OLEDs rely on organic materials that emit light when electric current is applied. They have advantages over LCDs like being thinner, requiring no backlight, and enabling flexible displays. However, their organic materials have limited lifetimes and can be damaged by water, so improved sealing processes are important. Product demonstrations include an 11-inch 0.3mm thick 960x540 pixel display and a 3mm thin 11-inch 940x540 display with high contrast ratio from Sony.
5. Device operation principle OLEDs rely on organic materials (polymers or small molecules) that give off light when tweaked with an electrical current Electrons injected from cathode Holes injected from cathode Transport and radiative recombination of electron hole pairs at the emissive polymer LIGHT
6. Fabrication steps Deposit and pattern anode Pattern polymer layers (first conducting then emissive) Vacuum deposit and pattern anode
7. Active matrix addressing Place a switching TFT at each pixel Selected pixel stays on until next refresh Common cathode Unlimited address lines
9. Advantages The radically different manufacturing process printed onto any suitable substrate using an inkjet printer or even screen printing technologies Enable a greater range of colors, brightness, and viewing angle than LCDs OLED pixels directly emit light LCDs use a backlight and cannot show true black OLED element produces no light and consumes no power Faster response time than standard LCD screens.
10. Disadvantages The biggest technical problem for OLEDs is the limited lifetime of the organic materials The intrusion of water into displays can damage or destroy the organic materials Therefore, improved sealing processes are important for practical manufacturing
11. Product Demonstrations 11 inch display 0.3mm thick 960×540 pixels Sony XEL-1 OLED TV 11 inch display 3mm thin resolution of 940×540 contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1