Universal Display unveils novel single-layer encapsulation technology for OLED and other thin-film devices

Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ: PANL), enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, today unveiled a novel, single-layer encapsulation technology

for plastic substrate systems and thin-film devices, including rigid and flexible OLED displays and lighting panels. The company announced the advances at the Society of Vacuum Coaters Technology Conference at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on the Riverwalk in Chicago, IL, being held April 16-21, 2011.



Details of the new thin-film encapsulation technology were delivered today by Dr. Ruiqing Ma, Department Manager, Flexible OLED Displays, at Universal Display, in a paper titled “Technical Gap Analysis of Vacuum Coated Materials for Flexible OLED Display and Lighting Applications.” Developed in collaboration with research partner Princeton University, Universal Display’s single, hybrid organic-inorganic layer approach has been demonstrated successfully as an encapsulant for flexible and rigid OLED devices.



The encapsulation layer provides an effective permeation barrier to protect thin-film devices from environmental conditions, such as moisture and oxygen, which is critical for the long-term performance of OLED display and lighting products. Using environmentally-benign and non-toxic materials in a potentially low-cost process, the barrier film technology may also be well suited for high-performance plastic substrate systems and other thin-film devices, such as photovoltaics and batteries.



“Our novel single-layer encapsulation technology is an elegant solution to improve the manufacture and performance of OLEDs and a range of other thin-film devices,” stated Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display. “Our approach relies on a single, hybrid organic-inorganic layer that is applied using a costeffective process. This film creates a very strong permeation barrier to address the strict packaging requirements of these devices. In addition to providing benefit for OLED and other thin-film products in the market today, this approach may also accelerate the commercialization of emerging flexible OLED displays and lighting products, as well as

the plastic substrate systems that are used to produce them.”



Demonstration of this encapsulation technology has been supported, in part, under National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research contracts. Universal Display has been working with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University to demonstrate the technology’s effectiveness for flexible OLED display prototypes based on Universal Display’s phosphorescent and other OLED technologies and the FDC’s flexible backplane technologies.