OPV - Page 6

We had the good chance to talk with Gerd Guenther, Novaled's Chief Marketing Officer. He was kind enough to answer a few of our questions, and give us some information and updates from Novaled.

Gerd, thanks for your time. Can you explain Novaled's business model to us?

When Novaled started as a spin-off from Fraunhofer and Technical University of Dresden in 2001 with just 3 people, the idea was to market its doping technology Novaled PIN OLED^®) along with its proprietary materials. Today, quite an impressive number of well known display and lighting makers are customers of Novaled. That means we offer IP, licensing and technology transfer packages but also R&D contracting as well as trainings.

Novaled 15x15 cm white OLED

Roth & Rau MicroSystems will partner with the Holst Centre on barriers for flexible electronics. The two companies will develop and install a roll-to-roll PECVD deposition tool in the Holst Centre. This will be used for flexible OLED lighting and organic solar cells.

The Holst Centre will cooperate with Coherent on flexible electronics. The Holst Centre will install a short-pulse (picosecond) laser source in the electronic foils processing equipment to be used for high-precision and low-defect laser ablation in sheet-to-sheet production of OLED and OPV devices.

The potential of the laser to comply with short processing times allows the transition towards roll-to-roll at a later stage in the collaboration which is important for low cost production. Coherent intends to take the results of the application and use it to expand its knowledge in flexible electronics manufacturing.

The Printable Electronics Technology Centre (PETEC) has announced plans for a new prototyping line to support the lighting and Organic Photovoltaic sectors. The new line is targeted at industries needing large area coating capability alongside the need for reproducible uniform and low defectivity thin film coating onto glass and plastic substrates.

It is designed to be an automated batch tool based on cassette handling of samples to minimise manual intervention. The specification has been aligned with the needs of the SSL and PV industry. It will produce up to 20 samples per day with a panel size from 100mm to 200mm square. The line will have slot-die and spin coating modules, metal and organic evaporation and encapsulation.  It will enable the deposition of solution and small molecule OLED material technologies. It will target fine coating active layers of 10-200nm thinness with uniformity of +-5% across the full panel width.

Last week we reported that PolyPhotonix plans to launch a 8" 60lm/W OLED Lighting panel. They will be using this line at PETEC.

The STI Group is showing a package that has an organic solar cell and a white OLED. The packaging is a limited edition slipcase that holds a book, and it's made from environmentally friendly corrugated paper enhanced with various varnish effects, including an open-face corrugated inlay to offer an interesting contrast.

The OLED is a 20x20mm white OLED, and the solar cell is an organic solar cell. The solar cell only operates as a sensor (light detector) - the OLED is powered from a battery. All the electronics (including the OLED and solar cell) were provided from OES (Organic Electronics Saxony Association partners).

The Florida Energy Systems Consortium (a state-funded effort to bring together researchers from 11 universities to work on renewable energy technology development) is developing a new Solar Cell + OLED + Battery Module. They are using organic solar cells on top of an OLED Lighting panel. The solar-cell is charging lithium-ion batteries which are used to power the OLEDs at night.

The idea is that all 3 components use direct current, and so an inverter is not needed, which makes the whole package cheaper.

Plextronics announced a $14 million Series B-1 financing round, led by Solvay North American Investments. Plextronics' President and CEO Andy Hannah said that the financing will allow the company to continue to grow its research, development and pilot manufacturing programs, all of which are aimed at the commercialization of its technology - used for OLED displays and lighting and also organic solar cells.

Organic Solar Cell Module, by Plextronics

Hannah also indicated that the affiliation with Solvay has gone very well since the two companies began working together in 2007.

Plextronics has over 60 employees today. In January 2009 they have installed a 6M$ pilot-production line for OLED displays, Organic Solar and other panels. The new line will be operated by 10 employees and can turn out 6-inch square solar panels or OLED displays. They are also trying bendable OLED TVs and other interesting new displays. Way back in 2006 we interviewed Hannah.

Plextronics has installed a new, $6 million manufacturing line (they call it  the 'D' line). The new line will be operated by 10 employees and can turn out 6-inch square solar panels or OLED displays. They are also trying bendable OLED TVs and other interesting new displays.

Organic Solar Cell Module, by Plextronics

This is not really a production line, but more of a pilot line for research and fine-tuning of processes. They hope that by the end of 2009 they'll be able to know what will it require to have a full-scale commercial production line, what will be the capacity, etc.

I recently had the chance to talk with the nice guys over the Fraunhofer IPMS in Germany, and the Institute Director (Prof Karl Leo) have agreed to do a short interview and talk about their OLED program.

These guys have been working on OLED since 2000, now organized under the name Center for Organic Materials and Electronics Devices Dresden (COMEDD). COMEDD's aim is to do not only research, but also pilot fabrication. More on COMEDD here.

Prof. Dr. Karl Leo, since 1993, is full professor of optoelectronics at the Technische Universität Dresden and starting 2007 institute director of the Fraunhofer IPMS. Additionally he is one of the founders of the Spin-Off Novaled AG.

The new Center for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices Dresden (COMEDD) facility is now open in Dresden, Germany. COMEDD is owned and operated by the Fraunhofer IPMS and it will be used to make OLED displays and lighting products, and also OPV panels.

Fraunhofer hopes that COMEDD will become a production center for OLEDs and not just a research center with pilot lines. The researchers at COMEDD will focus on OLED displays on glass, Microdisplays on silicon (in partnership with MED) and flexible displays on plastic. They will also make OLED lighting on glass or flexible substrates.