Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and TU-Dresden have demonstrated that ultra-stable film formation can be used to to improve the performance of OLED devices.

The researchers grew (using evaporation) the organic materials as ultrastable glasses - a growth condition that allows for thermodynamically most stable amorphous solids. Testing four different phosphorescent emitters, the researchers show significant (over 15%) increases of efficiency and operational stability. The researchers also say that these growing conditions are expected to even be more useful for TADF materials.

IGNIS Innovation announced that in collaboration with its partners, the company developed a driver chip that incorporates the ability to sense individual pixels on the panel. This new ability integrates into IGNIS' overall external compensation process and can improve the perofrmance and lifetime of AMOLED displays.

IGNIS says that this new IC is already being used on medium sized panels designed for IT and automobile applications.

LG OLEDW8 wallpaper TV is the company's flagship TV for 2018, and LG today started shipping the new TVs in the UK. The 65" model costs £7,999 - or just over $10,000 USD. The 77-inch model (OLED77W8) is not yet shipping, but we know the price in the US will be $14,999. We do not know when the TVs will arrive in the US yet.

The 4K OLEDW8 TV is extremely thin (2.57 mm all the way) and attaches to the wall using magnets - with a thin cable that connects to the sound bar and interface box. The OLEDW8 is powered by LG's new a9 "intelligent processor" that promises better color and fast smart TV (webOS) operations. The TV supports Google's Assistant for natural language control, Dolby Atmos, HDR and 4K HFR.

China-based BOE Display had an impressive booth at SID, where it displayed the company's latest displays. The company's flexible and foldable OLED prototypes and panels took center stage, as BOE is ramping up its flexible OLED production and is also developing its next generation technologies.

BOE's foldable prototype was a 6.2" WQHD (1440x3008, 538 PPI) panel that features a fold-radius of 1R and include a touch layer. The display has a super narrow border, and is 0.21 mm thick. BOE says that it can withstand over 100,000 bending cycles.

In March 2017 OLED maker BOE Technology and OLED Microdisplay maker OLiGHTEK announced a new $170 million joint-venture to produce OLED microdisplays for the consumer VR and AR markets. This will be the world's largest OLED-on-silicon production line that will have an annual production capacity of a million OLED microdisplays, although we have no details on to when it will begin operation.

At SID 2018, BOE quietly demonstrated a new OLED microdisplay - a 0.39" FHD (1920x1080, 5644 PPI) OLED on silicon, that supports a brightness of 3,500 nits and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. It's not clear how close is this display to commercialization, and whether it is part of the JV with OLiGHTEK.

China's largest display maker BOE Display has an active OLED ink-jet printing project, and according to reports the company is establishing an R&D production line (in Hefei) that uses Kateeva's inkjet deposition equipment.

At SID 2018, BOE demonstrated a printed OLED panel for the first time. Surprisingly this is a small mobile OLED display - a 5.5" FHD (400 PPI) flexible AMOLED. It is usually assumed that inkjet printing is limited to around 200 PPI, and so only useful to large area panels (such as TVs or monitors). JOLED's 21.6" 4K printed OLEDs have a PPI of 204, for example. In 2017 Korea-based Unijet's president said that Inkjet printing could reach up to 550 PPI in 2020 by using next-generation laser-droplet technologies.