Why did video screens get slimmer? A study of the role of Intellectual Property in the commercial development of organic light-emitting diodes Deborah Nabbosa Miriam Sewagudde Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Source: Gabworthy, 2015) I, Deborah Nabbosa Miriam Sewagudde, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 24th February 2017 Details of collaboration and publications: None i I would like to give all the glory and honour to the Almighty God, for not only inspiring me to do this but for providing the grace, provision, favour, wisdom, strength and resilience I needed to start and to finish well. Special thanks goes to my PhD supervisors: Prof. Spyros Maniatis and Prof. Roger Cullis for constantly helping me to see the beauty in the vision and for showing me the multifaceted victor in me. Roger, thank you for always being an email’s length away, and for the many evenings you helped me burn the midnight oil, even to the final hour. Hajime, the student that became an invaluable teacher, thank you. Grateful thanks also goes to my family that always supported me and put up with a shell of a person, especially over the last year of this project. Zaabu, thank you for your patience, time and support. My friends and spiritual family, thank you for your prayers. May God richly reward you all. ii Abstract This research project consists of a critical analysis of the role of intellectual property amongst other factors in the successful commercial development at the Cavendish Laboratory of optoelectronic light emitting diode display devices based on novel organic semiconductor materials. It begins by giving the background to the quantum mechanical properties upon which the technology is based, followed by a discussion of the path of innovation, describing the interaction between the different socioeconomic factors that influence this path. It then draws an analogy with the development of an analogous technology - inorganic semiconductors - to signpost the factors that may affect the developmental history of the technology. This is followed by an analysis of a chronology derived initially from patents downloaded from the World Patents Database of the European Patent Office to showcase the technology’s development steps, and to study the patenting strategy of Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) - the company that was set up to commercialise the novel technology - through a patent trends analysis. From that, the major socioeconomic factors critical to the technology’s development are analysed, followed by a test and extension of an existing Black Box mathematical model for studying the dynamics of innovation that is based on the interaction of those factors. Finally, through a patent citation analysis, CDT’s commercial strategy for the technology is shown as being based on its patents portfolio to build an extensive licensing programme that pooled major academic, industry and commercial partners for the furtherance of the technology. This later evolved into a new ecosystem for the innovation, of which CDT occupied a central and indispensable position. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................ iii 0.0 Thesis Preamble ....................................................................................... 1 1.0 Genesis ................................................................................................. 6 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 6 1.2 The Ancient Elements .................................................................................... 7 1.3 The Medieval Alchemists ................................................................................ 8 1.4 The Periodic Table ......................................................................................... 9 1.5 Atomic Theory ............................................................................................... 9 1.6 Valence Theory and Semiconductors ........................................................... 15 1.7 Carbon Allotropes ........................................................................................ 19 1.8 Organic Copolymer Semiconductors ............................................................ 22 1.9 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 29 2.0 The Dynamics of Innovation................................................................... 30 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 30 2.2 The Nature of Innovation ............................................................................. 30 2.3 The Biological Analogue ............................................................................... 34 2.4 Commercialising an Invention ..................................................................... 40 2.4.1 My Hypotheses ...................................................................................... 42 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 43 3.0 Technology Survey ................................................................................. 45 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 45 3.2 Technological Background to the Transistor ................................................ 45 3.3 The History of the Development of the Transistor ........................................ 47 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................................... 60 3.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 65 4.0 Patent Analysis Methodology and Related Hypotheses ........................... 66 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 66 4.2 Justification of the Methodology .................................................................. 66 4.3 Patentability ................................................................................................ 68 4.4 Methodology ................................................................................................ 69 4.4.1 The Smart Search .................................................................................. 70 4.4.2 The Advanced Search ............................................................................ 71 4.4.3 Classification Search ............................................................................. 72 4.5 Obtaining Copies of Patent Specifications and Bibliographic Information .... 74 iv 4.6 How to Interpret Patent Specifications ......................................................... 76 4.7 Data Processing ........................................................................................... 78 4.8 Patent Trends Analysis ................................................................................ 79 4.8.1 Patent Indicators ................................................................................... 80 4.8.2 Validation of the Methodology ................................................................ 81 4.8.3 Conducting a PTA Study ........................................................................ 82 4.8.4 Limitations of a PTA .............................................................................. 82 4.9 Caveats of Overall Methodology ................................................................... 82 4.10 Comparison to the Black Box .................................................................... 83 4.11 Hypotheses ................................................................................................ 83 4.12 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 84 5.0 Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 85 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 85 5.2 Energy Storage Systems .............................................................................. 85 5.3 Introduction to OLED Technology ................................................................ 90 5.4 Data Acquisition .......................................................................................... 91 5.5 Data Analysis