DuPont Displays says it has developed a way of creating OLED televisions at high volumes and significantly lower their prices. The company relies on a custom-made printer from Japan's Dainippon Screen. It can print a 50-inch TV in less than two minutes, increasing the number of screens made and dropping their production costs. The high-performance displays have also been tested to be reliable in a way that OLEDs haven't been in the past, lasting up to 15 years.
Printing an OLED display that can last a long time is hard because inks bleed and otherwise deteriorate over time. DuPont's solution is to use active molecules in the inks in each layer that are insoluble in the inks in the layer that's touching it. Dainippon Screen's specially developed printer uses a multi-nozzle printer for these inks.
LG plans to release a 15-inch OLED TV in the US in 2010 that will cost $2,725, but DuPont says its new process will make OLEDs price-competitive with LCD screens.
DuPont plans to license this manufacturing process and sell the materials to display manufacturers, but the products themselves could be relatively distant.
Source: electronista
