In this week's issue:

• Samsung SDI showcases new OLED displays at FPD International >
  
• Flexible carbon nanotube sheets act as loudspeakers >
  
• DuPont Teijin Films joins Holst Centre research program on systems-in-foil >
  
• Unidym owners seek to realise their investment >
  
• Thinfilm reports financial results for Q3 2008 and seeks industrial partners >
  
• Fraunhofer opens Centre for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices in Dresden >
  
• Organic semiconductor industry market watch >
  

		Open seminars on organic lighting and organic photovoltaics cintelliq is pleased to announce that it will be holding a day of seminars on organic lighting and organic photovoltaics (OPV) in Cambridge, UK, on Wednesday 10 December. The provisional programme is as follows: 09:30-10:00 Registration and coffee 10:00-10:30 Welcome, and introduction to the OPV and organic lighting industry 10:30-12:30 A commercial overview of OPV and organic lighting 12:30-13:30 Lunch 13:30-15:30    A review of IP in OPV and organic lighting 15:30-16:00 Tea break and discussion The seminars will provide an overview of activities and developments in OPV and organic lighting, including government funding, key companies and a review of industry forecasts. The seminars will also give an overview of the state of the art, and a detailed review of relevant granted and published patents. A more detailed programme will be available shortly. Attendance for the full day costs just £320.00 (+VAT) and includes lunch, refreshments and seminar manuals. Numbers are strictly limited and the seminars are expected to be popular. Please contact Anna Volund as soon as possible on +44 1223 421525 or anna.volund@cintelliq.com to reserve your place or for more information.

Samsung SDI showcases new OLED displays at FPD International

Nikkei Electronics reports that Samsung SDI showcased a variety of leading-edge OLED displays at the recently concluded FPD International 2008 exhibition in Japan.

OLED-TV
Samsung SDI exhibited a 40-inch AM-OLED-TV which the company claims is the largest AM-OLED TV in the world.

The driver board is a low-temperature poly-Si TFT, and it is made by the super grain silicon (SGS) technology to grow crystals without using a laser. The RGB OLED formed by vapour depositing OLED small molecule materials via a fine metal mask. According to reports the bottom emission type display uses a 'microcavity' structure employed to improve the colour gamut.

Specification of the 40-inch AM-OLED TV:

• Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080
• Contrast ratio: 1,000,000:1
• Colour gamut: 107% NTSC
• Luminance: 200cd/m²
• Peak luminance: 600cd/m²
• Thickness: 8.9mm

A company spokesman said, "Samsung's low temperature poly-Si TFT mass-production line cannot make panels larger than 31 inches. The 40-inch TFT panel was made on the company's pilot line, and it cannot be mass-produced right away."

The company was also exhibiting AM-OLED TVs sized at 31-inches and 14-inches and a 6.5-inch flexible AM-OLED panel.

Flapping display
Samsung SDI also exhibited an ultra thin displays that it called the 'flapping display'. This 0.05mm-thick 4-inch OLED panel is so thin that it fluttered in the breeze from a fan. was hung in the air and fluttered in the breeze from a fan. The display used LTPS TFTs, and small molecule materials.

Specification of the 'flapping display':

• Pixel count: 480 × 272
• Contrast ratio: 100,000:1
• Luminance: 200cd/m²
• Colour reproduction range: 100% of the NTSC standard

Window display
A further exhibit from Samsung SDI was what it called a 'window display'—an OLED panel with a transmittance of 30%. The company used four 12.1-inch Window Displays to make the window shown at FPD.

The OLED panel uses low-temperature polysilicon TFTs for the drive element. The device structure is a top emission type, and OLED materials for RBG colours are separately applied by using a metal mask.

The company exhibited a prototype of a 4.82-inch OLED panel with a transmittance of 30% at SID in May 2008.

Specification of the 'window display':

• Resolution: 840 ×504
• Luminance: 200cd/m²
• Colour reproduction range: 100% of the NTSC standard
• Response time: 0.01ms

www.samsungsdi.co.kr     techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/fpd/    

Flexible carbon nanotube sheets act as loudspeakers

Researchers at the Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Centre in Beijing report that they have created loudspeakers from sheets of parallel carbon tubes (CNT), each about 10 nanometres across. Physicist Kaili Jiang and his colleagues discovered that when they applied an electric current alternating at an audio frequency to these thin films, the material could make sounds as loud as commercial speakers.

The researchers found that CNT loudspeakers could be stretched up to twice their original size without breaking and with little change to the intensity of the sound. Their transparent nature could allow them to be placed on windows, video screens, or paintings, the researchers suggest, and their flexibility could allow them to be wrapped around pillars or even be put on clothing. They have even put one on a waving flag.

