真乄科技業的頂尖投資團隊

French microdisplay maker MicroOLEDis close to production.

"We have orders for in the range of over 10,000 units," CEO Eric Marcellin-Dibon told Electronics Weekly. "We are shipping final product in a couple of months."

First revealed in 2008, the company's technology is licensed from French research lab CEA-LETI and Thomson.

The initial product is a 9.6mm 800x480 (WVGA) display using white-emitting vacuum-processed small molecule OLED on an active CMOS substrate, topped with RGB filters - actually RGBB to boost blue emission.

Power dissipation is low, at 25mW for 60Hz video at 150cd/m².

Early adopters are using the displays in a professional security product, said Marcellin-Dibon, and 'sport optics' - for example electronic binoculars for bird watching.

"We are developing a second product with much higher resolution," said Marcellin-Dibon. "It is going to be SXGA, and larger, with pixels slightly smaller."

SXGA is 1,280x1,024, and the pixels on the first product are 10x10µm.

For the first product, "we have good uniformity and excellent contrast. We specify 10,000:1, and can reach even 200,000:1", said Marcellin-Dibon.

Operating life, particularly of blue OLED material, can be poor.

Marcellin-Dibon claims using a mixed OLEDs to make white diminishes the blue life issue.

"Generally speaking, lifetime is getting much better for all OLEDs," he said. "Ours depends on application. For security [low brightness, 10-30foot-lambert] it can reach 100,000hr to 50%. Used for consumer goods [bright] we can get 5,000-10,000 hours. It does not have a lot of colour degradation."

The production line has a maximum capacity of 300,000 unit/year.

Other potential near-to-eye markets are: consumer electronics, medical and military night-vision.