Plextronics announced a $14 million Series B-1 financing round, led by Solvay North American Investments. Plextronics' President and CEO Andy Hannah said that the financing will allow the company to continue to grow its research, development and pilot manufacturing programs, all of which are aimed at the commercialization of its technology - used for OLED displays and lighting and also organic solar cells.

Organic Solar Cell Module, by Plextronics

Hannah also indicated that the affiliation with Solvay has gone very well since the two companies began working together in 2007.

Plextronics has over 60 employees today. In January 2009 they have installed a 6M$ pilot-production line for OLED displays, Organic Solar and other panels. The new line will be operated by 10 employees and can turn out 6-inch square solar panels or OLED displays. They are also trying bendable OLED TVs and other interesting new displays. Way back in 2006 we interviewed Hannah.

The US Congress has approved 3M$ in additional funding for eMagin's OLED night-vision goggles project, which already got a 2.4M$ back in 2007. The bill must win the approve of the Senate before it is finalized.

eMagin's OLED micro-displays will enable more powerful and yet small equipment for US soldiers.

Novaled announces a new 15x15 OLED device that has a 30lm/W power efficiency and 1,000 cd/m2 brightness. The OLED white light has a CIE color coordinates in line with the DOE energy star specifications. The lifetime is quoted as 20,000 hours.

The panel thickness is less than 2mm, and the light is a very high color rendering index (CRI) of 90. The perception of this light is similar to sunlight or what is delivered by incandescent bulbs. The achieved color coordinates of (0.44, 0.41) are inside the US Department of Energy (DoE) quadrangles at Illuminant A and even meet the more restrictive 7step MacAdams Ellispis around Illuminant A.

Novaled calls this new technology 'liternity OLED', which they want to start commercializing. It will allow upscaling to very large sizes.

Universal Display Corporation have been awarded a $1.65M two-year contract from the US Department of Energy to demonstrate thin, efficient white OLED lighting concept for under-cabinet applications.  

UDC will deliver several under-cabinet lighting units to the DOE. each unit will have five 6"x6" white OLED panels, with a system efficiency of over 60 lumens per watt which is comparable to existing under-cabinet systems. The OLED lamps will be much thinner than anything available today, enabling new design concepts, and will make for easier installations.

UDC are also working on ceiling lamps, together with Armstrong, and have recently showed a video with the new 24" OLED lamps.

DisplaySearch has released a new report (small/medium TFT LCD and AMOLED product roadmap). They give an interesting chart showing AMOLED roadmap from all players:

There is a lot of interesting information in there:

• It seems that LG are working on 13.3" wide panels for laptops, to be released at the end of 2009. LG Display themselves say they are working on 15" panels.


• The next Sony OLED TV (XEL-2?) will have a 30" panel, and not 27" or 21" as previously assumed. We already know that Sony are delaying their new TV, and DisplaySearch think they will launch it at the second half of 2010.


• In the second half of 2010, DisplaySearch sees LG Display shipping a 17" wide panel for laptops, Sony with a 30" LTPS OLED TV, and CMEL with a 11" notebook panel and 20"-30" OLED TVs. 


• According to this table, Samsung will not launch a large OLED panel - not until 2012 at least. This is strange as they claim they have production-ready 14.1" and 32" OLED TVs. 


• In 2010 we'll see several new companies working on OLED for mobile devices - TPO, TM Display, AUO. This is great news and will probably lower prices and create a bigger demand for OLEDs.

The Wall Street Journal claims that Sony will delay its larger OLED TV (the XEL-2?) to 2010. Sony knows that Making the large TV will be a loss-making move, and they do not want more losses this year in their TV business.

Sony 27-inch OLED TV prototype

In may 2008, Sony announced that they will release a 27" OLED TV within 12 months. Later on there were rumors that the new TV will be released in September 2009, during IFA 2009. In April 2009, Sony showed a new 21" OLED HDTV prototype.

Sony has been selling the XEL-1 (11", for 2,500$) for almost two years. They admitted that they actually lose money on each unit sold...

Researchers from Japan has created a new OLED with a liquid organic semiconducting layer (made out of ethylhexyl carbazole - EHCz) to transport charge. This can useful for making flexible OLEDs, and also improve reliability.

The liquid semiconductor can be used in curved structures, or even could be circulated or refilled into the active emitting
layer. This constant, fresh supply of semiconductors could improve
device reliability and reduce degradation.

eMagin issued financial results for its second quarter ending June 30, 2009. eMagin posted record sales and profits - they had 5.9M$ in sales, and 1.3M$ net income.

eMagin are seeing increased acknowledgment by customers of the advantages of their proprietary OLED microsidplay technology, and also lower royalties expenses - this is probably because OLED patents are starting to expire, and also they might have negotiated better deals with IP companies.

Samsung Mobile Displays are planning a new OLED production line at Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province in korea. Just a couple of days ago Samsung said they have shipped more than 2 million AMOLED panels in July.

Last week we reported prices and shipment dates on the Zune HD - and it official now. The OLED Zune HD will ship on September 15th (a week later than reported), is available for pre-order, and costs 290$ for the 32Gb version, and 219$ for the 16Gb.

The Zune HD is has a 3.3" (16:9, 480x272) multi-touch OLED, HD radio and video (720p), Wi-Fi, and a web browser.