OLED Device Applications

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Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) are just are just beginning to appear in the commercial market. These products represent the fruition of 50 years of research building first on the principles of silicon LEDS.

The first OLED devices include TVs, computer monitors, electronic control displays, cameras, phones, and lighting devices.

The advantages of OLEDs

• Superior viewing angle- For monitors and TVs the screen is visible from the side rather than just face on as many LCD monitors are.
• Color Rendition- New dopants and dyes are being developed to give OLED a bigger range and flexibility of color rendition.
• Brightness- The OLED pixels produce light rather than block light with polarizers as an LCD display does.
• Faster Response- OLED devices typically have response time of .01 ms compared to 2 ms for LEDs.
• Energy Efficiency- The OLED is an efficient, low heat light source
• Cost- New polymers and coatings will allow LEDs to be produced by printing and spin coating techniques
• Flexibility- Polymer backing and thin coatings permit OLED to flex without breaking.
• Thin- A OLED display could be paper thin.

Device construction

An OLED consists of a thin transparent electrode, two or more organic transport/ emitting layers and metal cathode. When power is applied to the electrodes light is emitted from the central layer.

Individual red, green and blue emitting OLEDs are arranged in a grid with individual power supplies for each pixel. This is called a passive display. This is being replaced with active thin film transistor display that uses a transistor to control each pixel. This is called an active matrix display.

Commercial OLED Products

Sony OLED TV

http://www.universaldisplay.com/

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=1473&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=204

http://www.cdtltd.co.uk/

http://www.novaled.com/

Osram Opto Semiconductors