Posts

Dr. Andreas Haldi joins CYNORA as Chief Marketing Officer

Source = Cynora

Source = Cynora

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

CYNORA, a leader in blue TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) materials, has appointed Dr. Andreas Haldi as its Chief Marketing Officer.

With his strong technical and business experience, Andreas Haldi will reinforce CYNORA in the forthcoming commercialization of its high performance blue OLED materials.

CYNORA is preparing the commercialization of its emitting materials for OLEDs. The company is hiring Andreas Haldi to further enhance its already good relationships with the major display makers and to now prepare with them the implementation of its materials in their products.

Andreas Haldi has close to 15 years of experience in the OLED materials field and profound knowledge of the Asian display market. Prior to joining CYNORA, Haldi held manager positions in R&D and sales at Novaled GmbH. For the last five years he was headquartered in Seoul, Korea, as Novaled’s representative in front of the major AMOLED display makers in Asia.

“I am very happy to get Andreas on board” says Gildas Sorin, CYNORA’s CEO. “We are preparing ourselves intensively for the commercialization of our blue emitters. Thanks to his proven skills on OLED and his experience in Asia, Andreas will help us to build up our success as a leading supplier for TADF materials.”

“I am looking forward to joining CYNORA” says Andreas Haldi, “CYNORA has shown its expertise and its impressive capability to progress rapidly during the last 8 months. CYNORA has a great potential to become key player in the OLED material industry.”

The appointment of the new CMO is a significant signal of CYNORA’s further development and its forthcoming market entry. Blue TADF-based emitters will enable a significant reduction of power consumption in OLED devices and will allow higher display resolution. CYNORA owns a broad IP portfolio with over 100 patent families and is aiming for over 600 patents.

UDC Acquires BASF’s OLED IP Portfolio for USD 96 Million…King of Materials Patents

Source = UDC

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

On 28 June, Universal Display (UDC), dominating the patents within the OLED materials sector, announced that they acquired OLED related patents for approximately USD 96 million.

Most of the portfolio represent patents regarding phosphorescent OLED materials, including over 500 issues and pending patents around the world in 86 patent families. BASF’s OLED portfolio’s average lifetime is 10 years.

UDC is anticipating that this move, that allows them to have over 4,000 issued and pending patents, will help them develop blue emissive systems. As UDC has USD 395.7 million in cash, it should not be a problem financing this IP acquisition cost.

Korean OLED emitting materials companies are also focusing on this move; as the patent competitiveness could be said to sway OLED materials market, IP acquisition is important.

According to UBI Research, with this patent competitiveness UDC led the global OLED emitting materials market in 2015 for two consecutive years. Korean materials companies, including Duksan Neolux, are actively participating in improving their patent competitiveness to respond to UDC’s solid domination of the market.

In April, Professor Jun Yeob Lee (Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University) explained at a forum that UDC’s patents slightly diminished through litigation, the company still has wide claim that includes almost all of phosphorescent materials sector. He emphasized that UDC began to react through acquiring other patents, and that Korean companies should also search for other methods of response.

In 2015, BASF stopped OLED related research development.

UDC, 바스프 OLED 인광 재료 특허 9600만 달러에 인수…역시 재료계 특허제왕

출처 = UDC

강현주 / jjoo@olednet.com
OLED 재료 업계의 특허 제왕으로 군림하고 있는 유니버셜디스플레이( UDC )가 바스프( BASF )의 OLED 관련 특허를 미화 약 9600만달러에 인수했다고 28일 발표했다.
이 특허 포트폴리오는 주로 OLED 인광 재료들에 대한 것으로, 이미 출원된 500개가 넘는 특허와 아직 출원전인 전세계 86개 분야 특허도 포함하고 있다. 바스프의 이 OLED 포트폴리오는 평균적으로 10년간 유효하다.
UDC는 이번 바스프 특허 인수를 통해 블루 발광 시스템을 개발하는 데 도움이 될 것으로 기대하고 있다. 이번 인수로 UDC는 4000개가 넘는 출원 특허와 대기중인 특허를 보유하게 된다. UDC는 미화 3억9570만달러의 현금을 가지고 있어 이번 IP 인수 비용을 충분히 감당할 수 있다.
이번 UDC의 행보에 한국의 OLED 발광재료 업체들도 이목이 집중된다. OLED 재료 시장은 특허 경쟁력이 좌우한다고 할만큼 IP 확보가 중요하기 때문이다.
실제로 유비산업리서치의 조사에 따르면 UDC는 이같은 특허 경쟁력을 앞세워 지난 2015년 전년에 이어 전세계 OLED 발광재료 시장에서 1위를 차지했다. 덕산네오룩스 등 한국의 재료 업체들은 UDC의 견고한 시장 선점에 맞서 특허경쟁력 확보에 적극적으로 나서고 있다.
성균관대학교 고분자 공학부 이준엽 교수는 지난 4월 열린 한 포럼에서 “UDC의 특허는 그동안 소송들을 거치며 다소 축소되긴 했지만 여전히 인광 재료쪽이 거의 다 포함되는 넓은 클레임을 가지고 있다”며 “UDC는 또 다른 특허들을 인수하는 등 대응에 나섰으며 한국 업체들도 이에 따른 대응 방법을 찾아야 한다”고 강조했다.
한편 바스프는 지난 2015년 OLED 관련 연구개발을 중단한 바 있다.

