Universal Display Corp., a N.J.-based developer of organic light emitting device (OLED) technologies, has been awarded a $499,999 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The contract is for further advances in the company’s thin-film encapsulation technology for flexible OLED displays and lighting. Its thin-film encapsulation technology also has applicability to a variety of other thin-film electronics including solar cells, batteries, sensors and photodectors, said the company. In the Phase II program, Universal Display will focus on demonstrating that its environmentally-friendly, single-layer approach exhibits manufacturing scalability and prospective cost effectiveness. This program follows a successful Phase I program during which the company, working with Princeton University, demonstrated that this approach has the performance characteristics to be an ultra-hermetic, transparent and flexible permeation barrier that can provide OLEDs with the long-term operational stability for a variety of demanding conditions. “Encapsulation technology that is both high-performance and cost-effective is well recognized as a critical element to the commercialization of flexible OLED displays and lighting,” said Steven V. Abramson, president and CEO of Universal Display. “This environmentally-friendly, single-layer approach also has the potential to provide value to a wide variety of other flexible and rigid, thin-film electronic applications.” For more information, visit: www.universaldisplay.com