What does the acquisition by Sumitomo Chemical mean to CDT and its customers?
Will CDT become a display manufacturer?
Is CDT a stand-alone organisation?
What is CDT's business model?
Will CDT expand its technology into new areas and manufacturing techniques?
Will CDT and Sumation join into one business?
Will CDT relocate?
Will CDT still do Joint Development Agreement's?
Will the acquisition affect CDT's current licensees?
Will CDT continue to explore global display manufacturing opportunities?
Does the acquisition affect support for DDU's and printers?
What is the timeline for availability of displays?
Will a large P-OLED television use less power than an equivalently sized LCT? Or Plasma?
What's the difference between PLED and P-OLED (or LEP for that matter!)?
How do P-OLEDs displays work?
What are polymers?
What are dendrimers and are they different from polymers?
What makes P-OLEDs unique?
How are P-OLED displays made?
How big can P-OLED displays be manufactured?
How does the cost compare with LCD?
What are P-OLED displays used for?
Can I buy a P-OLED display from you?
When will products incorporating P-OLEDs be available in consumer products?
Who invented P-OLEDs?
Who are CDTs strategic partners?
Who are CDT's licensees?
Where can I find out more?

What does the acquisition by Sumitomo Chemical mean to CDT and its customers?
CDT will continue to support existing licensees and to negotiate licenses with companies wanting to exploit P-OLED technology.

Will CDT become a display manufacturer?
No, CDT will not become a display manufacturer

Is CDT a stand-alone organisation?
CDT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Company. CDT will remain a separate legal entity and will continue to pursue its licensing and technical services business model.

What is CDT's business model?
CDT will continue to develop and license technology related to P-OLED applications, including displays, lighting, TFTs, and photovoltaics. CDT is also actively developing TMA (Total Matrix Addressing); an alternative driving technology for passive matrix displays that offers power and lifetime benefits.

Will CDT expand its technology into new areas and manufacturing techniques?
CDT will continue to seek opportunities to exploit its P-OLED technology and to evaluate new device architectures and manufacturing technologies.

Will CDT and Sumation join into one business?
No, CDT and Sumation will continue to operate as separate entities, each with its own business objectives.

Will CDT relocate?
No, CDT's will remain headquartered in Cambourne, UK, with pilot plant facilities located in Godmanchester and research facilities in Cambridge.

Will CDT still do Joint Development Agreement's?
CDT will continue to work with potential licensees and development partners to demonstrate the benefits and advantages of P-OLED technology. In some cases, this collaborative approach will take the form of a Joint Development Agreement (JDA).

Will the acquisition affect CDT's current licensees?
No, the acquisition of CDT by Sumitomo will not affect existing licensees.

Will CDT continue to explore global display manufacturing opportunities?
CDT will continue to support existing licensees and to provide licenses to companies wanting to exploit P-OLED technology. Initially, CDT will focus its commercial activities on markets in developed countries.

Does the acquisition affect support for DDU's and printers?
No, CDT will continue to support customers that have purchased DDUs and printers.

What is the timeline for availability of displays?
CDT is not a display manufacturer but commercialisation of P-OLED products by CDT licensees is expected in the near future.

Will a large P-OLED television use less power than an equivalently sized LCT? Or Plasma?
Power consumption depends on the nature of the image displayed but for general use, P-OLED based displays are expected to consume less power than equivalent LCD or plasma products.

What's the difference between PLED and P-OLED (or OEL or LEP for that matter!)?
Unfortunately, as with many relatively new technologies, a profusion of terms has developed world-wide. You'll find PLED and P-OLED used widely to mean organic light emitting diodes based on organic polymers, although OEL is also seen particularly in Asia. Please see our Glossary  for more information.  

