Archive for March 9th, 2010
Mitsubishi Chemical and Pioneer form OLED alliance
Posted by LED Larry in LED, Other Technology on March 9th, 2010
Mitsubishi Chemical plans to release OLED lighting products through its Verbatim brand in 2011.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Pioneer Corporation have entered into an alliance covering their OLED lighting businesses, as well as a capital alliance that will strengthen their inter-company relations.
Mitsubishi Chemical is entering the OLED lighting business, and is aiming to begin full-scale mass production and launch of illumination products in 2011 through its Verbatim brand. The company’s target sales for the OLED lighting business are ¥30 billion (about $330 million) for 2015, and ¥100 billion ($1.1 billion) for 2020.
Mitsubishi Chemical plans to use OLED lighting panels supplied by Pioneer, but is also looking into performing joint research on printable OLED lighting development, as well as commercialization of such products.
Also, in order to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two companies, Pioneer will issue Mitsubishi Chemical about ¥600 million in new stock through third-party allotment.
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| OLED Lighting Panel Prototype |
Both companies are currently performing joint research on OLED lighting panels that use printable hole injecting material (HIM) and new emitting materials. In line with its goal to start early stage mass production and marketing of new printable emitting materials, Mitsubishi Chemical is moving on with research and development, as well as looking into the commercialization of printable OLED lighting.
OLED lighting panels are typically created through a vapor deposition process, which makes it difficult to mass-produce large, uniform surfaces with no defects. However, Mitsubishi Chemical says that its unique printable materials can enable the mass-production of panels with an area of about 14cm square, using Pioneer’s commercial lines.
Mitsubishi Chemical plans to display the world’s first dimmable/tone-adjustable OLED prototype this year at Light+Building (April 11 – 16 in Frankfurt, Germany) in the Verbatim GmbH booth.
Instrument Systems buys the Light Measurement Division of X-Rite
Instrument System forms Berlin based Optronik subsidiary to integrate X-Rite’s Optronik-branded light measurement product portfolio.
Instrument Systems extended its broad portfolio of LED and light measurement technologies adding the Optronik product line from X-Rite in a recent acquisition. Instrument systems integrated the X-Rite portfolio into a newly formed subsidiary called Optronik Berlin GmbH thereby continuing the brand used previously on the X-Rite product line.
The Optronik product line targets the automotive and transportation engineering sector. The Berlin unit will continue to serve testing and certification institutes, suppliers of automotive light products, and many automobile manufacturers.
“This acquisition enables Instrument Systems to better satisfy future market demands for LEDs in general lighting applications and extend its lead in light measurement technology,” notes company president Richard Distl. “What’s more, all legacy customers of Optronik are sure to benefit from our expertise in spectroradiometry.”
Optronik’s main products include large goniophotometer systems, retroreflectometers, and photometers. Those products will add to the Instrument Systems portfolio that includes LED testers, light sources, and test software; as well as spectrometers, goniophotometers, and photometers.
Analyst questions LED backlight technology but still sees growth market
Posted by LED Larry in Green Tip, LED, Lighting, New LED Technology on March 9th, 2010
Steve Ohr discussed LED TV backlighting in an APEC Consumer session questioning the price and advantages of the technology while stating that even a bearish outlook promises growth.
The APEC conference featured a series of Special Presentations focused on application areas this year, and the lead session in the consumer space focused on LED backlighting for LCD TVs. Gartner Research Director Steve Ohr presented “The promise for LED backlights in consumer TVs” and questioned just how quickly LEDs will penetrate the application, but still offered a positive market outlook.
Ohr started the presentation stating, “I thought LEDs would be too expensive to use as backlights.” But Ohr noted that consumers seem to be buying the LED sets despite the price premium – and in many cases without a discernible difference in picture quality. Ohr questioned whether the edge-lit sets offer any real improvement in image quality relative to fluorescent-lit sets.
While Ohr noted that some analysts and the TV manufacturers are predicting 50% market penetration in 2010, he takes a much more conservative view. Ohr sees 50% penetration by 2013, but notes that bearish outlook still results in a $2 billion white LED opportunity in 2013
Ohr isn’t alone questioning some of the bullish forecasts. Strategies Unlimited’s Bob Steele also questioned some of the high market projections two weeks ago at the Strategies in Light conference. In his annual market forecast presentation, Steele noted that some analysts are projecting that 39 million LED-based TVs will ship in 2010 while he believes 22 million is a more reasonable projection.
Despite his analysis of the financials and questions about the advantages of LEDs in edge-lit configurations, Ohr said signs are pointing potentially to a more rapid adoption of LEDs. He stated, “Promotion of LED backlights may result in high consumer acceptance despite the higher price.”
Ohr also noted that there are signs in the semiconductor space that those companies see a more rapid transition than most expected previously. He noted that NXP had discontinued development of a new fluorescent driver IC. And he displayed a slide of a Marvell fluorescent driver data sheet with discontinued stamped across the sheet.
Ohr concluded stating, “We need $0.05 by 2013.” He questions whether the LED industry can deliver components at that price both because of the manufacturing and packaging cost, and the need to test and bin the products for intensity and color.