European open access pilot line delivers its first flexible OLEDs
The European Pilot Line Initiative PI-SCALE aims to help small and medium European companies take photonic technologies from the lab into market, without requiring them to invest in advanced, cost-intensive infrastructures. Together with experts at hand, the open access pilot line allows for the manufacture and system-level integration of flexible OLEDs in a wide range of special lighting applications.
Fraunhofer FEP is responsible for the R2R anode deposition on barrier web, which is produced by the project partner Holst Centre as well as for the OLED-deposition by using evaporation processes. The OLED-deposition at Fraunhofer FEP can be done in Roll-to-Roll (R2R) and Sheet-to-Sheet (S2S) processes. In R2R it is possible to produce endless long stripes with up to 30 lm/W and in S2S high quality OLEDs with a high performance can be produced. As substrates the pilot line mainly uses plastic web and ultra-thin-glass.
PI-SCALE is already serving four launching customers, Audi, REHAU, Emdedesign and Pilkington, who will validate the pilot line service by using it to develop flexible OLED lighting products in the automotive, aeronautics and designer luminaires sectors.
It is expected that the pilot line will bridge the gap between R&D and mass production, with small-to-medium scale pre-production runs of customised flexible OLED devices. This means volumes up to 5000m2 of OLEDs/year.
From July 2017 the pilot line service will be ready to supply customers with unique customized flexible OLEDs on thin-glass as well as on plastic foil, which can be produced in R2R and S2S.
This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 688093.
More information at www.pi-scale.eu
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