How do P-OLEDs displays work?
P-OLED displays are made by applying a thin film of light-emitting polymer onto a glass or plastic substrate coated with a transparent electrode.  A metal electrode is sputtered or evaporated on top of the polymer.  Application of an electric field between these two electrodes results in emission of light from the polymer.  When a current is applied, electrons from the cathode migrate through the cell and meet positive 'holes' migrating from the anode.  When they meet, they form so-called excitons, and as electrons relax, energy is released as light. See also How P-OLEDs work. 

What are polymers?
Polymers are long chains of organic molecules. P-OLEDs are special classes of polymer which have been found to emit light when stimulated electrically. P-OLEDs can be formulated to generate specific colours of light and have properties that are compatible with both the intended application as well as the process for deposition. There are currently two major families of P-OLED organic polymers: poly p-phenylenevinylene (PPV) and polyfluorene (PF).

What are dendrimers and are they different from polymers?
Typically polymers have only two end groups, one at each end of the polymer chain. Branching can be introduced into the polymer along the polymer backbone, thereby increasing the number of end groups present. Branching can be important in terms of cross-linking and in the formation of three- dimensional networks or films. At high levels of branching, hyper branched or star-like polymers can be made. Dendrimers are similar to hyper-branched polymers. They possess repeating units in their structure that radiate from a central core. The synthetic scheme used in preparing dendrimer materials is extremely precise and well-controlled, with each successive layer being added to the molecule one step at a time.

Dendrimers are usually of a precise molecular weight, i.e. they are monodispersed. The chains radiating from the central core are usually referred to as dendrons. Looking from the exterior of the molecule, a dendrimer appears spherical with the end groups of each dendron lying on the surface of the sphere. These groups can be used in further reactions, such as cross linking, or may be used to modify the surface properties of the material, e.g. to make it more or less hydrophilic. Dendimers have an extremely high concentration of functional groups or functionality for their molecular weight or volume.

What makes P-OLEDs unique?
P-OLEDs are one of the major Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) technology platforms being forecast by industry analysts as the next major breakthrough in electronic displays. P-OLEDs provide the basis for developing exciting new products such as wristwatch televisions, flexible or formable displays, and will ultimately provide an alternative to the traditional cathode ray tube (CRT) now used in conventional televisions and computer monitors.

In the nearer term, applications such as MP3 players are expected to be joined by cellphone displays, PDAs and other medium sized displays.
 
Because P-OLEDs emit their own light, they are brighter, clearer, and have a virtually unlimited viewing angle. Their high contrast and wide dynamic brightness capabilities make them a better solution for nighttime and daylight use. P-OLEDs also have a very fast image refresh rate that is maintained at low temperature, and are ideal for full colour video in TV, internet devices, PDAs and other 'smart' personal display products. Because P-OLEDs do not require a power hungry backlight, they are energy efficient and are thinner and lighter weight.

How are P-OLED displays made?
One of the areas in which CDT has made good progress over the last decade is innovations in solution processing of P-OLED displays using inkjet and, more recently roll printing. Displays can be produced by ink-jet printing light emitting polymers onto a sheet of glass or plastic.  As devices can be manufactured on flexible plastic substrates, it is likely to be possible to make displays that have non-planar shapes.

Much of the clean room equipment required to manufactured P-OLEDs already exists in an LCD plant. In fact the manufacturing process for P-OLEDs offers simpler processes and potential cost savings compared with LCD: they do not have backlights or colour filters and need fewer process steps. The key difference is that a P-OLED display can be ink jet printed using conventional ink jet printing technology.

CDT operates a 1,750 square meter US$42 million Technology Development Centre in Godmanchester, UK.  It includes a 600 square metre state-of-the-art clean room comprising class 1000 and class 100 areas, and fabrication of pilot quanities of P-OLED displays on the 350 x 350mm line has been demonstrated. The Centre has broadened the scale and scope of P-OLED-based intellectual property, technology and manufacturing know-how as well as manufacturing tools and materials available to its licensees and strategic partners.