UDC Announces Strategic Acquisition of Adesis

Source : UDC

Source : UDC

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

UDC announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Adesis, Inc. Adesis is a privately held contract research organization (CRO) with 43 employees specializing in organic and organometallic synthetic research, development, and commercialization. Adesis is a critical technology vendor to companies in the pharmaceutical, fine chemical, biomaterials, and catalyst industries, and has worked with Universal Display over the last few years to help advance and accelerate a number of Universal Display’s product offerings.

“This acquisition is part of our strategic growth plan. We believe that it will provide additional highly-skilled resources to further advance our initiatives for the development and delivery of next-generation proprietary emissive material systems in the rapidly evolving OLED industry,” said Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display. “Moreover, we expect it to enable us to leverage our twenty-plus years of experience in developing and commercializing cutting-edge chemistry technologies to help expand Adesis’ businesses across its end-markets including pharma, biotech and catalysis. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Andrew Cottone, President of Adesis, Dr. Ving Lee, Chief Scientific Officer, and the vastly experienced Adesis team to UDC.”

“We are very excited to become part of UDC and build additional synergies between both companies, and further enhance the growth of UDC’s OLED leadership,” said Andrew Cottone, President of Adesis, Inc. “In addition, we anticipate that Adesis will benefit from UDC’s financial and business acumen to better support our clients with world-class technology and expertise, and reinforce our positioning for continued growth as a specialty chemical CRO.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Universal Display will acquire all outstanding shares of Adesis, Inc. in a merger for approximately $36 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. Following the closing, Adesis will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Display Corporation. Andrew Cottone will continue as the President of Adesis, and Steve Abramson will become the Chairman of the Board of Adesis.

Galaxy S Series Luminance Increase Trend Shows Blue Materials Luminance Needs to be Improved by 3.7 Times

Galaxy S Series`s Blue Materials Luminance Needs to be Improved by 3.7 Times (Source = UBI Research)

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

If the Galaxy S Series luminance increase trend continues, it is estimated that the luminance will reach 754 nits within 2-3 years. In order to produce Galaxy S with 754 nits, the luminance of blue emitting materials, that will be used for the product’s AMOLED, is analyzed to require improvement by approx. 3.7 times.

According to AMOLED Characteristics Analysis Report of Galaxy S Series, published by UBI Research, the analysis of luminance increase trend of Galaxy products from S4 released in 2013 shows Galaxy S series with full white luminance of 430 nits and peak white of 754 nits is expected to be produced within 2-3 years. The Galaxy S4 luminance is 338 nits (peak white), and the luminance increased to S7’s 505 nits via S5 and S6’s 400 nits mark. Calculating based on this trend, the future product is analyzed to have 754 nits of luminance.

The report reveals that for Galaxy S7, the luminance of red materials is 142 nits, green 338 nits, and blue 26 nits. To actualize 754 nits screen, the red materials have to improve luminance by approximately 1.5 times, green 1.2 times, and blue 3.7 times. UBI Research explained that for high resolution screen with limited size, emitting materials performance improvement is a must and that technology development should be focused on blue emitting materials.

* Luminance figures (nits) quoted in the article have been measured by UBI Research, with Auto Brightness function switched off. Future luminance forecast is also without this function.

Quantum Materials Enters Next Phase of Cadmium-free Quantum Dot Development

Source =

Source = Quantum Materials

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

Quantum Materials Corp today announced that it has completed the initial development phase with its display film partners and is entering a preproduction phase in which the Company has committed to an accelerated sample optimization and delivery schedule for its cadmium-free quantum dots.

