According to reports, Samsung is close to acquire Novaled for $200 million. This isn't really surprising - back in April 2013 it was reported that Samsung's Cheil Industries was considering to bid for Novaled. Perhaps the deal will happen soon and that's why it leaked to the press. Samsung already owns 10% of Novaled.

Novaled filed for IPO back in March 2012, aiming to raise $200 million but this IPO was never completed. In march 2013 we reported that Korea's Doosan will acquire Novaled, but in two months later the Korean company decided it will not acquire the German OLED material developer.

Cynora, Novaled and the University of Regensburg will co-develop new soluble (printable) materials for low-cost high efficiency OLED lighting devices. This new project, called cyCESH is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with €6.1 million.

Professor Yersin's group a the University of Regensburg will handle material development while Cynora will handle subsequent synthesis and optimization. Novaled will be in handle the application of solution-based-processed, doped transport layers. These three partners form a complete comprehensive partnership for OLED applications.

Novaled and 4JET Technologies has jointly developed a new laser process called SLAM (Selective Layer Modification) for OLED customization and optimization. SLAM allows defined customization or grey scaling and it can also be used to optimize lighting density and to isolate short circuits.

4JET says that SLAM can be used to create OLED signage solutions with individual logos or patterns. Basically this creates structured OLEDs (like we've seen from Philips, Fraunhofer, UDC and others) after the manufacturing process.

Two months ago we reported that Korea's Doosan wants to buy Novaled for $270-360 million. Later it was reported that Samsung's Cheil Industries is also interested in buying Novaled (or acquiring a part of it). Now Doosan announced that it decided not to acquire Novaled after all.

We do not know whether Cheil Industries is still on track to purchase the company or now. Samsung is already a shareholder in Novaled. A year ago Novaled announced plans for an IPO on the NASDAQ with an aim to raise $200 million, perhaps this will be Novaled's move after all.

Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) is currently used in OLED panels for the transparent cathode (or anode in top-emission OLEDs). ITO is useful because it is conductive and transparent, but its supply is limited (even though companies are now harvesting ITO from recycled electronics devices) and it's also brittle (so it's not suitable for flexible panels) and so companies are looking for alternatives.

Some products that use Cambrios Ag-Wires

One possible alternative are silver wires (or ag-wire). This technology is pioneered by Cambrios - a company established in 2002 with an aim to commercialize Ag-Wire based products. Cambrios ClearOhm is a Ag-Wire coating material used to create transparent conductive layers. ClearOhm can be deposited on thin films using a roll-to-roll (R2R) process, and is compatible with plastic substrates. It's also possible to use a sheet process on glass or plastic. Cambrios has filed over 175 patents for this technology and they claim they hold basic ag-wire patents. My friend Sri Peruvemba recently joined the company to become its chief marketing officer and he was kind enough to discuss their technology with me and help me with this article.

Novaled and Cambrios have jointly developed a metal grid free 10x10 cm OLED lighting panel that uses Cambrios silver nanowire ClearOhm transparent electrode material. ClearOhm is used instead of the ITO that is usually used.

Cambrios says that ITO's limited conductivity (20 ohms/sq on glass and 50-100 ohms/sq on flexible plastic film) leads to considerable voltage drops over lengths larger than 2 centimeters. This means that metal grids are required on top of the ITO (you can see such lines in some OLED panels, for example on the Osram Orbeos). ClearOhm has a low resistance (5 ohms/sq with greater than 90 percent transmission) independent on the carrier substrate.

Lux Research posted their top ten most promising enterprises for Q1 2012 - and they include Novaled in their list. Lux analyzed 380 companies active in 16 different emerging technology domains, and they gave Novaled strong marks in all of their metrics, with remarkable scores in metrics such as technology value, IP position, partnerships, addressable market and team.

A year ago Novaled announced plans for an IPO on the NASDAQ with an aim to raise $200 million, but it's been a while since we heard any news on the IPO. Recent reports suggest that both Doosan and Samsung's Cheil Industries are considering to acquire Novaled.

The Wall Street Journal reports that both Doosan and Samsung's Cheil Industries are considering to acquire Novaled. Two weeks ago we reported that Doosan wants to buy Novaled for $270-360 million, but now it seems that Samsung is also interested in the German OLED material maker.

The report suggests that Cheil hasn't yet decided to submit a bid, and may actually only offer to buy a stake in Novaled. Samsung is already a shareholder in Novaled. A year ago Novaled announced plans for an IPO on the NASDAQ with an aim to raise $200 million.

Update: Doosan announced that it decided not to acquire Novaled.

According to Reuters, Korea's Doosan is going to acquire Novaled, for $270-360 million. The deal is not final, but we hear that they expect to finalize it and announce it as soon as next month. A year ago Novaled announced plans for an IPO on the NASDAQ with an aim to raise $200 million, but indeed it's been a while since we heard any news on the IPO.

In 2011, Novaled reported €17.4 in revenues and a profit of €1.2 million. It is estimated that sales in 2012 were about the same with a higher profit of over €3 million. Obviously they expect sales and revenues to increase sharply in coming years as the OLED display (and perhaps lighting) market takes off. Novaled supplies OLED materials to both Samsung and LG Display, and in fact an industry insider once told me that "everybody uses Novaled's materials".

The German OLED project So-Light has been successfully completed. This 3.5 years, €14.7 million project (funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) addressed the complete value chain, from primary OLED materials through to OLED-lighting applications.