ALZENAU, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2009--
Applied Materials, Inc., Merck KGaA and the Braunschweig University of
Technology (TU-BS) today announced that they have been awarded a grant
by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to
develop processes to lower the cost of manufacturing organic
light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting for general illumination
applications. Applied will spearhead the three-year project, named Light
InLine (LILi), joining forces with Merck, a leading manufacturer of high
performance OLED materials and TU-BS, an internationally recognized
center for OLED research. Work on the LILi project will be centered at
Applied Materials’ advanced development facility in Alzenau, Germany.
Fabricated on sheets of glass, OLED lighting tiles can emit white light
that is brighter, more uniform and more energy efficient than
fluorescent light fixtures, making them well-suited for ceiling lights
in homes and offices. While a number of OLED products have been
developed in recent years, key challenges such as limited lifetime and
high costs must be addressed for the technology to be widely adopted.
The LILi project aims to address these challenges by developing
large-area manufacturing processes using high-performance organic
materials and efficient device design.
“Solid state lighting is an important component of an energy-efficient
future,” said Dr. Mark Pinto, senior vice president, corporate chief
technology officer and general manager of Applied’s Energy and
Environmental Solutions Organization. “OLED technology aligns well with
our equipment used for manufacturing flat panel displays. We’ve already
delivered a system that is now in pilot manufacturing at a leading
European lighting manufacturer. Through the LILi project, we expect to
further optimize this technology to increase the quality and drive down
the cost for OLED lighting applications.”
“Merck has a wealth of experience in developing and scaling up the
complex organic compounds that are essential for stable and
cost-effective OLED manufacturing,” said Dr. Udo Heider, vice president,
Liquid Crystals/OLED, Merck KGaA. “The LILi project is a great
opportunity for us to test new organic materials with state-of-the-art
manufacturing equipment in order to validate their stability and
performance on large area substrates.”
“Innovation in OLED technology is one of the primary focuses of our
institute,” said Professor Wolfgang Kowalsky from TU-BS. “We’re pleased
to partner with Applied Materials and Merck to evaluate how our new
high-efficiency OLED lighting device structures will perform in an
industrial-scale environment.”
The total cost of the OLED project will amount to approximately €7.49
million, which includes €3.26 million to be provided by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research and €4.23 million to be
contributed by the industry partners. The grant (FKZ 13N10611) is part
of the BMBF’s “OLED 2 – Organic Light Emitting Diodes - Phase 2”
initiative, which seeks to support OLED collaborative research and
encourage OLED manufacturing in Germany. For more information, visit the
project website at www.liliproject.com.
Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with total
revenues of € 7.6 billion in 2008, a history that began in 1668, and a
future shaped approximately 33,000 employees in 60 countries. Its
success is characterized by innovations from entrepreneurial employees.
Merck's operating activities come under the umbrella of Merck KGaA, in
which the Merck family holds an approximately 70% interest and free
shareholders own the remaining approximately 30%. In 1917 the U.S.
subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an independent
company ever since.
The Braunschweig University of Technology is the oldest technical
university in Germany. It was founded in 1745 and is member of TU9, an
incorporated society of the most renowned and largest German Institutes
of Technology. Today, it has about 13,000 students, making it the third
largest university in Lower Saxony. For more information, visit www.tu-braunschweig.de.
Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the global leader in
Nanomanufacturing Technology™ solutions with a broad portfolio of
innovative equipment, service and software products for the fabrication
of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells,
flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied Materials,
we apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the way people live.
Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.
Source: Applied Materials, Inc.
Applied Materials, Inc.
Betty Newboe, 408-563-0647 (editorial/media)
Michael
Sullivan, 408-986-7977 (financial community)
