Technical Insight
Osram Opto licenses light-emitting polymers (Opto News)
Cambridge Display Technology (Cambridge, UK) has granted Osram Opto Semiconductors a license to manufacture and sell light-emitting polymer (LEP) displays, in addition to lighting devices (see ). Osram OS says its initial aim is to develop LEP products for mobile, cellular and automotive applications. The company has installed an LEP pilot line in San Jose, California and expects to bring a commercial display manufacturing plant on line in Penang, Malaysia during 2001. Market research indicates that revenue from LEP (or OLEDs) for displays will grow very quickly from $24 million last year to $3.3 billion in 2005. OLEDs offer the potential for great design flexibility, including the ability to create displays on plastic substrates. Compared to LCD displays, OLED displays could benefit a number of near term applications such as mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras and camcorders, and later generations of PC and consumer products. "Osram regards LEPs as a key innovation for legible displays with low power consumption and minimum size and weight," said Ruediger Mueller, president and CEO of Osram OS. "We are very pleased that Osram OS has taken this license," added CDT s CEO David Fyfe. "Osram has shown great commitment to the advancement of LEP technology by building a commercial production plant in Malaysia. Together with the commitments already made by CDT s partners, it is clear that a critical mass of well-resourced corporations has concluded that CDT s LEP technology holds the most promise for the future."