Quantum Materials has begun shipping additional deliveries of cadmium-free quantum dot samples to its partners and is scheduled to increase shipment quantities as development reaches pre-commercial scale later this year. The Company anticipates that, in conjunction with its partners, commercial quantities of a high performance cadmium-free quantum dot film will be available to display manufacturers in early 2017. Increasing concern over the use of cadmium in consumer displays has been driven by RoHS Directives and heightened corporate environmental responsibility, resulting in significant interest from the display industry in a cadmium-free quantum dot display film.

“Our decision to accelerate development of cadmium-free quantum dots and our ability to recruit a distinguished scientific, technical and production team has allowed us to achieve this milestone and initiate ramping-up of sample production volumes,” said Stephen Squires, President and CEO of Quantum Materials Corp.  “The revolutionary nature of our high-volume production process is recognized by our esteemed customers and partners and has allowed us to attract talented employees on the cutting edge of the nano-sciences. On a daily basis the Quantum Materials’ team is accelerating discovery and fast-tracking significant advances in material science.”

Quantum Materials will be participating at the Society for Information Display (SID) ‘Display Week 2016 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition’ from May 22-May 27, 2016 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Quantum Materials will be exhibiting in partnership with Uniglobe Kisco Inc. (www.uniglobe-kisco.com) at Booth 1342 and Mr. Squires will be participating in a CMO panel discussion on Wednesday morning at 8:30am in Room 123.

“We value our relationship with Kisco and look forward to working with them at Display Week to continue growing the current customer partnerships they have facilitated and build upon the momentum we are developing as a team,” Mr. Squires concluded.

UDC, net income $1.9 million for 1Q 2016…46% ↑ YoY

Source : UDC

Source : UDC

Hyunjoo Kang / jjoo@olednet.com

UDC (Universal Display Corporation), enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.

For the first quarter of 2016, UDC reported net income of $1.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, on revenues of $29.7 million, compared to net income of $1.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, on revenues of $31.2 million for the first quarter of 2015.

“In the first quarter, our commercial emitter revenues grew 8% year-over-year, primarily driven by strong green emitter shipments. Royalty and license fees increased by 22%. Host material sales, in line with expectations, declined year-overyear,” said Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of UDC

Rosenblatt continued, “The OLED landscape continues to expand. New OLED products are launching, capacity is building, equipment bookings are increasing and the pipeline of OLED design activities is broadening.

With OLED display penetration at only about 10% of the total consumer electronic display market, new applications like automotive, virtual reality, augmented reality and signage emerging and OLED lighting transitioning from development stage to commercial, we believe that our long-term growth trajectory remains strong.”

Financial Highlights for the First Quarter of 2016 The Company reported revenues of $29.7 million, compared to revenues of $31.2 million in the same quarter of 2015.

Material sales were $24.3 million, down 9% compared to the first quarter of 2015, primarily due to a $5.0 million decrease in host material sales. This decline was partially offset by an increase of $2.5 million in emitter material sales.

Royalty and license fees were $5.3 million, up from $4.4 million in the first quarter of 2015.

No revenue was recognized under the Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (SDC) licensing agreement in the first quarter, as SDC is obligated to make licensing payments in the second and fourth quarters of the year. For 2016, the Company expects to recognize $75 million in SDC licensing revenues for the full year.

The Company reported operating income of $2.5 million, up from $1.8 million for the first quarter of 2015. Operating expenses were $27.2 million, compared to $29.5 million in the same quarter of 2015.

Cost of materials was $5.1 million, compared to $8.6 million in the first quarter of 2015, reflecting the decline in host material sales volume, which have less favorable margins than the Company’s emitter materials.

The Company’s balance sheet remained strong, with cash and cash equivalents and investments of $395.7 million as of March 31, 2016.

CYNORA, significant progress in blue materials for OLEDs…EQE 16.3%

Source : CYNORA

Source : CYNORA

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

CYNORA, a leader in TADF (thermally activated delayed fluorescence) materials, has made significant progress in its highly efficient blue material developments during the last 6 months: a strong indicator for reaching performance levels requested by the OLED industry.

CYNORA has been working on organic TADF emitting materials during the last 5 years.

Since 2015, CYNORA applies its experience to develop pure organic highly efficient blue dopants for vacuum deposition.

