Movers and Shakers of the OLED Materials Market

Published: October 19, 2010    Category: OLED Lighting

The number of firms that have activity in the OLED lighting space continues to grow and with the exception of firms whose principle interest is luminaires all or any of them could influence the materials space in a number of ways.  In particular, we note that – as the analysis above indicates – although there are many ways to make an OLED light at the present time, it seems very likely that as the industry matures this variety will be reduced both by accepted industry standards and practices and by the need to settle on a few materials that can be produced in large quantities.

It will probably be quite a few years before this happens and there will probably always be a few outliers who insist on making OLED lights in a different way – and with different materials – than the others.  That said there can be little doubt that the three firms that will help establish de facto or formal industry standards with regards to OLED lighting materials will be OSRAM, Philips, and GE.  With their enormous market power they obviously have in the lighting industry, these firms obviously have the ability to shape almost everything that goes on in the OLED lighting space, including the materials used.  With the exception of GE (and then just to a limited extent) we should note that the big three lighting makers are not in themselves materials firms and their influence on the materials market will come in the form of their selection of particular OLED materials, architectures and manufacturing processes.  In addition, these firms are in the position of becoming king makers by selecting materials suppliers who then move from marginality to significant size.  We have seen similar growth to materials firms who become involved at an early stage with leading PV makers.

Another group of firms to watch are the firms that are actually OLED makers and which either make their own materials or license materials-related technologies to others.  At the present time, UDC holds an essential position with a dominant IP portfolio focused on small-molecule technologies. Sumitomo Chemical with its ownership of Sumation and CDT controls the nexus of polymer OLED material IP. Other companies with significant IP holdings include Novaled and Merck, and with its recent acquisition of Kodak’s portfolio, LG became a major player.  All of these firms remain interested in supplying materials for both the OLED display and OLED lighting, although their was rumor (ultimately denied by the company) that Novaled was going to focus on lighting only.

The materials that are core to the OLED stack are generally made from relatively abundant precursors and the synthesis processes are not demanding for the most part. Instead, purity appears to play an essential role in device performance. Manufacturers with a strong track record for quality material production have established a position in the market already, and are likely to build on those positions. PPG’s relationship with UDC gives it a unique advantage in the marketplace. H.C. Stark, Sumitomo Chemical and Merck (EMD) also are likely to become significant players in material production as the industry grows.

Beyond the specialty chemicals part of the market there are the firms that supply commodity materials into the OLED lighting space.  In the substrate area, the dominant firm is Corning, because almost all OLED lighting today is manufactured on glass substrates.  But other major glass firms are getting ready to actively compete in the OLED lighting space too.  As we discuss in the main body of this report, flexible lighting panels seem to be some way from achieving commercialization, but when and if these ever appear DuPont Teijin may emerge as a key factor, since this firm has often been the choice for plastic substrates used in printed/organic electronics, although, of course, there are many other sources of similar substrate materials.

The needs of flexible OLED lighting might eventually include flexible encapsulation material and we note that GE has already worked in this space, but that Vitex is a long-term player.  At the other end of the value-added cale the OLED lighting space will require a variety of commodity materials such as ITO, Al, and Ca that are readily available from many sources.

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