FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Light Polymers Develops Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Coating for High Contrast OLED Displays
April 1, 2015 South San Francisco, CA –
Light Polymers is now releasing a Lyotropic liquid crystal material that can be coated on substrates such as TAC, acrylics and initially COP or directly on the OLED panel glass to improve the contrast and readability of OLED displays in bright sunlight. Additionally, Light Polymers plan to enable reverse dispersion coatings directly on the OLED panel glass. Lyotropic liquid crystals are a unique class of materials that have the potential to revolutionize many aspects of light management in displays.
One of the issues with the poor contrast of OLED displays in bright ambient environments is the reflective transistors that drive each pixel. The traditional solution is to add a linear polarizer and quarter-wave plate (to convert to circular polarization) on top of the OLED panel. This helps, but produces a color shift for off-angle viewing.
To improve this, a reverse dispersion quarter-wave plate film must be used. This gives a more uniform black state and lower color shift. The new Lyotropic liquid crystals from Light Polymers offer similar levels of performance but at lower cost. And, it has the ability to be coated directly onto the OLED panel, something competitive technologies cannot do.
The CR006 Lyotropic liquid crystal material will enable OLED displays to have deeper black color in the off state and improve the contrast ratio. Additionally, CR006 serves as an antireflective layer that improves viewability in bright sunlight conditions. Initially CR006 is available for coating Cyclic Olefin Polymer (COP) substrates. By the end of 2015, Light Polymers’ reverse dispersion materials will be coatable on any substrate including TAC, Polycarbonate, Acrylic and glass.
“CR006 is a water-based solution that offers great flexibility and simpler manufacturing than competitive approaches,” noted Sergey Fedotov, Technical Product Manager. “This OLED solution is the first in a family of solutions we plan to offer across the range of light management points in a display solution.”
“OLED displays continue to advance in market share especially in mobile, HDTV and now in wearable products,” concluded Marc McConnaughey, President/CEO of Light Polymers, Inc. “Recent introductions of wearables by major brands generally use OLED and in some cases flexible OLED’s, so we see great potential for our solutions in this fast moving segment.”
Light Polymers is currently qualifying coating equipment manufacturers for implementing Lyotropic liquid crystal materials in production. The coating methods are slot die and microgravure for coatings on substrates and slit coating for coatings on glass. Unlike other liquid crystal materials, Light Polymers’ CR006 does not need a secondary alignment process such as rubbing or photoalignment. This brings a reduction in the number of production process steps, giving a cost advantage to this technology.
Light Polymers will be showcasing its solutions at SID DisplayWeek 2015 in San Jose from June1-5, 2015.
About Light Polymers
Light Polymers is advancing the use of a new category of liquid crystals in many existing and new applications with its transparent, colorless, thermally stable Lyotropic liquid crystals. Unlike other liquid crystals, these water-based liquid crystals are coatable and printable with unique properties, which eliminate the expensive and messy processes used to make optical films today. For more information please visit http://www.LightPolymers.com/
Contact
Sergey Fedotov
Mgr. Business Development
Light Polymers, Inc.
347 Littlefield Ave
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Office: (650) 678-7733
