Fraunhofer COMEDD installed a new cluster system in their production line for the processing of 8" wafers. This upgrade of the pilot line offers a wide range of processes, including evaporation of organic and inorganic materials, metal evaporation, electron beam evaporation and high quality thin-film encapsulation). COMEDD's new line was made by SNU Precision. This new line will be especially useful for research on OLED microdisplays in interactive data eyeglasses and future integrated OLED-on-Silicon opto-sensors

COMEDD was established in 2009 as a department in at the Fraunhofer IPMS, but it is now an independent institute at Fraunhofer. Two days ago (on April 9) they conducted the official opening ceremony of the new institute. Congratulations guys!

Apple posted a new job opening, and the company is "looking for a Display Specialist to lead the investigation on emerging display technologies such as high optical efficiency LCD, AMOLED and flexible display to improve overall display optical performance".

So there you have it. We know that Apple are interested in OLEDs and flexible displays - the company already filed several OLED patents, and reportedly Apple hired Dr. Jueng Jil Le into its Display group - a former research fellow at LG Display, who apparently was involved with OLED TV printing technology research. But it's always good to hear more about Apple's interest in OLEDs and new display technologies to replace current LCD displays used in Apple's mobile devices and laptops.

A few months ago Dezeen magazine visited Philips' Lumiblade Creative Lab and produced a very nice video showing Philips' OLED lighting panels, designs and installations. This video is now nominated for the prestigious Webby award in the people's choice category - which means anyone can vote on this. So it's a good idea to vote if you want to help spread the OLED word (and also because it's indeed a cool video).

Dezeen's video shows Philips' interactive mirror, the LivingSculpture modular 3D system, structured OLEDs and the OLED automobile backlight prototype. It even features my friend Dietmar Thomas (Philips OLED unit Communication Specialist).

In February 2013 LG Chem told us that they plan to release the world's first flexible OLED lighting panels and high-efficiency 80 lm/W panels in July 2013. The company is now showing these upcoming panels at Euroluce 2013, and is still on track to release them in July.

In the photo above you can also see some new lighting design suggestions from LG Chem and others that use the new panels.

Digital Versus managed to get a macro photo showing LG's WRGB OLED TV sub pixels. LG's structure uses four white sub pixels (made from yellow and blue emitters) with color filters on top: white (unfiltered), red, green and blue. As you can see from the photo, the white sub pixel is actually larger than the colored ones. The white sub pixel is added to increase brightness and efficiency.

LG's 55EM9700 OLED TV is now shipping in Korea for $10,000. It will arrive in Europe in July 2013 and some reports suggest that the US launch will be delayed to the 2nd half of 2013 as well.

The South Korean police searched the offices of Samsung Display as part of the investigation into alleged large-sized OLED TV technology theft from LG Display. Investigators went to SDC's headquarters in Asan and searched related documents.

Samsung and LG have been fighting over OLED (and other technologies) patents for over a year. A few weeks ago the companies agreed to resolve their OLED dispute outside of the court of law and SDC's CEO even said the two companies are considering cross-licensing patents - but the OLED issues between the two Korean giants obviously isn't over.

Fluxim released version 3.3 of their SETFOS simulation software, used to study OLED and OPVs. Version 3.3 includes the following improvements over the previous version (released in March 2011):

• multi-threading support for speed improvement on multicore PCs
• a completely re-designed graphical user interface (GUI)
• a solver for electrical impedance spectroscopy simulations
• an algorithm for scalar light scattering

According to Japan Economic Newswire, Sharp decided to launch a three-year project to develop OLED mass production technologies. Sharp's mass production technology will be ready by 2016 and then the company will decide whether they will build their own OLED fab or outsource the production to other makers or even license or sell the technology. It's not clear whether Sharp aims to make OLEDs for mobile displays, flexible OLEDs or OLED TV panels.

According to JEN Sharp will release its 3-year business plan on May 14, and then we'll know whether the OLED project is indeed included in their plan. The report says that Sharp plans to use "unique materials" that will make "clearer OLED images". Perhaps they mean SEL's and Sharp's new crystal structure innovation, used in the company's latest OLED prototypes.

Philips announced an updated GL350 OLED lighting panel (we'll call it the GL350 Gen2). The new panel looks the same as the panel announced in April 2012 (square 124.5x124.5 m), but it's brighter: 200 lumens per panel, up to 45 lm/W efficacy and a luminance of 6,500 cd/m². This new panel will be available in Q3 2013.

We do not know the price of this new panel. The current GL350 is only available in a starter kit that costs €400.00 (about $555) that includes 3 OLED panels, a driver, a short circuit protection unit and all required connector cables. 

AUO developed a new AMOLED panel that features the world's highest resolution at 443 ppi. The panel is Full-HD and 5" in size (or actually 4.97" if it's 443 ppi). AUO will show prototype panels at China's Display Expo in Shenzhen starting tomorrow. AUO didn't reveal any technical details besides saying that this panel was made using a fine shadow mask process.

AUO previous OLED panel was the 4.65" 1280x720 (317 ppi) shown at October 2012. AUO keeps upgrading their AMOLED densities. But of course what we really want is for AUO to actually start producing AMOLED panels. Some reports suggest that AUO's yields are still very low (around 40%) and the company won't stat mass production until 2014.