Unlike conventional loudspeakers which generate sound by vibrating, the CNT thin-film loudspeaker produces sound by heating and expanding the air near the nanotubes when an electrical current is applied to them, creating sound waves. The heat generated by these loudspeakers can be controlled by how much power they receive.

The full paper "Flexible, Stretchable, Transparent Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Loudspeakers" is published in the October issue of ACS Nano Letters:
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/nalefd/asap/html/nl802750z.html#aff1    

DuPont Teijin Films joins Holst Centre research program on systems-in-foil

DuPont Teijin Films has joined the Systems-in-Foil program of the Holst Centre.

Dupont Teijin Films will bring its knowledge of foil production to the Holst Centre program on Flexible Organic Lighting and Signage. The aim of the program is to design and optimise OLED device concepts and processes that are compatible with roll-to-roll fabrication for lighting and signage applications. The agreement was signed between Dupont Teijin Films and TNO, coordinator of the Systems-in-Foil activities in Holst Centre.

Ton van Mol, Program Manager Flexible Organic Lighting and Signage, said, "We already have leading industrial players on board like Philips, Solvay, Akzo Nobel and Agfa. Closing the agreement with Dupont Teijin Films, the number one in foil production, acknowledges that the business model proposed by Holst Centre is seen as having the potential to produce added value for the industry."

www.holstcentre.com     www.dupontteijinfilms.com    

Unidym owners seek to realise their investment

The parent company of Unidym, Arrowhead Research Corp, has announced that it is considering various options for realising the value of its investment in the company.

According to Arrowhead, since 2005 Unidym has licensed technology from a dozen universities and acquired three prominent CNT companies, including Carbon Nanotechnologies, and has become a leader in the development of innovative CNT-enabled products for the electronics industry. In the process, Unidym has assembled a strong patent portfolio that Arrowhead believes covers nearly every aspect of high performance CNT manufacturing and processing, as well as multiple product applications.

Arrowhead currently owns more than 53% of Unidym and is evaluating a number of options for realising its investment, including the commercialisation of CNT in its various applications and pursuing strategic alternatives through the sale of the company.

www.unidym.com     www.arrowheadresearch.com    

Thinfilm reports financial results for Q3 2008 and seeks industrial partners

Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm) has issued its financial results for the three and nine months ending 30 September 2008.

Thinfilm results for quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2008 (NOK millions)
	Q3 2008	Q3 2007	Jan-Sept 2008	Jan-Sept 2007
Revenue	0.4	0.3	1.3	2.7
Operating costs	(5.3)	(5.7)	(19.6)	(20.9)
Depreciation etc	(0.2)	(0.1)	(0.5)	(0.4)
Operating profit (loss)	(5.2)	(5.6)	(18.8)	(18.6)
Financial items	0.1	0.2	0.6	0.3
Total profit (loss)	(5.1)	(5.4)	(18.2)	(18.3)
Totals may not add up due to rounding

Thinfilm's activities in the first half of 2008 have concentrated on business development of the company's existing technology, with the corresponding technical development and support for the commercialisation of printed memories.

Thinfilm continues to actively pursue new potential customers and licensees, on its own as well as jointly with its partners Soligie and Cartamundi.

Thinfilm has continued the joint technical development activities agreed with partners in 2007 and the first half of 2008. The focus has been on the volume manufacturing aspects of the memory cells and adapting the memories for the various applications. These activities have also included designing and manufacturing application demonstrator units and producing different serial-like samples, which will be used around the world for sales promotion activities of the printed memory.

Thinfilm says that it is seeking to expand its current list of shareholders to include large industrial partners preferably active in the field of printed electronics. During Q3 2008 the company has been engaged in discussions with such a potential shareholding partner. Thinfilm will make announcements to the market if and when an agreement is reached.

www.thinfilm.se    

Fraunhofer opens Centre for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices in Dresden

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft officially opened its Centre for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices Dresden (COMEDD) last week. The Centre will concentrate on research, development and the pilot-production of small molecule OLEDs. It will provide services from system design and technological development to pilot production of small batches including substrate structuring, deposition technology, encapsulation and system integration.

The €25 million funding for the centre was provided by the German government, state of Saxony and the European Union.

www.ipms.fraunhofer.de/en/comedd/    

Organic semiconductor industry market watch

Week ending 31 October 2008

Thin Film Electronics priced in Norwegian Kroner

www.nasdaq.com     www.otcbb.com     www.londonstockexchange.com     www.osloaxess.no