ORGANIC LED

Organic light-emitting diode

An organic light emitting diode (OLED), also light emitting polymer (LEP) and organic electro luminescence (OEL), is a light-emitting diode (LED) whose emissive electroluminescent layer is composed of a film of organic compounds. The layer usually contains a polymer substance that allows suitable organic compounds to be deposited. They are deposited in rows and columns onto a flat carrier by a simple "printing" process. The resulting matrix of pixels can emit light of different colors.

Such systems can be used in television screens, computer monitors, small, portable system screens such as cell phones and PDAs, advertising, information and indication. OLEDs can also be used in light sources for general space illumination, and large-area light-emitting elements. OLEDs typically emit less light per area than inorganic solid-state based LEDs which are usually designed for use as point-light sources.

A significant advantage of OLED displays over traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight to function^[1]. Thus, they can display deep black levels, draw far less power, and can be much thinner and lighter than an LCD panel. OLED displays also naturally achieve much higher contrast ratio than LCD screens using either CCFL or LED Backlights.

History

A. Bernanose and co-workers at the Nancy-Université, first produced electroluminescence in organic materials in the early 1950s by applying high-voltage alternating current (AC) fields in air to acridine orange and quinacridine either deposited on or dissolved in cellulose or cellophane thin films. They proposed a mechanism of either direct excitation of the dye molecules or excitation of electrons.

In 1960, Martin Pope and his group made the seminal discovery of ohmic, dark injecting electrode contacts to organic crystals, and described the necessary energetic requirements (work functions) for hole and electron injecting electrode contacts. Dark injecting hole and electron injecting electrode contacts are the basis of all current OLED devices, molecular and polymeric, as will be pointed out in the description of the requirements for the construction of successful OLEDs.

In 1963, Martin Pope and his group made the first observation of direct current (DC) electroluminescence, under vacuum, on a pure, single crystal of anthracene, and also on anthracene crystal doped with tetracene. The injecting electrode was a small area silver electrode, at 400 V DC, and the proposed mechanism was field accelerated electron excitation of molecular fluorescence.

In 1965, Martin Pope and his group refined their experiment and showed that in the absence of an external electric field, the electroluminescence in anthracene single crystal was caused by the recombination of a thermalized electron and hole. This paper proved conclusively that the conducting level of anthracene is higher in energy than the exciton energy level.

Also in 1965, W. Helfrich and W.G. Schneider produced double injection recombination electroluminescence for the first time, in an anthracene single crystal using hole and electron injecting electrodes whose work functions satisfied the requirements specified by Pope's group. Electroluminescent materials can be insulators or doped insulators. The Helfrich and Schneider paper is the forerunner of all double injection induced OLED devices.

In 1965, researchers at Dow Chemical developed high voltage (500-1500 V) AC-driven (100-3000 Hz), electrically insulated thin (1 mil) layers of a melted phosphor consisting of ground anthracene powder, tetracene, and graphite powder. Their proposed mechanism was electronic excitation at the contacts between the graphite particles and the anthracene molecules.

Conductivity of such materials limited light output until more conductive organic materials became available, especially the polyacetylene, polypyrrole, and polyaniline "Blacks". In a 1963 series of papers, Weiss et al. first reported high conductivity in iodine-doped oxidized polypyrrole. They achieved a conductivity of 1 S/cm. Unfortunately, this discovery was "lost", as was a 1974 report of a melanin-based bistable switch with a high conductivity "ON" state. This material emitted a flash of light when it switched.

In a subsequent 1977 paper, Hideki Shirakawa et al. reported high conductivity in similarly oxidized and iodine-doped polyacetylene. Alan J. Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid & Hideki Shirakawa received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "The discovery and development of conductive organic polymers". The Nobel citation made no reference to the earlier discoveries.

The first attempt to create a polymer LED was by Roger Partridge at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. The project succeeded, being patented in 1975 though publication was delayed until 1983.

