FLEX-O-FAB Pilot-scale hybrid roll to roll/sheet to sheet manufacturing chain for flexible OLEDs

Summary

Organic Electroluminescence (OLED) is the most promising technology to deliver flexible, thin, light weight, power efficient and environment-friendly light sources. Currently glass based OLED devices are slowly entering the market place, opening new possibilities for lighting solutions. By adding flexibility and robustness at a lower price point, flexible OLEDs will change the lighting industry and revolution the way we all experience lighting. The introduction of flexible OLED lighting is hampered by a lack of reliable series production technologies, flexible OLEDs exist in the lab but not yet in the fab. Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing of these devices is seen by many as the future cost-efficient manufacturing technology for flexible OLEDs. However, complete roll to roll manufacturing of flexible OLED is still years away and will not be able to bring flexible OLEDs to the market place within 10 years. The overall objective of the Flex-o-Fab project is the demonstration of a reliable manufacturing process for OLED lighting foils enabling market introduction within 3 years after the end of the project. Flex-o-Fab will take existing technologies in use for the manufacturing of glass based bottom emissive small molecule OLEDs and use these as a basis to develop a pilot series manufacturing process for flexible OLEDs. By doing so, the project will be allowed to focus on the roadblocks and bridge the gap between sheet-to-sheet (S2S) produced glass OLEDs and the future envisioned complete R2R lighting foils. Flex-o-Fab will strengthen and expand the leading position of the European lighting industry by making the shift from lab to fab and make flexible OLED devices an industrial reality. Furthermore, the new sustainable disruptive technologies will create long-term European manufacturing jobs due to their high degree of technical novelty and specialization. Finally, the intellectual property generated will protect these advances from Asian and US competition.

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Web resources:	http://www.flexofab.eu/ https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/314362
Start date:	01-10-2012
End date:	30-09-2015
Total budget - Public funding:	11 157 063,00 Euro - 7 100 000,00 Euro

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Original description

Organic Electroluminescence (OLED) is the most promising technology to deliver flexible, thin, light weight, power efficient and environment-friendly light sources. Currently glass based OLED devices are slowly entering the market place, opening new possibilities for lighting solutions. By adding flexibility and robustness at a lower price point, flexible OLEDs will change the lighting industry and revolution the way we all experience lighting.
The introduction of flexible OLED lighting is hampered by a lack of reliable series production technologies, flexible OLEDs exist in the lab but not yet in the fab. Roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing of these devices is seen by many as the future cost-efficient manufacturing technology for flexible OLEDs. However, complete roll to roll manufacturing of flexible OLED is still years away and will not be able to bring flexible OLEDs to the market place within 10 years.
The overall objective of the Flex-o-Fab project is the demonstration of a reliable manufacturing process for OLED lighting foils enabling market introduction within 3 years after the end of the project.
Flex-o-Fab will take existing technologies in use for the manufacturing of glass based bottom emissive small molecule OLEDs and use these as a basis to develop a pilot series manufacturing process for flexible OLEDs. By doing so, the project will be allowed to focus on the roadblocks and bridge the gap between sheet-to-sheet (S2S) produced glass OLEDs and the future envisioned complete R2R lighting foils.
Flex-o-Fab will strengthen and expand the leading position of the European lighting industry by making the shift from lab to fab and make flexible OLED devices an industrial reality. Furthermore, the new sustainable disruptive technologies will create long-term European manufacturing jobs due to their high degree of technical novelty and specialization. Finally, the intellectual property generated will protect these advances from Asian and US competition.