Sep 14 2006
The lighting giant Osram is increasing its research into OLED light sources. The company is concentrating on small molecule designs and expects to have commercial products relatively soon. Marion Reichl, Osram Opto Semiconductor Press Officer, says ‘In a few years we will see first OLED lighting products which will penetrate the lighting market more and more as the technology matures’.
Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are the new way of making light. Where traditional lighting involves heating metal filaments or exciting gases until they fluoresce, OLEDs rely on the properties of certain polymers and small molecules to fluoresce or phosphoresce directly, when a voltage is applied across them.
These new OLED lights aren’t tiny indicators on control panels. They’re much higher intensity and are designed to provide true space lighting, as replacements for incandescent or fluorescent sources. With record light intensities of up to 110lm/W recently recorded for monochrome OLEDs and up to 18lm/W for white-light devices, they already outperform incandescent lights and are on a level with halogen lamps.
Merck will also present their novel OLED materials and innovative device design at the Lighting and Signage Symposium at the “2nd Plastic Electronics Conference & Showcase” on October 24 & 25, 2006 in Frankfurt, Germany. Osram and other prominent companies such as GE Lighting and Philips Lighting will also shed a light on OLEDs in the same symposium as will Research Institutes from China, Japan and the USA. To view the program of Lighting and Signage at Plastic Electronics 2006, see: http://www.plastictronics.org/site/program_speaker.php