The world of CDT and its partners
Pictiva™ Displays
Osram Opto Semiconductors
Osram Opto Semiconductors’
Pictiva range is the global
leader in monochrome
P-OLED displays today
Origins
The Pictiva™ brand name was born when
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors was
among the first companies to recognise
the potential of OLED technology for the
next generation of displays. Today, the
Pictiva brand is a global leading supplier
of passive matrix monochrome OLED
displays with an expanding range of
colours and sizes for a very wide range of
applications.
The story of Pictiva began in 1999, when
polymer organic light emitting diode (P-
OLED) technology was being developed
at Cambridge Display Technology (CDT),
and the fundamental performance was
improving to the point where commercial
applications could be considered. One of
the first CDT licences was obtained, and
plans were laid for the manufacture and
marketing of a range of small displays.
“I can claim to be one of the very first
users of OLED technology, when I
strapped an early device to the front of my
bicycle one night in Cambridge to help
light my way home!, laughs David Lacey,
now General Manager of the Pictiva
business. However, it is the displays sector
rather than lighting which has seen the
fastest uptake of P-OLED technology.
Applications
The intrinsic advantages of P-OLED
displays were clear: high brightness and
contrast, low power consumption, wide
viewing angle, ultra-fast response, very
thin form factor and many other properties
were evidently of interest to display users,
while the simpler bill of materials and
potential for low cost production
promised benefits to display makers too.
In a market dominated by LCD displays, it
might have been expected that early sales
would mainly be straight replacements for
LCD, yet Pictiva took a more fundamental
marketing approach and focussed on
finding applications which exploited the
particular benefits of P-OLED displays.
This allowed product designers to add
value through superior user functionality
or display quality. Pictiva makes available
a Reference Design Kit, complete with
displays, driver and PC software, and this
makes testing and prototyping a simpler
proposition for those new to P-OLED
systems.
The single most dramatic example of
success for P-OLEDs to date has to be the
MP3 player, where a high proportion of
these burgeoning devices incorporate the
new technology. The low power
consumption – OLED pixels consume
power only when lit – thin form factor and
attractive colour options have given
designers new flexibility to develop
product differentiation in a crowded
market.
Case Study Osram Opto Semiconductors

Product Range The Future

The Pictiva range has grown steadily, and today
comprises a wide stock range which can be selected from
a catalogue on the Pictiva web site at www.pictiva.com,
as well as bespoke products. In 2006, Osram Opto
Semiconductors expanded the standard range of colours
to twelve. The largest standard display is a letterbox
shape of 6.5 inches diagonal.
Manufacturing of the P-OLED product range is carried out
at Osram Opto Semiconductors’ plant in Penang,
Malaysia. The production process involves spin coating, a
tried and tested method of producing thin, even films of
material in solution. “Spin coating offers good uptime,
high throughput and low cost, especially compared with,
for example, vacuum deposition”, says David Lacey.
The global Pictiva sales team continues to find new and
exciting applications for P-OLED displays, ranging from
in-home audio systems and professional sound mixers, to
undersea dive watches which operate in pitch dark and at
very low temperatures. Healthcare, manufacturing
industry, office equipment and many other sectors have
featured in addition to the more obvious consumer
electronic products.
Osram Opto Semiconductors would acknowledge that its
biggest problem at present is keeping pace with demand;
a demand which is expected to continue as more
consumers become aware of P-OLEDs and their
expanding potential.

CDT and Pictiva continue to work together as the

opportunities and challenges of the P-OLED market
evolve. Both parties have been able to increase the
lifetime and efficiency of displays enormously since the
early days, and today, Pictiva products can achieve
55,000 hour lifetime in use over its full range of devices.

Contact Information
Osram Opto Semiconductors
Asia: +60(4) 631-8100 prasia@osram-os.com
Europe: +49 (0)941-850-3535 pr@osram-os.com
North America: +1-888-446-7726 ext.4310 info@osram-os.com
Web: www.pictiva.com

Cambridge Display Technology Limited

Building 2020, Cambourne Business Park
Cambridgeshire, CB23 6DW, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1954 713600 Fax: +44 (0) 1954 713620
Email: info@cdtltd.co.uk www.cdtltd.co.uk