Archive : 2 June 2015 год

Fujifilm and nanoelectronics research institute imec have demonstrated full colour OLEDs created using a jointly developed photoresist technology. The partners say this approach – which enables sub micron patterning – paves the way to producing high-resolution and large organic electroluminescent (EL) displays and establishing cost competitive manufacturing methods.

Red, green and blue organic EL materials were patterned, each in the subpixel pitch of 20µm, to create an array of 40 x 40 dots with a resolution of 640pixel/in. Illumination with ultraviolet light confirmed that red, green and blue dots emitted light separately.

According to the partners, organic EL displays are increasingly used in televisions, mobile devices and wearables. Resolutions of at least 200pixel/in are needed for 4K televisions, while full HD mobile devices require 500pixel/in displays.

Fujifilm and imec say the results could open new applications, including creating an OLED array that adds a fourth colour to red, green and blue, as well as developing sensors that integrate an OLED with an organic photodetector.

Pic: The left hand image was taken with UV illumination on the OLED array, confirming that red, green and blue dots emit light separately. The right hand image was taken with voltage applied.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have begun a competition to develop a £10million research hub, combining a small number of leading universities, to explore the challenges around security, privacy and trust in the IoT.

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC's chief executive said: "Our lives are becoming ever-more interconnected with digital devices and the internet. The potential benefits are wide. However, it is also clear that people have concerns about how their data is handled and kept secure so the IoT Hub will address these challenges."

The funding for this activity will be led by the Research Councils UK's Digital Economy Theme, through the EPSRC, in conjunction with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It is part of a £40m, three year programme which was laid out in the 2015 Budget by George Osbourne, to maximise capabilities and opportunities that will help the UK become a leader in the IoT.

The programme is a collaboration between the Digital Economy Unit, InnovateUK, the Digital Catapult, the Future Cities Catapult and EPSRC; it will build on UK strengths in technology, security and design in the IoT.

Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport said: "The IoT has the potential to boost productivity, make transport more efficient, reduce our energy consumption and to make us healthier. The research hub will help to catalyse the technologies and address the challenges associated with the IoT to make the UK a world leader."

The EPCRC state that organisations looking to apply should submit their expression of interest by 20 July 2015 with the deadline being 02 September 2015. It is anticipated that the hub will be announced and ready to begin activities in January 2016.

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics has released its semiconductor market forecast. It anticipates the world semiconductor market to show a moderate growth of 3.4% to US$347billion in 2015, largely driven by smartphones and automotive.

All major product categories are forecasted to have positive growth rates. The highest are expected for the optoelectronics category, with a rise of 8.3%, and the analogue category, predicted to go up by 5.6%.

Not all regions will grow from 2014, with Europe expected to decline by 3.6% and Japan is predicted a fall of 9.5% in 2015, which is mainly based on the current exchange rate between Euro/USD and Yen/USD.

However, all regions as well as all major product categories are expected to grow positively over the next two years, with a stable macro economy predicted throughout the forecast period of 2016 to 2017. The worldwide semiconductor market is forecasted to be up 3.4% to US$359billion in 2016 with a further 3.0% rise in 2017 to US$370billion.

The Asia-Pacific region continues to show growth rates above worldwide average and is expected to reach US$224billion in 2017, which represents a share of 60% of the total semiconductor market.

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

FlexEnable has partnered with Chunghwa Picture Tube (CPT) to develop and mass-produce AMOLED displays, a market forecast to rise to $16billion by 2020. Market research company IDTechEx has predicted that this rapid growth will be spearheaded by the release of the first phone with a flexible display in 2017.

Building on a series of flexible AMOLED demonstrators made previously by FlexEnable, the two companies have now manufactured a glass-free, full-colour, flexible AMOLED display based on FlexEnable's low-temperature process for plastic transistors and CPT's RGB OLED technology. The display operates at full video-rate (60Hz) and is 125µm thick.

Indro Mukerjee, chairman of FlexEnable said: "This display represents a fundamental breakthrough proving that FlexEnable's OTFT technology can be combined with mainstream OLED manufacturing infrastructures to create the most flexible and cost-effective AMOLED display technology."

Sheng-Chang Lin, president of CPT added: "CPT has shown a number of AMOLED displays at several major exhibitions as well as to potential customers. These demonstrations clearly prove that the integration of both parties' capabilities has the potential to drive the mass production of flexible AMOLED displays making truly flexible OLED a reality."

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Carbon nanotube electronics pioneer Nantero has closed a $31.5million financing round, taking its total funding to date to $78m. The company says the successful funding round reflects the prospects for its NRAM – non volatile RAM – technology.

"With Nantero's NRAM, the wait for a new generation of super fast, high density non volatile memory is over," claimed Greg Schmergel, Nantero's president and CEO. "Our technology is already under development today in multiple world class manufacturing facilities and we have more than a dozen major corporate partners actively working on NRAM. We are excited to begin the next phase of commercialisation, which will bring Nantero's NRAM into volume production and change the course of electronics innovation for decades to come."

Nantero's NRAM technology takes advantage of carbon nanotubes to create memories that are said to be scalable, fast and reliable. The approach is also said to suit the development of 3D and multicell memories. Schmergel said he expects the technology to be cheaper than DRAM 'quickly' and to be cost competitive with NAND flash using a 3D approach.

According to Schmergel, the nanotubes are about 1nm apart and move in picoseconds. "The technology has very low power consumption because it's about moving small masses over small distances."

Schmergel believes Nantero's memory could enable new applications. "When flash came out, nobody predicted the mobile phone. We believe our technology will enable a similar wave of innovation."

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk