We already know that GE plans to start printing OLED Lighting panels in 2010. Now Anil Duggal, GE's OLED lighting printing group leader, says that they know that those pilot panels will be very expensive. He hopes that by 2015, it'll be possible to print OLED panels that will be both cheap and efficient.

GE has recently received $4 million from the DOE to upgrade their pre-pilot roll-to-roll manufacturing lines (the whole project will require $8 million).

LG Display's CEO Kwon Young-soo says that they are focusing on two technologies this year: 3D displays and OLEDs. The see OLEDs and Solar cells as the company's future cash cows. Those businesses will start to contribute financially in 2012. Kwon Young-soo also said that "We may start to produce 30-inch OLED TV panels in 2012."

LG 15-inch OLED TVs

Back in November 2009 we heard that LG are planning to make 40,000 30" OLED panels in 2012. It's great to hear their CEO commit to OLED TVs by that time.

There's a very interesting discussion over at ArsTechnica about OLEDs and Apple's upcoming new device. They are talking to Barry Young from the OLED-Assocation, and he says that no one is making any 10" OLED panels, so it's not possible that Apple are 'hoarding' up all the available panels....

Barry says that Samsung, the most advanced OLED manufacturer, can produce about fourteen
10.1-inch panels per substrate. That means that they could produce around 150,000 10.1" panels a month, but they currently cannot meet their small-panel demand, so it's not likely they are producing any larg displays. 

LG is even less likely, as they have 10%-15% of Samsung's capacity. LG has a new plant that's coming online later in 2010, but Barry says that it'll be mostly dedicated to their own 15" TV panels. LG would have to hurt their own TV business in order to supply panels to Apple.

"The best case is that if Apple announces an AMOLED with a 10.1-inch display, it would have much higher price and have very low volumes,"
Young concluded. Maybe Apple will announce an OLED device that will only be available much alter in 2010.

Barry says that the future for OLEDs look bright. Samsung are preparing a new 8G fab that can produce both LCDs and AMOLEDs. This can be used to 42" OLEDs. Samsung has doubled their capacity in 2009 and will do so again in 2010. The only bad news come from Sony - who has gone back to an R&D phase.

Yesterday we reported on the DOE's Recover Act Rewards, and today we have more details on two of the projects. UDC got $4 million (out of a $8.3 million project) to create a US phosphorescent OLED Lighting panel manufacturing Facility. UDC will design and setup two pilot lines, and will provide prototype lighting panels to U.S. luminaire manufacturers to incorporate into products, to facilitate testing of design, and to gauge customer acceptance.

Moser Baer Technologies will supply equipment for these lines. The first might become operational already in 2011 (the specific location isn't public yet). The second line is geared towards commercial volumes of panels. This could mean that UDC will become an OLED panel production company - and not just an IP one. This is an interesting move by UDC that is quite risky as they will compete with their licensees.

UDC will also work with PPG Industries on another project titled "Low-Cost Integrated Substrate for OLED Lighting". PPG plans to develop the OLED lighting integrated substrate using low-cost soda lime float glass plus transparent anode materials and light extraction layers.

AU Optronics announced today that they have purchased certain FED-displays-related assets and technologies from Field Emission Technologies (FET). In the transaction, AUO will acquire certain
assets that include patents, know-how, inventions, and relevant equipment related to FED technology and materials. AUO wants to become one of the few companies in the world that will be able to offer commercialized FED products.

FED displays feature fast response time and high efficiency, brightness, and contrast. AUO says that FED and OLED will both be used in future high-end displays. AUO has recently shown a new 14" OLED prototype.

Earlier today we reported that  The University of Rochester received a $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop host materials for white phosphorescent OLEDs. This funding is part of the DOE's Recovery Act Rewards, and now we have found the complete list, which contains several OLED Lighting projects:

• Cambrios got $1.2 million (out of $1.8 for the total project) for "Solution-Processable Transparent Conductive Hole Injection Electrode OLED SSL". This project seeks to develop a cost-effective replacement for indium tin oxide for use as an electrode in OLED lighting devices. Indium is both rare and very expensive. 
• The University of Rocherser got $1.2 million (out of $1.3 million) for "Development and Utilization of Host Materials for White Phosphorescent OLEDs". This project seeks to produce white OLEDs with > 100 lm/W efficiency after light extraction enhancement and > 10,000 hour operating time, by making a new class of emissive materials.
• PPG Industries got $1.6 million (out of $2.1 million) for "Low-Cost Integrated Substrate for OLED Lighting". PPG Industries plans to develop a new low-cost integrated substrate product that is suitable for OLED lighting manufacture and is compatible with PPG’s existing flat-glass and transparent-glass coating technologies and high-volume glass manufacturing methods.
• GE Global Research got $4 million (out of $8 million) for "Roll-to-Roll Solution-Processable Small-Molecule OLEDs". This project seeks to upgrade GE’s prepilot OLED roll-to-roll manufacturing line through improved high-performance phosphorescent small-molecule OLED materials, advanced OLED device architectures, plastic ultra-high barrier films, and an advanced encapsulation scheme.
• UDC got $4 million (out of $8.3 million) for "Creation of a U.S. Phosphorescent OLED Lighting Panel Manufacturing Facility". This project seeks to design and set up two pilot phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) manufacturing lines. The team will implement UDC's PHOLED technology and provide prototype lighting panels to U.S. luminaire manufacturers to incorporate into products, to facilitate testing of design, and to gauge customer acceptance.

Interestingly, two of these project (the GE and UDC ones) involves actual OLED Lighting panels pilot production lines - which could lead to actual OLED products being commercially available.

Apple is holding an event on January 27th, to show off their "latest creation". It might be their tablet/e-reader which may or may-not have an OLED display option, or the new 4G iPhone (with an OLED display?). Or maybe both.

We'll to have to wait for just a few more days, but we're really hoping for the first ever Apple OLED product...

There's an interesting story over at MobileCrunch. They say that according to rumors the new Windows Mobile 7 will actually be a copy of the Zune HD kernel. It will only work on one screen size, and will "work best on OLED devices". Hardware makers will have to comply to the H/W specifications. This might mean a very big push for OLEDs if Microsoft says that it's the preferred display technology. There were rumors that the LG Apollo phone will use WinMo 7 and have a WXGA (1280x720) resolution. The Zune HD, meanwhile, has a 480x272 display.

The new OS will not be backward compatible - which means that all applications will need to be rewritten. The user interface looks just like the Zune HD's, it won't have background processing, no threading and no access to system resources for applications. 

LG are rumored to release a new Windows Mobile 7 phone soon, that will have a 3.8" multitouch WXGA (1280x720) AMOLED. The LG Apollo will have a 10mp camera that can record HD 720p video at 30fps, CDMA and GSM/HSPA support, a 1.3Ghz snapdragon processor. It will launch in August/September 2010.

The University of Rochester says they have received a $1.2 million to develop host materials for white phosphorescent OLEDs. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Energy. This project seeks to produce white OLEDs with > 100 lm/W efficiency after light extraction enhancement and over 10,000 hour operating time, by making a new class of emissive materials.

Here's more information on the DOE's Recovery Act Rewards (which contains 4 other OLED projects).