August 2012

STMicroelectronics announced it is going to collaborate with MicroOLED and help the company develop and produce OLED microdisplays. STM will also invest €6 million in MicroOLED.

According to the release, ST's IP portfolio and manufacturing technology will enable MicroOLED to broaden the range of their products and target more applications. ST will also help MicroOLED to integrate more functions into the microdisplay (functions that are currently handled by external controllers) - which will enable the final solution to be simpler and cheaper.

Samsung announced the successor to the popular "Phablet" Galaxy Note, the Note 2 - with a 5.5" HD Super AMOLED display (1280x720, non-Pentile). Yes - this is a 'regular' glass based AMOLED panel, and not a plastic-based flexible YOUM panel as earlier rumors suggested. I guess we'll have to wait some more for Samsung's first flexible-OLED device, due in 2012 (it'll probably have a much smaller panel).

LG Chem said that a large explosion broke out at their OLED production factory in Heungdeok District in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, Korea on August 24. One 26-years old employee was killed and 14 others were injured. This tragic accident happened when a large 200-liter drum that contained dioxane (a volatile substrate used in the manufacturing process) exploded due to unknown reasons.

The police are now investigating whether this is a case of poor equipment management and improper maintenance by LG Chem. This may also be due to negligence of workers at the factory. LG Chem said that while there's no problem to continue produce OLEDs in the factory, they have decided to stop operation until the investigation is over.

The IFA 2012 tradeshow is starting today, and Samsung is making a large outdoor ad campaign - with the OLED TV in the center of it. The ad copy says - "Samsung OLED TV - the world's biggest OLED experience".

When Samsung first unveiled their 55" OLED TVs at CES 2012, they called them "Super OLED TV". But since then Samsung never used the Super superlative again, and it seems that they have dropped that bit from the product name. Of course we're still waiting for those TVs to start selling, so anything can change.

Kyoto University professor Hiroyuki Yano developed a new technology that produces transparent paper (cellulose nanofibers). This new material may be used as a substrate for transparent OLED panels, OPVs and other applications.

Cellulose nanofibers are very strong (eight times stronger than steel, in fact) but also very light. By adding resin to the nanofibers, they become transparent. Yano's transparent sheets are only 100 micrometer thick and feature a light transmittance of 87.8%.

The US federal court decided that Samsung did indeed infringe on several of Apple's patents (including the pinch-and-zoom, bounceback patent) and designs. Samsung got a $1 billion fine. Apple is seeking to ban certain Samsung products (such as the Galaxy S and the S II) from sale in the US.

This is a major win for Apple and a big loss for Samsung. Some fear that this may lead to a blow on the OLED market as well - where Android based devices (mostly made by Samsung) are the main clients of OLED displays currently. On the other hand, this may force Samsung (and other companies) to show new innovations, which perhaps may lead to faster adoption of new technologies including next-gen OLED panels (such as flexible or transparent ones).

Plextronics and the Holst Centre are going to partner on research towards flexible OLED lighting, with an aim to improve the scaling of lab device performance to large area OLED lighting and signage devices.

Plextronics will provide its Plexcore hole injection and hole transport inks to the Holst Center shared research program. Those inks will be used to create functional OLED demonstrators. Plextronics will benefit from the research result - and will be able to further optimize their products.

LG Display's CEO Han Sang-beom said that the company plans to start mass producing flexible OLED panels in the second half of 2013. He wouldn't say whether they got any orders for the next-gen flexible panels, but obviously there are speculations that Apple is behind those orders. It's probably unlikely as capacity at first isn't likely to be enough for Apple.

This actually marks an expediation of LG's flexible OLED plans. In January 2012 the company said that they will start constructing a new pilot line in Q3 2012, which will become active by the end of 2012 and the company will need 1-2 years to develop and verify the process before producing at mass volume. 

Aixtron announced that it has delivered a production-scale PRODOS Gen-3.5 Polymer Vapor Phase Deposition (PVPD) system to a major prestigious Asian customer. This system will be used to produce novel flexible electronic devices through the deposition of organic polymer thin films. The system will be commissioned within the next couple of weeks.

Aixtron says that the new system has been designed to be a perfect match for the customer’s production environment for Gen-3.5 substrates (650x750mm²). Aixtron wouldn't say who's the customer or what will be produced on the equipment, but they do say that the customer will be able to develop new applications including "flexible flat panel displays with benefits such as lightweight, ruggedness, low power consumption, color brightness, and superior legibility".

According to Engadget, Sony confirmed that it has now sold 2.2 million PS Vita consoles. The last sales figure update was released in February (1.2 million) - which means it is now selling the console at 250,000 a month. The Vita costs $249 for the Wi-Fi model and $299 for the 3G model.

The Vita features a 5" touch Samsung-Made OLED display (960x544), a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and a quad-core PowerVR (SGX543MP4+) GPU (Sony says that it is as powerful as a PS3), Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and 3G (AT&T, optional). Gaming controls include dual analog sticks, motion controls and a multi-touch pad on the rear side.