LG has developed a new 15" WOLED display. In this display, RGB is achieved by using a white AMOLED pixel with a color filter. The resolution is 1366x768, the brightness is 200 nits (peak:450nits), color gamut 100% and the contrast is 100,000:1.
OLEDNet has posted an interesting article talking about OLED production yields in evaporating deposition equipments. They say that current TFT-LCD production processes take around a minute to complete, while AMOLED processes take around 4 minutes. Both Samsung and LG are developing new ways to make this faster (Samsung is developing a vertical evaporating deposition system, while LG is working on a horizontal one). But even those new methods will still take around 2 minutes.
White-OLED panel, FraunhoferOLEDNet suggests using a white OLED with a color filter. White OLED can reduce the evaporating deposition time to one minute in In-line evaporating deposition method because it could produce the light emitting floor using RGB and other parts in only one sheet of shadow mask.
There are two major problems with this approach. First of all, white AMOLED materials aren't ready for this yet (but they will be soon). Second, you lose color quality. But OLEDNet claims that such displays will still be better than TFT-LCDs in terms of contrast. OLEDNet concludes that developing white OLED materials should be the core technology for the future of AMOLED displays.
IGNIS Innovation, in partnership with Kodak and Prime View International (PVI), has developed a 5" segment of a 32" OLED HDTV AMOLED display, using industry standard amorphous silicon thin film transistors (TFT). The prototype uses IGNIS' MaxLIfe solution, which compensates separately for both the TFT and LED degradation using only an electrical feedback - an industry first. This technology does not use any optical sensors which are unreliable.
IGNIS reports 20 years lifetime (when watching 12 hours a day), there is no burn-in images (the MaxLife technology keeps differential aging to 3% or less). The prototype was built using an amorphous silicon backplane from PVI using their standard a-Si LCD mass production process while the frontplane uses Kodak's long life and low power RGBW technology that delivers a vivid and outstanding viewing experience. They say that this combination provides the first reliable, low ost and scalable architecture.
IGNIS has also shown a 2.2" QVGA (181ppi) display module, using their AdMo (Advanced Mobile) compensation platform. They report over 50,000hrs lifetime (in house testing), large temperature range (-30c to 80c), suitable for automotive applications. The sophisticated compensation technology is built entirely in-pixel, meaning low-cost driver ICs are used, lending itself to a simple ‘drop-in’ display that is easily swappable into devices using legacy LCDs. The AdMo prototype use an amorphous silicon backplane, the standard TFT of the LCD industry that has traditionally been regarded as unusable for AMOLED displays. However, through its patented technology IGNIS is able compensate for the low mobility and in-stabilities of amorphous silicon, and as a result, for no additional capital investment costs, enables the manufacture of AMOLED backplanes at existing TFT plants.
In June 2008, I interviewed Corey Hewitt and Dr. James Buntaine from Kodak OLED Systems.
Mr. Corey Hewitt is the co-general manager, operations manager and VP of Kodak OLED Systems. Dr. James Buntaine is the second co-general manager, and also the CTO and VP.
They were kind enough to send us an update on Kodak's OLED program and market outlook:
Kodak expertise and experience lies in material discovery, organic layer design, mechanistic understanding, image science, panel/module design, and manufacturing technology. These key value drivers associated with the Kodak technology, know-how and patents, maintain Kodak as an industry leader in enabling both the OLED flat-panel display and OLED solid-state lighting industries. Provided below are selected key areas technology and Kodak accomplishments:
Novaled and Kodak have developed anew white PIN OLED, to be used in RGBW displays. The display is based on Novaled's p-type and n-type doped transprot layers and Kodak's emitter systems. The companies showed two devices - single unit and tandem-white OLEDs.
For the single unit devices, 15.8-cd/A with a lifetime of 30,000 hours and color coordinates of 0.32/0.35 at 1,000 candelas per square meter were reached. In the tandem device approach a current efficiency of 33.2 cd/A at color coordinates 0.28/0.31 was achieved. The lifetime of the device was 77,000 hours compared to 51,000 hours that were reached with devices based on conventional Li-doping for the connector unit
In a display simulation the tandem device compares favorably with a conventional tandem device based on Li-doped p-n connectors; allowing display lifetime to be improved from 38,000 to 53,000 hours.
Back in June I interviewed Mr. Corey Hewitt and Dr. James Buntaine from Kodak OLED Systems. Now the nice guys at Kodak agreed to another interview - this one is focused on OLED for lighting, and I talked to Mr. Steven Van Slyke (R&D directory) and Dr. Yuan-Sheng Tyan, a Research Fellow. So first of all, let's introduce them properly:
Steven Van Slyke received his Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Ithaca College and Masters degree in Materials Science from Rochester Institute of Technology. He joined Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories in 1979 where his work has centered on OLEDs. He has been active in all phases of OLED technology, from basic research on organic materials to development of manufacturing technologies for high volume OLED display production. Mr. Van Slyke is recognized as a co-inventor of small-molecule organic light emitting diodes and is a leading authority on OLED technology. He has published and presented over 40 papers and holds 36 patents in the areas of OLED materials and device architecture.
I recently had the chance to interview Mr. Corey Hewitt and Dr. James Buntaine from Kodak OLED Systems. Kodak is where OLEDs were first discovered, and they are still in the fore-front of the technology. This is going to be a long article - these guys have given me a lot of background info, even before answering my questions. But first let's introduce Corey and James:
Mr. Corey Hewitt, Operations Manager & Vice President, Kodak OLED Systems
Mr. Hewitt's responsibilities include worldwide operations, finance, marketing and business development. Corey has traveled and worked closely on a worldwide basis with Dr. Buntaine in determining the future strategy for OLED technology and how it relates to Eastman Kodak Company. Corey received his Business Administration/Finance degree from the University at Buffalo and subsequently completed his Masters of Business Administration from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Corey has joined Kodak in 1999, and held several positions before becoming the Operations Manager and VP of Kodak OLED Systems.
