The University of Hull has spun out
Polar OLED, an OLED display
firm which claims to have materials that allow significant cuts in
display manufacturing costs.
Its intellectual property is based around polymerisable liquid
crystaline organic semiconductors, which are distinct from
conventional small molecule and polymer OLED materials, company
co-founder Professor Steve Kelly told Electronics Weekly.
"We process at room temperature and without a vacuum," he said.
"We form insoluble polymer networks, which means you can use
standard [LCD fab] photo-lithography to make nice uniform
rectangular pixels."
The materials are fluorescent, which means they are fast enough
for display use.
However, they cannot compete with the slower, more efficient,
phosphorescent OLED materials in lighting applications.
High brightness has already been demonstrated. "We can produce
thousands of cd/m2. A laptop only averages about 100,"
said Kelly, adding: "We can do red green and blue: the colour gamut
is pretty good."
Lifetime and efficiency have yet to be measured, which is where
development partners will come in.
Potential partners are already in discussions, said Kelly, who
will not say who they are.
One unusual characteristic of the material is that, as well as
normal light, it can be deposited to produce linearly-polarised
light. "This would be attractive to LCD makers because they could
get rid of one polariser," said Kelly.
And two orthogonally polarised OLED displays of this type could
be used to produce a 3D image.
The Hull materials can be deposited on glass or on plastic, said
the University, but like all OLED materials so far discovered,
plastic substrates can only be used of appropriate barrier layers
are applied to prevent water and oxygen ingress.
Funding for the start-up has come partly from IP Group.
"We look forward to working closely with major strategic players
to attract further interest and investment," said IP Group
investment manager Danny Lynham.
Kelly comes from the University's chemistry department where he
worked with Professor George Gray who pioneered liquid crystal
research - the first stable liquid crystals were invented at the
University in 1971.
Alongside Kelly is Professor Mary O'Neill from the University's
physics department with whom he shares the University's
interdisciplinary team investigating photonic and optoelectronic
applications for liquid crystals.
Polar OLED's lead scientist is Dr Stuart Kitney.