Abstract
As OLEDs finally begin to take off for both lighting and display applications,
they are creating new opportunities for materials firms. This report and
analyzes and quantifies these opportunities and identifies where the
challenges are. The report addresses all of the segments of the OLED materials
market and covers both polymers and small molecules, including materials for
the new solution processable small molecule approaches to OLED fabrication. It
also covers materials for all layers of the OLED from the photoactive
materials themselves, through the electrodes and encapsulation materials. The
report will provide detailed forecasts of materials broken out by type and
application and will include strategic profiles of the leading firms who are
developing and selling OLED materials of all kinds.
Key Findings:
- The recent announcement by Nokia requiring its vendors to be capable of
producing OLED displays is a strong indication that OLED technology is about
ready for broader commercial production. GE Global Research' s success with
roll-to-roll production of OLED devices indicates that OLED lighting may
result in greater near term production volume than displays. Sony meanwhile
has launched the world' s first OLED television. The rise of lighting and
television applications, in particular, are positive for materials suppliers,
because these applications require large OLEDs and hence use much more
material than the small cell phone and MP3 player displays that have until
recently dominated the OLED space.
- OLED lighting has already exceeded the efficiency of fluorescent lamps in
laboratory tests, holding out the promise of a new era of power-saving
solid-state lighting. As the world becomes more energy conservation oriented
and concerned about energy costs this will drive rapid growth for the OLED
lighting industry and hence the demand for OLED materials. By 2015, as much as
90 percent of OLED materials by volume will be consumed by lighting
applications.
- Flexible substrates including a range of plastic films will rapidly gain a
significant share of the market as roll-to-roll processing becomes faster and
more efficient. This development will result in lighter weight devices that
will open up new applications for product designers. By 2015 about one-third
(by area) of all OLEDs will be fabricated on flexible substrates.
- Firms capable of developing and marketing complete materials systems for
OLEDs are on the rise. This means that display and lighting buyers can depend
on a single supplier who will provide a matched set of materials with
pre-determined characteristics. In addition, the fact that these single
sources include some of the largest materials firms in the world -- such as
DuPont, Merck and Sumitomo Chemical -- will help to guarantee a stable supply
of OLED materials for a maturing OLED industry.
- Despite this maturity there is still plenty of room for smaller innovative
firms such as Novaled. As the market expands, the number of opportunities
opens up to create materials tailored to specific applications and
manufacturing processes. Areas where NanoMarkets sees potential are stack
designs, hybrid polymer/small molecule approaches, novel forms of doping, and
new types of materials for solution processed OLEDs.
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