Print Valley
OTBv is a founding member of a Dutch consortium known as PrintValley, that was formed in September, 2009. As of August 2009, the PrintValley organization included 23 companies that collaborate and share technology for printing systems. The combined revenues for all the companies in PrintValley exceed US$23 billion. Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is where OTBv headquarters its systems design, mechanical engineering, and project management staff, and Eindhoven is a major center for many PrintValley companies.
The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs supports the PrintValley consortium to stimulate advances in technology for the manufacturing of printing equipment and creation of Intellectual Property. This includes simulation and modeling; software for embedding in equipment and operating systems, human machine interfacing and machine communications and reporting; systems for the alignment of substrates; mechatronics (the coordination of printing, substrate movement, and electronic controls including automation of the printer); the design of components, printers and print-heads, and specific assistance for companies involved in both digital and industrial printing applications, which are often unique.
OTBv works with all technology providers in PrintValley as needed; and OTBv is the group leader for a subset of PrintValley companies that collaborate in how to create and improve printers. For this reason, the true base of OTBvs technological resources is very extensive and OTBv can draw on both hardware and software engineering resources, know-how, and creative thinking beyond the range of its own personnel.
Members of the consortium operate on the basis of a general non-disclosure agreement. They may decide to purchase services from one another, or license technology on a bi-lateral basis. The Consortium has general joint goals: it intends to advance printing technology and applications and to collaborate so that its companies can provide world-leading manufacturing capability and technology. The Consortium members report on their progress regularly.
OTBv will integrate certain PrintValley technology into its offering of a Total Approach to manufacturing televisions, monitors, and handheld displays.
Below are links to some of companies in the PrintValley consortium that OTBv is collaborating with or expects to work with:
Oce´-Nederland BV
Leader in printing technology including print-bodies and print-heads
http://www.oce.nl
Philips Applied Technologies
Major provider of research and development; systems simulation and design
http://www.apptech.philips.com
Beltech
Vision systems for quality control
http://www.beltech.nl
Sioux Software
Embedding software in processes and remote control
http://www.sioux.be
Centre for Concepts in Mechatronics
Substrate movement and alignment
http://www.ccm.nl
Completion of the PCAP20
OTBv has produced the first single-line production line for OLED displays the PCAP20. After years of development, the PCAP20 in 2009 was converted from a research tool to a fully commercial production unit. This required changes in thermal management, software, and new processes (such as the insertion of an interlayer step to improve material lifetimes). The new unit will be released in 2009 and transferred to a plant in Jilin Province, China. It is capable of producing 3.5 inch displays and 15 inch televisions. At first it will be employed in product design work for the larger PCAP48, but it is sufficient as a commercial unit on its own.
Before its final release, the PCAP20 will print using Merck PLED materials on amorphous silicon backplanes with circuitry designed by Ignis of Canada and topographies designed by OTBv of Heerlen.
Thin Film Encapsulation of Displays
OTBv is the first company to develop a thin film encapsulation process for OLED displays which is capable of operating in a commercial production environment. With unique methods of thermal management and parallel processing techniques, OTBv has driven down the throughput time of this process so that it can service Gen4 substrate production in two minutes. Thin Film Encapsulation means faster production. Without it, total annual yield is below acceptable levels for commercial production. Thin Film Encapsulation also yields displays that are brighter than those encapsulated with glass.
Amorphous Silicon Backplanes
OTBv has worked with Ignis of Canada and glass manufacturers to design the first backplane using amorphous silicon (a-Si) with compensating circuitry, for use with OLED displays. The first a-Si backplanes were qualified and successfully tested with OLED materials at the OTBv facility at Heerlen in September and October 2009. The use of amorphous silicon dramatically widens the number of sources of glass that can be used for making OLED displays, and lowers cost per display.
Expansion in PLED lifetime
OTBv has worked with Merck to test and develop new interlayer material that extends the operating lifetime of polymer light emitting diode (PLED) material. PLED material can now be used in such equipment as the OTBv PCAP20 to make displays that can be used in certain commercial products. OLED literature has for years touted the ability to extend lifetimes by inserting a protective layer, sometimes interlinked, to reduce deterioration of materials, but there are few instances of success for this approach in commercial application. It takes very careful formulation and studies of jetting to optimize the parameters of this approach. The success adds to a long list of OLED manufacturing know-how in OTBv.
The Design of New Methods for Printing Dry Small Molecule/Phosphorescent Material
OTBv specializes in printing electronic materials. It has recently developed new technology for printing dry material comprised of small molecule/phosphorescent material into pixel cavities with diameters of 50 microns or less. The OTBv approach will permit the use of materials whose lifetimes approach hundreds of thousands of hours. Long-lived materials are essential to opening up such markets as TV and computer monitors. The ability to print small sub-pixels is valuable for making text readable. OTBv is now preparing to build the first production version of its printing technology. All electronic layers for managing the injection of electrons into emissive material are accounted for in the production version.
TFE upgrade and Tack time improvements
Processing runs with Ignis substrates and Merck PLED Materials
On target for new release test processing Merck materials on Ignis backplanes that meet ECR standards on or about Dec 15 2009
De-commissioning and shipment to China
