OLED specialist OLEDWorks has signed a deal with the Department of Defense putting the U.S. Army at the head of a project in which the two will jointly develop a thin screen for use in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses.
The Army is contributing $8.6 million to the effort, which taps OLEDWorks’ “multi-stack” OLED technology. The multi-stack approach provides higher brightness compared to single-stack or double-stack screens, which enhances the effectiveness of the screen in daytime, according to Rochester, N.Y.–based OLEDWorks.
“The display will allow users to view full-color information in a ‘see-through’ environment while operating in direct sunlight conditions,” an OLEDWorks spokesperson said.
The Army’s funding falls under the U.S. government’s Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) classification, which eases various requirements and processes normally required on federal contracts. As such, it speeds up the agreement. OTAs tend to apply to relatively small value contracts, and to require some of the funding to come from an entity other than the U.S. government.
OLEDWorks said the AR and VR displays will be used for both defense and consumer applications.
Unlike LEDs, which are single points of light, OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) are thin sheets of material that light up in response to an electrical current.
By targeting the AR and VR market, OLEDWorks will compete against vendors of micro LEDs. French market research group Yole has identified the AR/VR sector as one that still holds promise for micro LEDs.
Yole notes that other sectors including TVs, smartphones, and smartwatches are looking less promising for micro LEDs, as OLEDs take hold in those areas. The research company made its observation in the wake of ams Osram’s loss of a large micro LED contract which the customer — believed to have been Apple’s smartwatch operation — canceled.
OLEDs and micro LEDs could square off in the automotive business, where OLEDWorks has been gearing up, and where it says OLEDs are superior to micro LEDs for tail lights. Ams Osram is using mini LEDs — larger than micro LEDs but smaller than standard — for tail lights, with its Aliyos line.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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Mark Halper | Contributing Editor, LEDs Magazine, and Business/Energy/Technology Journalist
Mark Halper is a freelance business, technology, and science journalist who covers everything from media moguls to subatomic particles. Halper has written from locations around the world for TIME Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Guardian, CBS, Wired, and many others. A US citizen living in Britain, he cut his journalism teeth cutting and pasting copy for an English-language daily newspaper in Mexico City. Halper has a BA in history from Cornell University.
