BASF said it will open an organic electronics R&D laboratory in Singapore devoted to nanotechnology and energy management, including the development of technologies for organic LED (OLED) displays and biosensors, and other printable electronics.

The $2.6 million investment, part of BASF's research expansion in Asia Pacific, will include a new project on organic photovoltaics in collaboration with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE).

Plastic Logic announced today that it will build the first factory to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale. The facility will produce flexible active-matrix E Ink display modules for ‘take anywhere, read anywhere’ electronic reader products. It will utilize Plastic Logic’s unique process to fabricate active-matrix displays that are thin, light and robust; enabling a reading experience closer to paper than any other technology.

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the seed financing of Plastic Logic, Intel Capital, Bank of America, BASF Venture Capital, Quest for Growth and Merifin Capital also participated. The financing is one of the largest in the history of European venture capital.

Aixtron is to take part in the OPAL 2008 (Organic Phosphorescent lights for Applications in the Lighting market 2008) R&D project in a consortium with Osram, Philips, BASF and Applied Materials. The project will use Aixtron's Organic Vapor Phase Deposition (OVPD) technology platform.

OPAL 2008's aim is to develop OLED production technology capable of achieving a target cost of a few Euro cent per cm² for a high performance white OLED device, with the ultimate goal of introducing the new lighting technology into the market.

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With the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) BASF is opening a research laboratory for organic electronics in Ludwigshafen on September 11. BASF will conduct research at the JIL with both industrial and academic partners into new materials in the field of organic electronics.

At present the JIL researchers are concentrating on organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic photovoltaics. OLEDs are flat, thin light-emitting devices made from organic semiconductive materials. As lighting panels, they offer completely new options in lighting technology, such as windows as transparent light sources or credit card sized flashlights. The researchers have calculated that in their current form OLEDs are likely to consume less than half as much power as conventional fluorescent tubes. OLEDs also have a long lifetime.

In this area, BASF Future Business GmbH has launched the project "OLEDs for appliances in the lighting market" (OPAL) together with partners from industry such as OSRAM, Philips, Aixtron AG and Applied Materials. The goal of the project is to create the scientific and technological basis for initiating the production of OLED-based lighting in Germany.
Sponsorship as part of the OLED initiative of the German Ministry of Education and Research