Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new type of light emitting diode (LED) with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency. The new polarization-matched LED, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, exhibits an 18 percent increase in light output and a 22 percent increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light. The new device achieves a notable reduction in “efficiency droop,” a well-known phenomenon that provokes LEDs to be most efficient when receiving low-density currents of electricity, but then to lose efficiency as higher density currents of electricity are fed into the device. The cause of this droop is not yet fully understood, but studies have shown that electron leakage is likely a large part of the problem. Click Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for more information.

ITRI, Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute has introduced a series of flexible display technologies, including active matrix OLED displays, roll-to-roll cholesterol liquid crystal displays and electrowetting displays.

Intel presented its avalanche photodetector (APD). It achieves a gain-bandwidth product of 340 GHz, higher than any previous device made in any process technology and could support devices with throughput up to 40 Gbits/s at an order of magnitude less cost. Initially, optical links for PCs will appear, Intel said.

Scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) discovered a physical effect that potentially can be used to develop novel electronic components. "This discovery will have a huge effect on the usage of nanotubes in computer chips" scientists at the university said.

3M Optical Systems is introducing its latest Vikuiti optical films for notebooks, handheld devices, monitors and LCD TVs. 3M's new Vikuiti Dual Brightness Enhancement Film can reduce power consumption without sacrificing image quality, increase brightness by recycling polarized light, enhance viewing angle and uniformity, and eliminate the need for a diffuser sheet.

Eastman Kodak Company has introduced a highly efficient organic light emitting diode technology material that will enable low-power, full-color displays with long lifetimes. The new material utilizes green dopant technology to deliver a new level of OLED display performance and reliability. Green dopants are materials that control color output and boost efficiency.

European research institute IMEC has started looking at resistive RAM (RRAM) cells. Five of the worlds leading memory makers, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Qimonda AG, Elpida Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., are involved in the IMEC core CMOS research program and are set to share the cost and benefit from the results of the research. Resistive switching memories are based on materials whose resistivity can be electrically switched between high and low conductive states. RRAM is becoming of interest for future scaled memories because of their superior intrinsic scaling characteristics compared to the charge-based flash devices, and potentially small cell size, enabling dense crossbar RRAM arrays using vertical diode selecting elements. RRAM is seen as a potential candidate to replace conventional flash memory at or below the 22-nm manufacturing process technology node.

Researchers at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) have turned science fiction into reality with their development of a super-compact high-resolution microscope, small enough to fit on a finger tip. This "microscopic microscope" operates without lenses but has the magnifying power of a top-quality optical microscope, can be used in the field to analyze blood samples for malaria or check water supplies for giardia and other pathogens, and can be mass-produced for around $10.

Memristors, the fourth passive circuit in electronic circuit theory, have moved a step closer to prototyping. In April, Hewlett Packard Laboratories researchers claimed to have 'discovered' memristors, which joined resistors, capacitors and inductors as the fourth passive circuit postulated by University of California at Berkeley professor Leon Chua in a 1971 paper. HP Labs' memristor is a two-terminal, two-layer semiconductor constructed from layers of titanium oxide sandwiched between two metal electrodes in a crossbar architecture. By sensing the resistance between the two electrodes at the crossbar, the 'on' or 'off' state of the RRAM can be determined. The resistance changes are nonvolatile until a reversed bias voltage is applied. Commercial prototype chips will be available by next year.

SunPower Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, announced that it has produced a full-scale, five inch prototype solar cell with an efficiency of 23.4 percent. "We are pleased to have demonstrated early success with our Gen 3 technology," said Bill Mulligan, vice president of technology and development at SunPower Corporation. "This record efficiency solar cell, which is expected to be commercially available in approximately two years, extends SunPower's leadership position and is a key component of our plan to reduce system cost by 50 percent by the year 2012."

Universal Display Corporation says the new milestone for the first time indicates that white OLEDs can surpass the power efficacy of the two incumbent indoor lighting technologies - incandescent bulbs are less than 15 lm/W and most fluorescent lamps are 60 - 90 lm/W. UDC suggests the 102 lumens per watt (lm/W) at 1000 cd/m2 technology has the potential to create significant economic and energy benefits for future solid-state lighting systems. UDC's White OLED light source has a color rendering index (CRI) of 70 and a coordinated color temperature (CCT) of 3900 Kelvin. The company says that White OLEDs are also readily color tunable, from cool to warm whites, with extremely pleasing white emission that simulates healthful, natural lighting. Compared to inorganic LEDs, white OLEDs are excellent diffuse emitters with the potential to be significantly more cost-effective in high-volume production.

Scalado, a Sweden-based mobile image software company claims that RAJPEG helps reduce handset memory requirements up to 25 times. Scalado's software is much more efficient in handling larger images, makes displaying, panning, zooming, etc. much quicker. Scalado is extending its software license not just to OS suppliers but also to chip companies. Aptina Imaging, a division of Micron Technology Inc., has agreed to integrate Scalado's SpeedTags technology into future mobile SoC designs for above 3 Megapixels. Omnivision is another licensee of Scalado's technology. Symbian hopes to make its platform a clear choice for camera phone vendors by using the Symbian API and Scalado's imaging technology. There are several others to come, a spokeman from Scalado said.

BIOIDENT is the first company to combine printed opto-electronic components with microfluidic systems. This combination is enabled by the fluid processability of organic semiconductor materials. BIOIDENT allows for the first time to print and integrate full optical readout systems directly onto microfluidic devices. The BIOIDENT platform is used to produce the world’s first disposable photonic lab-on-a-chip solution for next generation mobile analytics applications such as water and food analysis, chemical and biological agent detection, and point-of-care diagnostics. The PhotonicFlow System™ system consists of a control base (ControlR™) chip and a pack of disposable sensor (CheckR™) chips. The ControlR™ chip incorporates readout/analysis, micro-fluidic control and data communication functions. The disposable CheckR™ chip consists of a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip with multiple reaction chambers filled with appropriate reagents and with various optoelectronic components including photo-detectors, light-sources and electronics printed directly on the chip.