OLED-ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

ANSHUTA GADKAR, DHANASHREE SHANBHAG, INSTRUMENTATION DEPARTMENT

B.V.BHOOMREDDI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Abstract-Imagine having a high-definition

TV that is 80 inches wide and less than a quarter-inch thick, consumes less power than most TVs on the market today and can be rolled up when you're not using it. What if you could have a "heads up" display in your car? How about a display monitor built into your clothing? These devices may be possible in the near future with the help of a technology called organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). OLEDs are solid-state devices composed of thin films of organic molecules that create light with the application of electricity. OLEDs can provide brighter, crisper displays on electronic devices and use less power than conventional lightemitting diodes (LEDs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used today. How OLED technology works, what types of OLEDs are possible, how OLEDs compare to other lighting technologies and what problems OLEDs need to overcome.

II. What's so great about OLED?

Blazing fast response times. Wide viewing angles. Exceptional color reproduction. Outstanding Contrast levels. High Brightness. The nature of its technology lends itself to extremely thin and lightweight designs along with the ability to use it in a variety of different applications. OLED is the holy grail of TV Display technologies!

III. OLED Components

Like an LED, an OLED is a solidstate semiconductor device that is 100 to 500 nanometers thick or about 200 times smaller than a human hair. OLEDs can have either two layers or three layers of organic material; in the latter design, the third layer helps transport electrons from the cathode to the emissive layer. In this article, we'll be focusing on the two-layer design. An OLED consists of the following parts:

I. What is OLED?
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The "organic" in OLED refers to organic material. Carbon is the basis of all organic matter. Examples of carbon-based substances include sugar, wood and the majority of plastics. The "LED" stands for "Light Emitting Diode" and describes the process of converting electric energy into light. There are two types of OLEDs small molecule OLED and polymer OLED. Sony uses the small molecule type because it has a longer lifespan.

 Substrate (clear plastic, glass, foil) - The substrate supports the OLED. Anode (transparent) - The anode removes electrons (adds electron "holes") when a current flows through the device. Organic layers - These layers are made of organic molecules or polymers. Conducting layer - This layer is made of organic plastic molecules that transport "holes" from the anode. One conducting polymer used in OLEDs is polyaniline. Emissive layer - This layer is made of organic plastic molecules (different ones from the conducting layer) that transport electrons from the cathode; this is where light is made. One polymer used in the emissive layer is polyfluorene Cathode (may or may not be transparent depending on the type of OLED) - The cathode injects electrons when a current flows through the device. IV. How do OLEDs Emit Light? OLEDs emit light in a similar manner to LEDs, through a process called electrophosphorescence. The process is as follows: The battery or power supply of the device containing the OLED applies a voltage across the OLED. An electrical current flows from the cathode to the anode through the organic layers (an electrical current is a flow of electrons). At the boundary between the emissive and the conductive layers, electrons find electron holes. The OLED emits light.

V. Types of OLEDs: Passive and Active Matrix

There are several types of OLEDs: Passive-matrix OLED Active-matrix OLED Transparent OLED Top-emitting OLED Foldable OLED White OLED

A. Passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) PMOLEDs have strips of cathode, organic layers and strips of anode. The anode strips are arranged perpendicular to the cathode strips. The intersections of the cathode and anode make up the pixels where light is emitted. External circuitry applies current to selected strips of anode and cathode, determining which pixels get turned on and which pixels remain off. Again, the brightness of each pixel is proportional to the amount of applied current.

B. Active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) AMOLEDs have full layers of cathode, organic molecules and anode, but the anode layer overlays a thin film transistor (TFT) array that

forms a matrix. The TFT array itself is the circuitry that determines which pixels get turned on to form an image. AMOLEDs consume less power than PMOLEDs because the TFT array requires less power than external circuitry, so they are efficient for large displays.

very flexible metallic foils or plastics. Foldable OLEDs are very lightweight and durable. Their use in devices such as cell phones and PDAs can reduce breakage, a major cause for return or repair. Potentially, foldable OLED displays can be attached to fabrics to create "smart" clothing, such as outdoor survival clothing with an integrated computer chip, cell phone, GPS receiver and OLED display sewn into it. F. White OLED White OLEDs emit white light that is brighter, more uniform and more energy efficient than that emitted by fluorescent. White OLEDs also have the true-color qualities of incandescent lighting. Because OLEDs can be made in large sheets, they can replace fluorescent lights that are currently used in homes and buildings. Their use could potentially reduce energy costs for lighting.

C. Transparent

OLED

Transparent OLEDs have only transparent components (substrate, cathode and anode) and, when turned off, are up to 85 percents as transparent as their substrate. When a transparent OLED display is turned on, it allows light to pass in both directions.

VI. Current OLED Applications

Currently, OLEDs are used in small-screen devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras. In September 2004, Sony Corporation announced that it was beginning mass production of OLED screens for its CLIE PEG-VZ90 model of personal-entertainment handhelds.

D. Top-emitting OLED Top-emitting OLEDs have a substrate that is either opaque or reflective. They are best suited to active-matrix design. Manufacturers may use top-emitting OLED displays in smart cards.

OLED display for Sony Clie Kodak was the first to release a digital camera with an OLED display in March 2003, the Easy Share LS633 Today OLED displays are used mainly in small (2"-4") displays for mobile devices: cell phones, MP3 players, and others. OLED displays carry a price premium over LCDs, but offer brighter pictures and better power efficiency - making it ideal for battery powered gadgets.