The first diode device was invented at Eastman Kodak by Dr. Ching W Tang and Steven Van Slyke in the 1980s. This diode, giving rise to the term "OLED" used a novel two-layer structure with separate hole transporting and electron transporting layers such that recombination and light emission occurred in the middle of the organic layer. This resulted in a reduction in operating voltage and improvements in efficiency, and started the current era of OLED research and device production.

Later, this concept was adapted for use with polymers culminated in the Burroughes et al. 1990 paper in the journal Nature reporting a very-high-efficiency green-light-emitting polymer.

Working principle

A typical OLED is composed of an emissive layer, a conductive layer, a substrate, and anode and cathode terminals. The layers are made of organic molecules that conduct electricity. The layers have conductivity levels ranging from insulators to conductors, so OLEDs are considered organic semiconductors.

The first, most basic OLEDs consisted of a single organic layer, for example the first light-emitting polymer device synthesised by Burroughs et al. involved a single layer of poly(p-phenylene vinylene). Multilayer OLEDs can have more than two layers to improve device efficiency. As well as conductive properties, layers may be chosen to aid charge injection at electrodes by providing a more gradual electronic profile, or block a charge from reaching the opposite electrode and being wasted.

Schematic of a 2-layer OLED: 1. Cathode (−), 2. Emissive Layer, 3. Emission of radiation, 4. Conductive Layer, 5. Anode (+)

A voltage is applied across the OLED such that the anode is positive with respect to the cathode. This causes a current of electrons to flow through the device from cathode to anode. Thus, the cathode gives electrons to the emissive layer and the anode withdraws electrons from the conductive layer; in other words, the anode gives electron holes to the conductive layer.

Soon, the emissive layer becomes negatively charged, while the conductive layer becomes rich in positively charged holes. Electrostatic forces bring the electrons and the holes towards each other and they recombine. This happens closer to the emissive layer, because in organic semiconductors holes are more mobile than electrons. The recombination causes a drop in the energy levels of electrons, accompanied by an emission of radiation whose frequency is in the visible region. That is why this layer is called emissive.

The device does not work when the anode is put at a negative potential with respect to the cathode. In this condition, holes move to the anode and electrons to the cathode, so they are moving away from each other and do not recombine.

Indium tin oxide is commonly used as the anode material. It is transparent to visible light and has a high work function which promotes injection of holes into the polymer layer. Metals such as aluminium and calcium are often used for the cathode as they have low work functions which promote injection of electrons into the polymer layer.

Just like passive-matrix LCD versus active-matrix LCD, OLEDs can be categorized into passive-matrix and active-matrix displays. Active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLED) require a thin-film transistor backplane to switch the individual pixel on or off, and can make higher resolution and larger size displays possible.

Material technologies

Small molecules

OLED technology using small molecules was first developed at Eastman Kodak by Dr. Ching W. Tang. The production of small-molecule displays often involves vacuum deposition, which makes the production process more expensive than other processing techniques (see below). Since this is typically carried out on glass substrates, these displays are also not flexible, though this limitation is not inherent to small-molecule organic materials. The term OLED traditionally refers to this type of device, though some are using the term SM-OLED.

Molecules commonly used in OLEDs include organo-metallic chelates (for example Alq3, used in the first organic light-emitting device) and conjugated dendrimers.

Contrary to polymers, small molecules can be evaporated and therefore very complex multi-layer structures can be constructed. This high flexibility in layer design is the main reason for the high efficiencies of the SM-OLEDs.

Recently a hybrid light-emitting layer has been developed that uses nonconductive polymers doped with light-emitting, conductive molecules. The polymer is used for its production and mechanical advantages without worrying about optical properties. The small molecules then emit the light and have the same longevity that they have in the SM-OLEDs.

Coherent emission from a laser dye-doped tandem OLED device, excited in the pulsed regime, has been demonstrated. The emission is nearly diffraction limited with a spectral width similar to that of broadband dye lasers.

