GE Scientists Display First-Ever OLED Christmas Tree

NISKAYUNA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scientists and engineers on GE’s OLED research team rang in the 2008 holiday season with a first-ever OLED Christmas tree lighting at GE’s Global Research Center headquarters in Niskayuna, NY. Illuminated in green light, GE’s flexible OLED panels cut quite a tree and provide a glimpse at how this revolutionary lighting concept is going to transform the lighting industry.

To see a video of the team and the lighting of the OLED Christmas tree, the video has been posted to You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqMXk3mntOQ&feature=channel_page. You also can view a blog entry from GE’s OLED program leader, Anil Duggal, at the Research Center’s technology blog, From Edison’s Desk, at www.grcblog.com.

”We haven’t quite achieved Rockefeller or National Christmas tree lighting status yet, but we’re well on our way,“ said Anil Duggal, who leads GE’s OLED program. “We hope GE’s OLED tree lighting will inspire and capture people’s imagination during the holidays on the limitless possibilities of this next generation lighting concept.”

”Customers will recognize that while this demonstration was more for holiday spirit and team camaraderie, it does reinforce how far OLED technology has come and how it is poised to revolutionize lighting and interior design,” says John Strainic, global product general manager with GE Consumer & Industrial, which will commercialize OLEDs for businesses and consumers in the coming years.

OLEDs are thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes, which illuminate when an electrical charge is applied. They represent the next evolution in lighting products. Their widespread design capabilities will provide an entirely different way for people to light their homes or businesses. Moreover, OLEDs have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance, while achieving the same quality of illumination found in traditional products in the marketplace today with less electrical power.

Earlier this year, GE scientists achieved a major research milestone by demonstrating the world’s first roll-to-roll manufactured OLED lighting devices. This process for producing OLEDs has been likened to a newspaper printing process. Roll-to-roll manufacturing is seen as a key factor to making OLED lighting commercially viable in the general lighting industry.

Duggal said, “We’re making great progress toward hitting the metrics needed to successfully introduce OLED lighting to market. We continue to make steady advances in efficiency, lifetime, and lighting-quality using device structures that can be made with roll-to-roll manufacturing, so that we’ll be able to introduce OLED lighting at an affordable price.”

About GE Global Research

GE Global Research is one of the world's most diversified industrial research labs, providing innovative technology for all of GE's businesses. Global Research has been the cornerstone of GE technology for more than 100 years, developing breakthrough innovations in areas such as medical imaging, energy generation technology, jet engines and lighting. GE Global Research is headquartered in Niskayuna, New York and has facilities in Bangalore, India, Shanghai, China and Munich, Germany. Visit GE Global Research at www.ge.com/research.

About GE Consumer & Industrial

GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and "ecomagination," a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help customers and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under the Monogram®, Profile™ GE®, Hotpoint®, SmartWater™ Reveal® and Energy Smart® consumer brands, and Entellisys® industrial brand. For more information, consumers may visit www.ge.com.

About GE:

GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.