MEMS, Microfluidics and Microsystems Executive Review

Active OLEDs close in on mobile phone market

by Olivier Nowak, Wicht Technologie Consulting

After years spent playing catch up with LCDs, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays seem to be finally closing the distance. The first mobile phone sporting an OLED main display - the BenQSiemens S88 - was introduced earlier this year. It includes a 2.2-inch, 176 × 220 full-colour active matrix OLED (AMOLED) screen from AU Optronics and several major display manufacturers (Samsung SDI, CMEL, and TPO Displays) have now signalled their intentions to offer AMOLED displays by the end of the year, targeting the mobile phone market, and marking a turning point for OLEDS.

Philips launches Liquavista to commercialize MEMS displays

Liquavista, a start up with electrowetting MEMS technology from Philips, announced this past April that it has received its first venture capital round from New Venture Partners (NVP).  The company is going after the lucrative mobile device display market.

As with Qualcomm's  MEMS display technology, Liquavista's approach also promises to yield brighter and less power hungry displays which can maintain high contrast indoors as well as outdoors.  Although their technological approaches are somewhat different, both Qualcomm and Liquavista are targeting this multi-billion dollar market opportunity.  We recently spoke with Liquavista's CEO Mark Gostick.

MEMS and university tech transfer

Kionix was founded in 1993 to commercialize MEMS technology and intellectual property from Cornell University.  We recently spoke with Dr. Greg Galvin, founder and CEO of the company, about his experiences with MEMS tech transfer, acquisitions, as well as Kionix' current status and future plans.

Nanochip's MEMS based memory

In April of this year Nanochip reported a new venture capital round of $10 million with Intel as the leading investor.  Nanochip is developing a new class of ultra-high-capacity MEMS-based storage chips. 

These new chips - with bit-densities enabling the storage of tens of gigabytes per chip or the equivalent of many high-definition feature-length videos - use a nano-probe array technology that can potentially go far beyond the expected limits of conventional lithography used in present semiconductor memory chips.  We recently spoke with Dr. Gordon Knight, the CEO of the company.