Sumitomo buys LEP business

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announced recently that Sumitomo Chemical has purchased the Lumation Light-Emitting Polymers (LEPs) business from Dow. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We believe this acquisition will accelerate our R&D activities and greatly facilitate the application of our technologies not only to displays, but more broadly to solid state lighting applications," commented Mr. Satoshi Kawachi, Executive Vice President of Sumitomo Chemical.

LEPs are the critical light-emitting material in polymeric light-emitting diodes (pLEDs), which are one class of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).

The pLED technology is said to offer many performance benefits over other technologies, such as Liquid Crystal Displays. pLEDs do not require a backlight and enable high-resolution, wide-viewing angle, high contrast, low-voltage emissive displays. LEPs also allow for the cost-effective production of both passive and active matrix, monochromatic, area colour, and full colour displays.

Applications for pLED technology will include televisions, instrument panels and portable electronics such as mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), and MP3 players.

"Lumation LEPs represent an important, and potentially disruptive, advance in OLED technology. However, without a larger portfolio of offerings to the display industry, Dow does not have the market presence to rapidly advance its further development and adoption," commented George Biltz, Business Vice President, Dow Ventures and Purchasing, Dow.