Polymer light-emitting diodes

LEP display showing partial failure

An old OLED display showing wear

Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED), also light-emitting polymers (LEP), involve an electroluminescent conductive polymer that emits light when connected to an external voltage source. They are used as a thin film for full-spectrum colour displays and require a relatively small amount of power for the light produced. No vacuum is required, and the emissive materials can be applied on the substrate by a technique derived from commercial inkjet printing. The substrate used can be flexible, such as PET. Thus flexible PLED displays, also called Flexible OLED (or FOLED), may be produced inexpensively.

Typical polymers used in PLED displays include derivatives of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) and polyfluorene. Substitution of side chains onto the polymer backbone may determine the colour of emitted light or the stability and solubility of the polymer for performance and ease of processing.

Applications of OLEDs in solid state lighting require the achievement of high brightness with good CIE coordinates (for white emission). The use of macromolecular species like polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) in conjunction with the use of phosphorescent species such as Ir for printed OLEDs have exhibited brightnesses as high as 10,000 cd/m².

Phosphorescent materials

Phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) uses the principle of electrophosphorescence to convert electrical energy in an OLED into light in a highly efficient manner.

Patterning technologies

Patternable OLED

Patternable organic light-emitting device (POLED) uses a light or heat activated electroactive layer. A latent material (PEDOT-TMA) is included in this layer that, upon activation, becomes highly efficient as a hole injection layer. Using this process, light-emitting devices with arbitrary patterns can be prepared.

Laser patterning

Colour patterning by means of laser, such as radiation-induced sublimation transfer (RIST).

Organic Vapor Jet Printing

OVJP uses an inert carrier gas, such as Argon or Nitrogen, to transport evaporated organic molecules (as in Organic Vapor Phase Deposition). The gas is expelled through a micron sized nozzle or nozzle array close to the substrate as it is being translated. This allows printing arbitrary multilayer patterns without the use of solvents.

Backplane technologies

For a high resolution display like a TV, a TFT backplane is necessary to drive the pixels correctly. Currently, LTPS-TFT (low temperature poly silicon) is used for commercial AMOLED displays. LTPS-TFT has variation of the performance in a display, so various compensation circuits have been reported.^[39] Due to the size limitation of the excimer laser used for LTPS, the AMOLED size was limited. To cope with the hurdle related to the panel size, amorphous-silicon/microcrystalline-silicon backplanes have been reported with large display prototype demonstrations.

OLED Structures

Bottom emission/Top emission

Bottom emission uses a transparent or semi-transparent bottom electrode to get the light through a transparent substrate. Top emission uses a transparent or semi-transparent top electrode to get the light through the counter substrate.

Transparent OLED

Transparent organic light-emitting device (TOLED) uses a proprietary transparent contact to create displays that can be made to be top-only emitting, bottom-only emitting, or both top and bottom emitting (transparent). TOLEDs can greatly improve contrast, making it much easier to view displays in bright sunlight. This technology is used in Head-up displays.

Stacked OLED

Stacked OLED (SOLED) uses a pixel architecture that stacks the red, green, and blue subpixels on top of one another instead of next to one another, leading to substantial increase in gamut and colour depth, and greatly reducing pixel gap. At the moment, all display technologies have the RGB (and RGBW) pixels mapped next to each other.

Inverted OLED

In contrast to a conventional OLED, in which the anode is placed on the substrate, an Inverted OLED (IOLED) uses a bottom cathode that can be connected to the drain end of an n-channel TFT especially for the low cost amorphous silicon TFT backplane useful in the manufacturing of AMOLED displays.