E. Foldable OLED Foldable OLEDs have substrates made of

 Curved OLED displays, placed on non-flat surfaces Wearable OLEDs Transparent OLEDs embedded in windows OLEDs in car windshields KODAK LS633 Easy share with OLED New designs for lamps Display Flexible OLEDs require that the entire device is flexible - including the electronics and the encapsulation layer. Of course you cannot longer use glass like in LCDs. Several companies are working on this technology, using either plastic or metal based displays. The same goes for transparent OLEDs.

VII. What's on the market today?

Currently we know of one car model that includes OLED displays - the Lexus 2010 RX. It has a white OLED display; supplementing the main 8" display.VW has a new hybrid car "concept", the L1. It uses an OLED display (or two, we're not sure yet) in the dashboard. VIII. OLED printing Several companies (including Philips, GE, UDC,CDT and others) are working on ways to produce OLED displays using ink-jet systems-printing the OLED materials. This can prove to be a quick and cheap way to make the organic panels. It is also possible to 'print' an

X. Where will OLED be used in future cars?

Even today, we can see several interesting usages for OLED displays/lighting in cars: Dashboard displays Windshield transparent OLEDs Internal lighting External lighting
Back-window alerts and messaging (as seen on the EDAG prototype)

Flexible printed OLED lighting prototype OLED white light panel, which might prove the best way to make mass-market, large-size efficient lighting 'panels'.

a. OLED DISPLAY IN CARS

OLED is a new display technology - used to create thin, efficient and bright displays and lighting panels. OLEDs can be made flexible, and transparent and so open the way for new, exciting display applications.

IX. Future Tech: Transparent / Flexible OLEDs

Because OLEDs are so thin (and the architecture is simple) - they can be made flexible, and transparent, too. This paves the way to all sorts of interesting applications:

One of the possible markets for OLEDs is cars.

XI. OLED Advantages and Disadvantages a) The LCD is currently the display of choice in small devices and is also popular in largescreen TVs. Regular LEDs often form the digits on digital clocks and other electronic devices. OLEDs offer many advantages over both LCDs and LEDs: b) The plastic, organic layers of an OLED are thinner, lighter and more flexible than the crystalline layers in an LED or LCD. c) Because the light-emitting layers of an OLED are lighter, the substrate of an OLED can be flexible instead of rigid. OLED substrates can be plastic rather than the glass used for LEDs and LCDs. d) OLEDs are brighter than LEDs. Because the organic layers of an OLED are much thinner than the corresponding inorganic crystal layers of an LED, the conductive and emissive layers of an OLED can be multi-layered. Also, LEDs and LCDs require glass for support, and glass absorbs some light. OLEDs do not require glass. e) OLEDs do not require backlighting like LCDs. LCDs work by selectively blocking areas of the backlight to make the images that you sees, while OLEDs generate light themselves. Because OLEDs do not require backlighting, they consume much less power than LCDs (most of the LCD power goes to the backlighting). This is especially important for battery-operated devices such as cell phones. f) OLEDs are easier to produce and can be made to larger sizes. Because OLEDs are essentially plastics, they can be made into large, thin sheets. It is much more difficult to grow and lay down so many liquid crystals. g) OLEDs have large fields of view, about 170 degrees. Because LCDs work by blocking light, they have an inherent viewing obstacle from certain angles. OLEDs produce their own light, so they have a much wider viewing range.

OLED is a new display technology - used to create thin, efficient and bright displays and lighting panels. OLEDs can be made flexible, and transparent and so open the way for new, exciting display applications. One of the possible markets for OLEDs is cars.

b. CARO (Car-OLED) project

Several German companies are working on a project called CARO (CAR-OLED). The aim of this project is to develop OLEDs specifically for the car industry. Recently they have shown an interesting steeringwheel concept that includes a white OLED. The OLED is so thin that it does not effect the basic design of the wheel, so even the airbag stays the same.

c. OLED car concepts

There are several car concepts or prototypes that have OLED displays. Perhaps the most interesting one is the open-source light-car by EDAG - which "communicates" with other drivers using a system of OLED lights, is 'covered' with OLED panels (including front/rear lights), and includes customized OLED dashboard.

d. OLED panels for automobiles

Several companies are working on the OLED panel themselves. One of them is Epson, who showed a beautiful 8" OLED for automobile dashboards. Epson is talking with auto companies to embed this in their cars. Other companies are working on transparent displays, to use inside the windshield, and flexible ones so they can be used inside the car

XII. Technology limitation: Lifetime

The major problems with OLED technology based displays have been the lifetime of the organic materials. As with every display type, after a certain time of usage, OLEDs start to dim. At the beginning the displays reached half-brightness after only a few hundred hours.Today the situation is much better, and OLEDs boast lifetime of 50,000 hours or more. The blue-color OLEDs prove to be the most difficult to make. Since the breakthrough by Kodak in 1987, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been seen as one of the most promising technologies for future displays. A number of materials have been developed and improved in order to fulfill the requirements of this application. The materials differ from one another by their structure but also by the mechanism involved in the electroluminescence produced (fluorescence versus phosphorescence). When properly stacked, these materials result in a device that can achieve the required high efficiency and long lifetime. Such red, green and blue devices can then be combined in matrices to become the core of a display. Building up these structures onto a display backplane is one of the challenges facing the industry. The circuitry for driving the pixels can be adapted to the OLED, sometimes at the expense of the simplicity of the display, but bearing in mind that the fabrication process must remain industrially viable.

REFERENCE:
[1] www.electronics.howstuffworks.com [2] www.oled-display.net [3] www.oled-info.com

[4] Encarta encyclopedia.

[5] Wikipedia