How big can P-OLED displays be manufactured?
Displays up to 40 in. have been demonstrated and ultimately, because of the scalability of inkjet printing, even larger displays are expected to be possible. The relative simplicity and flexibility in manufacturing means that different technology sets could enable modular display devices that can be tiled to produce very large displays.

How does the cost compare with LCD?
Costs to manufacture P-OLED displays, when compared with LCDs of comparable volume and maturity of production tools and processes, are expected to be between 30% and 55% lower depending on display size, due to the simpler bill of materials and elimination of the backlight. and colour filters.

What are P-OLED displays used for?
P-OLED has four key applications:

• Large emissive panels that can be used in lighting applications, replacing incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
• Low information content displays where inorganic LEDs are currently used: video, hi-fi, shaver, watch etc
• Displacement of cathode ray tube (CRT) or LCD (traditional television and computer display applications): mobile phones, digital assistants, computers and televisions.
• New display applications for which P-OLED characteristics make it uniquely suited. E.g., replacement for traditional automotive instrument panel, dynamic advertising applications, graphical signs for point of sale or purchase, electromechanical signage, bio-medical testing.

Can I buy a P-OLED display from you?
Not directly. CDT has a broad, global plan for developing polymer technology to a stable and mature commercial level and speeding its transfer into manufacturing for a wide range of market applications. The scope of CDT activities includes basic research in polymer materials and synthesis, and development of material systems, device architectures, manufacturing tools, equipment and processes, and alternative synergistic technologies for plastic substrates, active and smart circuits and web processing. Collaboration, joint venture, and licensing are the business models CDT is employing with strategic partners around the world to ensure successful P-OLED commercialisation.

When will products incorporating P-OLEDs be available in consumer products?
They already are! The first P-OLED products were launched in 2002 by CDT licensees. Currently MicroEmissive Displays has a licence for the manufacture of P-OLED microdisplays using CDT’s proprietary P-OLED technology and materials manufactured by Sumation™.
Microemissive Displays is building manufacturing capacity and is seeing increasing demand for its microdisplay P-OLED products.

While the first P-OLED products are small (< 2”) low information content, single colour, passive matrix displays, Philips, Toshiba-Matsushita Display, Casio, DuPont, Microemissive Display Ltd., Samsung Electronics and Seiko-Epson have all demonstrated full colour active and passive matrix displays of up to 40 inches in size.

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), another CDT licensee, has showcased P-OLED displays incorporated into advertising with a resolution of 94x54, 96x64 or 128x64 on book covers and posters. Sharp has shown high resolution (202ppi) 3.6 inch colour displays.

Who invented P-OLEDs?
In 1989, researchers at the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory found that passing an electric current through certain polymers made them emit light. How P-OLEDs work.
Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) was formed in 1992 to commercialise the technology that evolved from this discovery.  CDT owns the fundamental intellectual property and expertise in light-emitting polymers (P-OLEDs).  A team of over eighty scientists is now responsible for the development of this technology.

Who are CDT's licensees?
CDT’s P-OLED technology has already been licensed to world class OEMs, including Matsushita (Panasonic), Seiko Epson, Osram, MicroEmissive Displays and Delta Optoelectronics, as a route to making lighter, brighter, less power-consuming and more responsive displays for next generation products.  CDT licensees are now working on scale-up and commercialisation into consumer and industrial electronics.

Who are CDTs strategic partners?
In addition, CDT has strategic partners in a wide range of technologies and related industries, including Sumitomo Chemical (with whom CDT has a 50:50 joint venture calles Sumation®), HC Stark, Merck, Litrex Corporation (ULVAC), ST Microelectronics and Tokki Corporation with numerous others being developed. CDT has acquired NextSierra, the California-based hardware developer that specializes in designing P-OLED/OLED display driver chips.

Where can I find out more?
A good start would be to follow our Useful Links to some of our partners and technology collaborators, and to the related trade press. You can also follow up on our Technical References to published works. If you'd like to contact us for more information, we'd be delighted to hear from you.