Acronyms for OLEDs

• OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode/Device/Display
• AM OLED = Active Matrix OLED device
• FOLED = Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (UDC)
• NOID = Neon Organic Iodine Diode (CDT)
• PhOLED = Phosphorescent Organic Light Emitting Diode (UDC)
• PLED = Polymer Light Emitting Diode (CDT)
• PM OLED = Passive Matrix OLED device
• POLED = Patternable organic light-emitting device
• RCOLED = Resonant Colour Organic Light Emitting Diode
• SmOLED = Small Molecule Organic Light Emitting Diode (Kodak)
• SOLED = Stacked Organic Light Emitting Diode (UDC)
• TOLED = Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diode (UDC)

Advantages

The radically different manufacturing process of OLEDs lends itself to many advantages over flat-panel displays made with LCD technology. Since OLEDs can be printed onto any suitable substrate using an inkjet printer or even screen printing technologies, they can theoretically have a significantly lower cost than LCDs or plasma displays. Printing OLEDs onto flexible substrates opens the door to new applications such as roll-up displays and displays embedded in fabrics or clothing.

OLEDs enable a greater range of colours, gamut, brightness, contrast (both dynamic range and static) and viewing angle than LCDs because OLED pixels directly emit light. OLED pixel colours appear correct and unshifted, even as the viewing angle approaches 90 degrees from normal. LCDs use a backlight and cannot show true black, while an off OLED element produces no light and consumes no power. Energy is also wasted in LCDs because they require polarizers that filter out about half of the light emitted by the backlight. Additionally, colour filters in most colour LCDs filter out two-thirds of the light; technology to separate backlight colours by diffraction has not been widely adopted.

OLEDs also have a faster response time than standard LCD screens. Whereas the fastest LCD displays currently have a 2ms response time, an OLED can have less than 0.01ms response time.

Disadvantages

The biggest technical problem for OLEDs is the limited lifetime of the organic materials. In particular, blue OLEDs historically have had a lifetime of around 14,000 hours (five years at 8 hours a day) when used for flat-panel displays, which is lower than the typical lifetime of LCD, LED or PDP technology—each currently rated for about 60,000 hours, depending on manufacturer and model. However, some manufacturers of OLED displays claim to have come up with a way to solve this problem with a new technology to increase the lifespan of OLED displays, pushing their expected life past that of LCD displays. A metal membrane helps deliver light from polymers in the substrate throughout the glass surface more efficiently than current OLEDs. The result is the same picture quality with half the brightness and a doubling of the screen's expected life.

In 2007, experimental OLEDs were created which can sustain 400 cd/m² of luminance for over 198,000 hours for green OLEDs and 62,000 hours for blue OLEDs.

Additionally, as the OLED material used to produce blue light degrades more rapidly than other materials that produce other colors, blue light output will decrease relative to the other colors of light. This differential color output change will change the color balance of the display and is much more noticeable than a decrease in overall luminance. This can be partially avoided by adjusting colour balance but this may require advanced control circuits and interaction with the user, which is unacceptable for some uses.

The intrusion of water into displays can damage or destroy the organic materials. Therefore, improved sealing processes are important for practical manufacturing and may limit the longevity of more flexible displays.

Technology demos

Samsung applications

In January 2005, Samsung announced the world's largest OLED TV at the time, at 21-inches. This OLED featured the highest resolution at 2.3 million pixels (WUXGA: widescreen ultra-extended graphics array) at the time. In addition, the company adopted AM-based technology for its low power consumption and high-resolution qualities.

In January 2008, Samsung showcased the world's largest and thinnest OLED TV at the time, at 31-inches and 4.3 mm.

In October 2008, Samsung showcased the world's thinnest OLED display, also the first to be 'flappable' and bendable. It measures just 0.05 mm (thinner than paper), yet a Samsung staff member said that it is "technically possible to make the panel thinner". To achieve this thickness, Samsung etched an OLED panel that uses a normal glass substrate. The drive circuit was formed by low-temperature polysilicon TFTs. Also, low-molecular organic EL materials were employed. The pixel count of the display is 480 × 272. The contrast ratio is 100,000:1, and the luminance is 200 cd/m². The colour reproduction range is 100% of the NTSC standard.

