A new national R+D project has recently been started in Germany focusing on
the development of OLED displays and lighting applications. AIXTRON
will participate in this 14.7 million Euro project together with ten other partners
with the target to strengthen Germany's leading position in the fast growing
OLED market.
Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for
a total period of three years, So-Light (Special organic Light) will focus on
specific OLED applications, such as special lighting systems and displays. The
technological focus will be on novel materials (transport materials, triplet
emitter, redox dopants and matrix materials), improved optical systems and on
process technologies for small molecule based OLEDs. As part of the latter element,
AIXTRON will take the lead in this area through the optimization of its proprietary
OVPD* (Organic Vapor Phase Deposition) technology. Other project deliverables
will be application studies and demonstrator devices for specific applications
such as automotive or architectural lighting and backlights for large displays.
"We are very happy to participate in this project”, says Prof. Michael
Heuken, Vice President R&D at AIXTRON. “OLEDs and its application
for special lighting and signage purposes is one of our strategic research targets.
The So-Light project partners share the vision that OLEDs will play an important
role to provide environmentally friendly light sources combined with novel design
opportunities.”
AIXTRONs partners in the So-Light project are Novaled AG Dresden, Sensient
Imaging Technologies GmbH, Westfälische Wilhelms University of Münster,
Fraunhofer IPMS Dresden, Symboled GmbH, Fresnel Optics GmbH, Hella KGaA Hueck
& Co, Siteco Beleuchtungstechnik GmbH, AEG-MIS mbH and the University of
Paderborn.
*OVPD technology has been exclusively licensed to AIXTRON from Universal Display
Corporation (UDC), Ewing, N.J. USA for equipment manufacture. OVPD technology
is based on an invention by Professor Stephen R. Forrest et al. at Princeton
University, USA, which was exclusively licensed to UDC. AIXTRON and UDC have
jointly developed and qualified OVPD pre-production equipment.