US Govt. grants Universal Display $150,000 award

05 Dec 2012

SBIR Phase I grant to support white, high-efficiency OLED lighting development.

White OLEDs for lighting based on Universal Display’s PHOLED technology.

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL), has been awarded a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase I grant by the US Department of Energy.

Under a program titled “Novel Low Cost Single Layer Outcoupling Solution for OLED Lighting,” the company will evaluate thin form factor outcoupling techniques to improve the energy-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of white OLED lighting panels.

Outcoupling techniques increase the amount of light emittedby an OLED panel. Steven Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display, commented, “To date, no one has demonstrated an approach to achieve the desired extraction efficiency targets in a thin form factor and cost-effective manner.

The company believes its novel single layer approach has the potential to increase the light extraction by greater than a factor of two while being cost-effective and compatible with low-cost OLED manufacturing techniques.

Abramson added, “Our Universal PHOLED technology and materials play a critical role in making white OLEDs an important energy-saving lighting technology by increasing the amount of electrical energy that is converted into light by a factor of four. A key remaining challenge has been to develop a cost-effective technique to double the amount of that light that emits through the surface of the OLED panel.”

“Thanks to the ongoing support of the U.S. Department of Energy, we plan to demonstrate a novel approach to achieve this target and help accelerate the commercialization of energy-efficient and cost-effective white OLED lighting panels.

UD's PHOLED technology is 4x as efficient as is fluorescent OLEDs.

Innovation

"With novel thin and lightweight form factors, energy-efficient white OLED lighting may create a myriad of opportunities for new product designs and lighting applications and play a meaningful role in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions in the U.S. and around the world.”

The US Dept. of Energy made a substantial commitment to the development and introduction of energy-efficient, solid-state white lighting. The use of Universal Display's PHOLED technology and materials has been essential to demonstrating white OLED lighting panels that meet the DOE’s targets.

The company is also at the forefront of developing complementary technologies including light extraction, thin-film encapsulation and flexible OLED technologies. In combination, these technology may open up a wide range of novel lighting applications.

About the Author

Matthew Peach is a contributing editor to optics.org.