone OLED displays.

Kyulux also announced plans to establish a mass production system for its materials, in cooperation with chemical companies.