Cambridge Display Technology Ltd (CDT) has formed a joint development program with Hewlett-Packard Co to develop light-emitting polymers for consumer applications and the companies have signed a cross-license agreement to allow access to each other’s technology. While conceding that it is at an early stage of development, HP believes the technology could eventually result in applications such as printers, cellular phones and PDAs.
Light-emitting polymer technology has yet to fulfill its early promise when supporters saw it replacing cathode ray tubes. CDT is still working with 2.5 inch screens but at the end of 1998 demonstrated red, green and blue emissions, indicating that full color display was not far off. This may well be demonstrated at the Society for Information Display conference in San Jose next month.
Despite the time it is taking to produce a marketable product, huge sums have been invested in light-emitting polymer and, apart from an equity investment from Intel Corp, CDT has partnerships with Philips, Seiko-Epson and DuPont.
