GE demonstrates world's first ''roll-to-roll'' manufactured OLED's

Researchers have demonstrated the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices, making it another step closer to producing OLED's at significantly lower prices than available today.

 

GE Global Research, and GE Consumer & Industrial, USA announced earlier this week that after a four year project they have shown a low-cost system that can mass produce in a roll to roll process, organic electronic products such as flexible electronic paper displays, portable TV screens the size of posters, solar powered cells and high-efficiency lighting devices.

 

"Researchers have long dreamed of making OLEDs using a newspaper-printing like roll-to-roll process," said Anil Duggal, manager of GE's Advanced Technology Program in Organic Electronics. "Now we've shown that it is possible. Commercial applications in lighting require low manufacturing costs, and this demonstration is a major milestone on our way to developing low cost OLED lighting devices." Duggal continued, "Beyond OLEDs, this technology also could have broader impact in the manufacturing of other organic electronic devices such as organic photovoltaics for solar energy conversion, sensors and roll-up displays."

 

According to GE there is still more to do before they can go to market but this process has the potential to eliminate the manufacturing hurdles that currently exist in preventing a more widespread adoption of high performance organic electronic technologies such as OLED lighting. The unique commercial equipment and technology needed to enable high performance-based organic electronics products does not currently exist. The few organic electronics products on the market today are made with more conventional batch processes and are relatively high cost.

 

The GE research team hope to bring OLED lighting products to market by the year 2010.

 

For more on OLED's attend Printed Electronics Europe 2008.