The TADF technology combines high efficiency (3 times better than the state-of-the-art fluorescence technology) together with long lifetime.

OLED displaysincorporating blue TADF materials will reduce power consumption up to a factor of 2.

CYNORA has developed deep blue material reaching an EQE of 16.3% (at 100 cd/m2) compared to 3% reached in October 2015, a factor 5 improvement in six months. In parallel, the company is using sky blue material to improve the device lifetime.

A significant increase in the lifetime to more than 400 h (LT50, 500 cd/m2) has recently been achieved from a level of a few minutes in last October.

“We have yet to reach the performances requested by the OLED display industry” says Thomas Baumann, CYNORA’s CSO, “but our rapid progress during the last 6 months proves our capability to reach the performance levels we have defined together with our key customers to support their technical roadmap. We will use the coming months to combine both efficiency and lifetime in a single deep blue material.”

CYNORA owns a broad IP portfolio on TADF with over 100 patent families and is aiming for over 600 patents.

“한국 OLED 재료 업계, 특허 선점만이 살길”

OLED Materials 산업에 대해 패널들이 토론하고 있다(출처=한국디스플레이산업협회)

OLED Materials 산업에 대해 패널들이 토론하고 있다(출처=한국디스플레이산업협회)

강현주 기자 / jjoo@olednet.com

앞으로 급속도로 시장이 커질 OLED 분야에서 한국 OLED 재료( Materials ) 업계가 경쟁력을 가지려면 특허를 선점해야 한다는 목소리가 커지고 있다.

지난 22일 한국디스플레이산업협회 주관으로 서울 벨레상스 호텔에서 열린 ‘OLED 소재산업의 오늘, 그리고 내일’ 포럼에서 OLED 재료 분야 전문가들은 한국 업체들은 특허 경쟁력을 확보해야 한다고 입을 모았다.

이날 업계와 학계 전문가들은 UDC, Idemitsu Kosan, Novaled 등 글로벌 OLED 재료 강자들의 특허 동향 및 업체별 경쟁력을 분석하고 한국 OLED 재료 업체들이 대응해야 할 방향을 제시했다.

이번 포럼 연사로 참여한 덕산네오룩스 이범성 연구소장은 시장을 선점한 글로벌 강자들에게 후발주자들이 맞서기 힘든 이유로 ‘특허 문제’를 지목했다.

이범성 소장은 “OLED는 패널은 어떤 제품이 들어갔는지 분석이 매우 용이하기 때문에 특허침해 여부가 명확히 드러난다”고 말했다. 이어 “30여개 업체들의 유효특허가 약 6천여건이라 나머지 업체들은 이를 피해가며 개발해야 한다”며 “20년분량의 특허들이 이미 출원 돼 있어 신생업체들이 진입하기가 매우 힘들다”고 설명했다.

이 소장은 “통상 매출액의 0.1%를 특허비용에 쓰면 많이 쓰는 셈인데 덕산네오룩스는 지난해 2.4%를 지불했다”며 이 회사가 특허 경쟁력 확보에 역량을 쏟고 있음을 강조했다.

또 다른 연사였던 성균관대학교 고분자공학부 이준엽 교수는 UDC의 인광특허가 2017년에 만료된다는 사실을 제시하며 이 회사의 후속특허들에 대응해야 한다고 한국 업체들에게 조언했다.

이준엽 교수는 “UDC의 특허는 그동안 소송들을 거치며 다소 축소되긴 했지만 여전히 인광 재료쪽이 거의 다 포함되는 넓은 클레임을 가지고 있다”며 “UDC는 후지의 특허를 인수하는 등 대응에 나섰으며 한국 업체들도 대응 방법을 찾아야 한다”고 말했다.

이 교수는 ▲신규 구조 인광 재료 ▲지연 형광 재료 부문을 UDC의 원천특허를 피해가기 위한 기술 개발 과제로 제시했다.

이번 행사에서 기조연설을 맡은 LG디스플레이의 양중환 연구위원도 “OLED 패널의 가격 경쟁력을 위해 재료 자체를 저렴하게 공급받아야 한다”며 “특허가 비용 절감에 중요하다”고 강조했다.

한편 유비산업리서치가 발간한 ‘2016 Emmiting Materials Annual Report’에 따르면 올해 글로벌 OLED 발광재료 시장은 전년대비 16% 성장한 6억 7700억 달러(한화 약 7700억 원) 규모를 형성할 전망이다.

Portfolio Items