UK OLED lighting start-up PolyPhotonix is to build its first
production line in County Durham.
“We are looking to generate revenue through sales within a
three-year business plan,” CEO Richard Kirk told Electronics
Weekly. “We are not a research company. We are going to demonstrate
how to make three million units at high yield, high performance and
high efficiency.”
The production line is to be installed in the clean room of the
Printable Electronics Technology Centre
(PETEC) in Sedgefield. It will produce
lighting panels using OLED intellectual property licensed from CDT
in Cambridge.
Kirk is in “advanced talks” towards a £3m funding round which will
pay for the production line and 30 months of operations.
The firm already has some funding through the Government’s
Technology Strategy Board through a project called Manufacturing
Emissive Nanotechnology Devices in Polymers (MENDIPs).
Other partners in the MENDIPs consortium are Japanese car interior
maker Sanko Gosei and the County Durham-based Centre for Process
Innovation (CPI), which owns PETEC.
PolyPhotonix’ intended main markets are automotive and
architectural lighting, but Kirk also expects some interest from
makers of general lighting products.
The production line will initially make its OLED emitters on
200x200mm glass substrates. “We are taking the best materials as
they are today,” said Kirk.
Flexible plastic substrates are also on the cards once glass-based
emitters are in production.
Existing AC electroluminescent (ACEL) emissive technology on
flexible substrates has caused a stir among car designers for
interior and exterior lighting.
OLEDs are easier to power, potentially brighter, and can already
compete with ACEL where flat rigid luminairs are required.
Once barrier coatings are available to keep moisture away from the
emissive materials within flexible OLEDs,
OLEDs will be a strong contender for
the whole ACEL market.
“Given even a sub-standard barrier, polymer OLEDs have a longer
life than AC electroluminescent emitters – 3,500 hours at
reasonable intensity,” said Kirk. “They are already up to tens of
thousands of hours with a good barrier.”
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