In October 2008, Samsung unveiled the world's largest OLED Television at 40-inch with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixel. In the FPD International, Samsung stated that its 40-inch OLED Panel is the largest size currently possible. The panel has a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, a colour gamut of 107% NTSC, and a luminance of 200 cd/m² (peak luminance of 600 cd/m²).

Sony applications

In 2004 Sony released the Sony CLIÉ PEG-VZ90, the first commercial device to feature an OLED screen.

In 2006 Sony introduced the MZ-RH1 Portable Minidisc Recorder, which has an OLED screen.

At the Las Vegas CES 2007, Sony showcased 11-inch (28 cm, resolution 960×540) and 27-inch (68.5 cm, full HD resolution at 1920×1080) models claiming million-to-one contrast ratio and total thickness (including bezels) of 5 mm. Sony released a commercial version of this television in Japan in December, 2007.

Sony plans to begin manufacturing 1000 11-inch OLED TVs per month for market testing purposes. Sony has begun selling an 11-inch OLED Digital TV (XEL-1) for $2499.99 CAD

On May 25, 2007, Sony publicly unveiled a video of a 2.5-inch flexible OLED screen which is only 0.3 millimeters thick. The screen displayed images of a bicycle stunt and a picturesque lake while the screen was flexed. On October 1 2007, Sony announced it will sell 11-Inch OLED TVs for 200,000 yen (1,962.51 USD as of 4/1/08) from December 2007, only in Japan and with an initial production of 2000 units per month.

At the CES 2008, Sony showcased the Walkman X series with 3” OLED touchscreen.

Other companies

The Optimus Maximus keyboard developed by the Art. Lebedev Studio and released early 2008 uses 113 48×48-pixel OLEDs (10.1×10.1 mm) for its keys.

OLEDs can be used in High-Resolution Holography (Volumetric display). Professor Orbit showed on May 12, 2007, EXPO Lisbon the potential application of these materials to reproduce three-dimensional video.

OLEDs could also be used as solid-state light sources. OLED efficiency and lifetime already exceed those of incandescent light bulbs, and OLEDs are investigated worldwide as a source of general illumination; an example is the EU OLLA project.

On March 11, 2008 GE Global Research demonstrated the first successful roll-to-roll manufactured OLED, marking a major milestone towards cost effective production of commercial OLED technology. The four year, $13 million research project was carried out by GE Global Research, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Chi Mei Corporation of Taiwan, demonstrated a 25" Low-Temperature Polycrystalline silicon Active Matrix OLED at the Society of Information Displays (SID) conference in Los Angeles, CA, USA on May 20–22, 2008.

On June 5, 2009 DuPont demonstrated a new material that can be printed, so called solution deposition. The breakthrough is the ability to produce economically scalable and durable OLED displays at the 2009 International Symposium, May 31-June 5 2009, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX, USA

The use of OLEDs is also being investigated for the treatment of cancer by photodynamic therapy.

On 30 Aug 2009, South Korea's LG Electronics said it would launch a 15-inch television set using AM-OLED displays for sale in November.

According to Isuppli Corp, upward momentum of OLED Shipments for primary cell phone displays is their expectation in coming years. They claimed that global shipments of OLED main cell phone displays would rise to 178 million units in 2015, up from 22.2 million in 2009. In other words, the shipments will rise eightfold by 2015. Therefore, it’s evident that the manufacture of OLED display and OLED equipment by Samsung , DuPont, Anwell, Chi Mei Corporation, etc has expanded dramatically in recent years.

