Sinmat Inc — Department of Energy STTR Phase II: 09 b

Description

Solid state lighting is being promoted as the ultimate lamps of future. Though the internal quantum efficiency of OLED devices is almost 100%, external efficiency is a mere 36% mainly because of poor light out-coupling (~40%) from the device. Improvement in light out-coupling to & gt;70% and further reducing the manufacturing cost will rapidly accelerate the commercialization of the OLED technology. The development of large meter scale non-vacuum manufacturing methods that address light out-coupling at both substrate interfaces is necessary to address this problem. Sinmat proposes a novel low cost method to create microlens engineered substrates that is expected to show significant enhancement in out-coupling efficiency, while reducing manufacturing cost. Commercial Application and Other Benefits: Lighting consumes & gt;20% of the total electricity generated in the US and nearly 30% of electricity used in commercial and residential buildings. Proposed technology would increase the efficiency of OLEDs by 3 fold from ~50 lm/W to 150 lm/W which will be twice the efficiency of compact fluorescent lamps. Commercialization of solid state lighting technology will lead to substantial energy saving and environmental benefits to the nation.