ALEX TULLO

Chemical companies are scaling up their organic light-emitting diode (OLED) operations as next-generation display technology moves from the laboratory bench to the factory floor.

UNIAX PHOTO

OLEDs are similar to conventional inorganic light-emitting diodes, but can be used to make displays similar to liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), such as those in mobile phones and personal data assistants. Experts say OLEDs offer better energy consumption and appearance than do LCDs.

DuPont--which in March 2000 bought Uniax, a major developer of OLED technology--will spend $15 million to build a market development facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. The unit will begin supplying displays for evaluation by equipment makers after it is completed in the third quarter.

Steve Quindlen, president of DuPont's OLED business and chief strategy officer of DuPont Displays, says DuPont wants to play a major role in making OLEDs commercially available. "That is why we acquired Uniax and are developing a facility for our engineers to mass produce prototypes," he says.

According to Stanford Resources, a San Jose, Calif.-based consulting group, the global market for OLED displays is currently valued at $84 million. By 2007, the group expects the market to be worth $1.6 billion.

Other chemical makers also recognize the potential. Under a newly inked supply agreement, Covion Organic Semiconductors--a joint venture between Avecia and Celanese Ventures--will supply polymers to an OLED display facility that OLED technology developer Cambridge Display Technology is building in Godmanchester, U.K. (C&EN, April 2, page 14).

In addition, Dow Chemical and collaborator Delta Optoelectronics of Taiwan announced last year the commercial availability of OLED displays using Dow's polyfluorene chemistry. Also last year, PPG, which intends to manufacture OLED chemicals, formed an alliance with Universal Display Corp. to commercialize OLEDs.

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