Commercial uses

OLED technology is used in commercial applications such as small screens for mobile phones and portable digital audio players (MP3 players), car radios, digital cameras, and high-resolution microdisplays for head-mounted displays. Such portable applications favor the high light output of OLEDs for readability in sunlight, and their low power drain. Portable displays are also used intermittently, so the lower lifespan of OLEDs is less important here. Prototypes have been made of flexible and rollable displays which use OLEDs' unique characteristics. OLEDs have been used in most Motorola and Samsung colour cell phones, as well as some LG and Sony Ericsson phones, notably the Z610i, and some models of the Walkman. It is also found in the Creative Zen V/V Plus series of MP3 players and iriver U10/clix. Nokia has also introduced recently some OLED products, including the 7900 Prism,the Nokia 8800 Arte, and the Nokia N85 and the Nokia N86 8MP, both of which feature an AMOLED display.

On October 1, 2007, Sony became the first company to announce an OLED television for commercial sale. The XEL-1 11" OLED Digital Television sells for $2,499.99 in the United States and Canada. In January 2009, handheld computer manufacturer OQO introduced the smallest Windows Vista computer with an OLED display.

Newer OLED applications include signs and lighting. The first OLED lights were commercialized in May 2009. Philips Lighting opened up a webshop, where OLED lighting samples under the brand name 'Lumiblade' can be ordered online.

In March 2009. Samsung Electronics launched a 2.8" AMOLED capacitive touchscreen phone called the S8300 UltraTOUCH.

In April 2009, Samsung brought the first phone using an AMOLED display to the United States, the Impression on AT&T. The Impression has a 3.2" WQVGA AMOLED.

In May 2009. Samsung Electronics launched a 3.7" nHD AMOLED capacitive touchscreen phone called the i8910 Omnia HD.

In June 2009. Samsung Electronics launched a 3.1" WVGA AMOLED resistive touchscreen phone called the S8000 Jet.

In July 2009. Samsung Electronics launched a 3.7" WVGA AMOLED 3G full-touchscreen phone called the Omnia II i8000 with Samsung's own touchwiz ui version 2.0.

In August 2009, Sprint Nextel will sell phones from Samsung Electronics featuring advanced AMOLED display technology. Company executives claimed its technology provided longer battery life and enhanced video and photo images.

In September 2009, Microsoft launched a 3.3" Sixteenth HD1080 OLED capacitive multi-touch portable media player called the Zune HD.

Patents

Use of OLEDs may be subject to patents held by Eastman Kodak and others. Kodak has licensed its patents to other firms for commercialization.

Manufacturers

Current manufacturers of OLED panels include Anwell Technologies Limited, Chi Mei Corporation, DuPont, GE Global Research, LG, Samsung, and Sony.

Samsung SDI

Samsung SDI, a subsidiary of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, is the world's largest OLED manufacturer, producing nearly every 1 in 2 OLED displays made in the world. In October 2008, it unveiled the world's largest OLED TV at 40-inch with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixel. It was the first company in the industry to develop and manufacture AMOLED displays and has the world's largest market share in both Passive Matrix OLEDs (PMOLED) and Active Matrix OLEDs (AMOLED). The company is leading the world OLED industry, generating $100.2 million out of the total $475 million revenues in the global OLED market in 2006.

Currently, it holds more than 600 American patents and more than 2800 international patents, making it the largest owner of AMOLED technology patents.

As of April 2009, Samsung has released one phone using the AMOLED display in the United States, the Impression for AT&T.

Toshiba Mobile Display

According to reports by Bloomberg.com, Toshiba Mobile Display Co. (known as Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co. until May 25, 2009) has announced that it intends to produce a million 2.5 inch OLED panels per month by Fall 2009. The screens will be produced for use in cellphones, GPS navigation systems, and other assorted mobile devices. The news broke after Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported that the Toshiba/Matsushita joint-venture have begun building OLED production lines in their Ishikawa Prefecture factories.

Although Nikkei did not list a source for the announcement, it seems fairly certain that OLED technology is growing ever closer to mainlined viability. As it stands, Toshiba Mobile Display Co. will be among the first Japanese companies to mass produce OLED panels. While their initial run will be limited only to mobile sized screens, the process will presumably garner a refined, more cost effective means of production, which may lead to mainstream availability of larger OLED screens.