There are reports that Samsung is working on a new device called the Galaxy Q that will bridge the gap between the smartphone and the small tablet. It will have a Super AMOLED Plus 5.3" display. The Q will come in two versions: 3G and LTE, and will launch in September during the IFA 2011 exhibition in Germany.

A 7-inch Super AMOLED prototype

Achieving an HD (720p) display on a 5.3" screen requires around 270 ppi - which means that Samsung will not be able to offer that resolution using their current technology (which limits AMOLEDs to around 200 ppi). So this is probably not the rumored Super AMOLED HD display.

Australia's FSM (a post-production company) will replace its grade 1 monitors with Sony's 25" PVM-2541 OLED monitors. The company says that since the "death of CRT" the industry is lacking precision monitors, and only OLED can deliver that.

The PVM is a series (17" and 25") of professional OLED monitors aimed towards TV, advertising and movie productions. The monitors offer Full-HD (1080p) support, 178-degrees viewing angle, 10-bit drivers and a 1W mono speaker. Inputs include two 3G-SDI, HDMI, composite and Ethernet. The PVM-2541 costs around $6,000 USD.

Novaled announced it has developed a highly power-efficient white OLED structure achieving 60 lm/W at a brightness of 1,000 cd/m² capable of reaching 100,000 hours lifetime (at an initial brightness of 1,000 cd/m²). The new OLED uses red and green phosphorescent materials and a commercially available fluorescent blue material.

Novaled says that a fluorescent blue emitter usually results in much less efficient devices, but their PIN OLED technology and proprietary materials resulted in this highly efficient device. Using this fluorescent materiel has several advantages - good device stability, higher lifetime and it is commercially available. It also enables a broad coverage of the complete visible color range.

Riber says they have signed a contract to deliver several hundred OLED effusion cells. This contract is worth several million euros. Riber says that this follows several significant orders achieved since mid 2010 and is used to develop smartphone displays - so we assume that the customer is Samsung, the only company producing OLED displays in that time, and this is used for AMOLED displays, not PMOLED ones.

Effusion cells are used in Vacuum Deposition, which is the method currently used by Samsung, LG Display and others to fabricate AMOLED displays.

Back in April, Philips unveiled a new OLED panel called Lumiblade Plus - which is the world's most efficient panel under production (45lm/w). Back then Philips said that the panel was 'developed by Konica Minolta', but wouldn't say more. Today Konica Minolta issued a press release with some more information: it appears that indeed the materials and structure were developed by KM and the production will be handled by Philips. Production will start in autumn 2011.

While I do not understand the cooperation entirely, after talking to KM it seems that both companies will offer the panel for sale. It's not clear whether Philips will pay royalties for KM on each panel, but it might be so. Philips are already accepting orders for the Lumiblade plus (€120, minimum quantity is 100 units) - but KM says that the panels are not shipping yet. We do not know how many the panels Philips is going to make - but perhaps the agreement with KM was part of the decision to expand Philips' OLED capacity.

Update: Engadget says that Samsung will not confirm the rumor - saying that the information on these tweets came from an external source...

A few weeks we reported that there are rumors regarding a new Super AMOLED HD display coming from Samsung - featuring 720p (1280x720) resolution. It was rumored that this display will first appear in Google's upcoming Nexus 3 phone, and today we hear that Samsung Mobile Romania twitted about the upcoming Nexus S - and confirmed the Super AMOLED HD display.

Having such a display on a mobile phone seems highly unlikely. Samsung currently can't make such a high PPI AMOLED (unless they move to LITI, but this isn't expected anytime soon). Perhaps the Nexus 3 will actually be a tablet and not a phone? Or perhaps Samsung will surprise us all with a remarkable new AMOLED technology...

The OLED Handbook was launched a few weeks ago - and so far reaction (and sales) have been great. We are now happy to offer a printed (hardcopy) edition of the book. The OLED Handbook costs $149.99 in full-color hardcopy.

You can still buy it in digital form for $97 of course. If you already bought a digital copy and you want to get a hardcopy too, contact us and we'll provide you with a discounted offer.

eMagin issued a press release today regarding their OLED lighting project they are conducting together with the University of Rechester. eMagin says that the partnership will seek to drastically improve the amount of useful light emitted from the device by developing technologies that use nano-particle based plasmonic scattering of light.

So this is an OLED lighting project, and it doesn't seem directly related to microdisplays (although eMagin does say that this can lead to more efficient microdisplays, too). In fact eMagin comments that "Success in this research effort has the potential to revolutionize the multi-billion-dollar markets for home, commercial and industrial lighting systems....We look forward to working with our partners at the University of Rochester to advance the next generation of OLED technology for lighting solutions with an eye toward commercialization.

Universal Display and LG Display have renewed their commercial supply agreement - till the end of 2011. The companies are still negotiating a long-term agreement. UDC also extended their license with Samsung a few days ago.

The original agreement between UDC and LG Display (LG.Philips back then) was signed on May 2007. LG is using UDC's PHOLED materials in AMOLED displays, and pay them license fees.

Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, India developed graphene based quantum dots (GQDs) blended with organic polymers. The new GQDs do not use any toxic metals such cadmium and lead used in today's quantum dots. The new devices actually perform better - less current loss and improved efficiency.

The researchers say that these GQDs may be used in organic solar cells and OLED displays - and indeed they fabricated a prototype OLED display with "good performance". Their work could lead to light-weight, flexible and cheap panels - used in large-area roll-to-roll manufacturing. The efficiency of the fabricated device is still low, and the researchers are working towards increased efficiency.