June 2006

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CDT Announces New Developments in P-OLED Printing

CAMBRIDGE, UK - Cambridge Display Technologies (CDT) announced at SID 2006 in June its development of a new ink-jet printing solution capable of producing high-resolution polymer organic-light-emitting-diode (P-OLED) displays, as well as the successful production of 5.5-in. full-color active-matrix (AM) P-OLEDs using a roll-printing method.

The first development, an ink-jet solution that can print P-OLED displays of up to 200 pixels per inch (ppi), was made in cooperation with Litrex Corp., a leader in the development of precision ink-jet systems for color displays and electronics. P-OLED displays provide an ideal combination of fast video response, high contrast and low power consumption for small- to medium-size displays in applications such as cellular phones, according to CDT.

"The development of a high-resolution manufacturing solution for P-OLED displays is extremely important to the display industry, and will provide a scaleable approach to the production of high-resolution, high added-value displays," CDT CEO Dr. David Fyfe said in a company statement. "Our customers are already very excited at the prospect."

CDT has also succeeded in creating a number of P-OLED displays using a roll-printing method in collaboration with Tokyo-based Toppan Printing. The 5.5-in. displays, which the two companies believe are the first of their kind ever produced, are the result of a joint development activity between CDT and Toppan announced in February 2005. The displays were showed for the first time anywhere at SID 2006.

CDT and Toppan believe roll printing represents a promising alternative production technique for P-OLEDs and potentially for flexible displays, offering the potential for very good display uniformity, very high display resolution, and low capital and operating costs.

The companies also believe the process is capable of scaling to large substrate size and very high resolution, potentially beyond 200 ppi.

Figure 1: CDT's 5.5 in. OLED display, which was produced using a roll-printing method in cooperation with Toppan Printing, made its world premiere at SID 2006.