Dupont itself has OLED agreements with Universal Display Corp. (UDC) to make OLEDs using Kodak's small-molecule method, as well as Cambridge Display Technology's polymer approach. UDC is working on phosphorescent OLEDs, which it claims are more efficient than the fluorescent OLEDs others use. In fact, UDC says that it has demonstrated that 100% of the electrical input to one of their OLEDs is converted to light.
This networking arrangement of OLED companies is indicative of the industry's cooperative effort to advance OLED technology. The Flat-Panel Display Forum (DFF) in Germany, a consortium of dozens of companies, was formed to advance the manufacture of OLEDs. To better position themselves in what they see as a future large market, many OLED suppliers are developing their own brand names, such as NuVue for Kodak, Olight for Dupont, and Pictiva for Osram Opto Semiconductors.
OLEDs hold the potential to make affordable large-panel displays on low-cost flexible substrates. Ink-jet printing has already been demonstrated as a means of OLED production. Because of this, they can be made into very thin films or foils, thin enough to produce on a continuous reel-to-reel production facility. Pioneer Corp. has developed a 3-in. diagonal full-color OLED using a plastic substrate by modifying a conventional plastic film. The new display offers performance characteristics equal to those of OLEDs made on a glass plate.
Like other flat-panel display technologies, OLEDs can be operated in two modes. The passive-matrix mode is used to provide acceptable resolutions for lower-size displays that require low power consumption. The active-matrix mode comes into play when higher resolution is needed for larger displays that also possess higher power consumption.
One of the first successful consumer products to employ OLEDs is the EasyShare 633 digital camera from Kodak. The OLED is produced via a joint arrangement with Sanyo. The camera, presently available in Japan, uses Kodak's AM550L full-color 2.2-in. diagonal OLED module as a back display. It features QVGA resolution (521 by 218 pixels).
Cambridge Display Technology has an OLED for the Norelco Spectra electric razor from Philips. Moreover, Dupont has shown 2.1-in. (128 by 64 pixels) and 4-in. (160 by 160 pixels) OLEDs. Though these products are made on glass substrates, future versions will implement plastic substrates. Dupont has commercialized its line of OLEDs, calling them Olight, which can be found in a host of consumer products (Fig. 4).
FLAT IS IN
No matter what flat-panel technology becomes pervasive, one thing is certain. A new era of flat displays will permeate every aspect of society over the next few years. As for the CRT, it will still dominate TVs for at least the next three to five years. After that, it's anyone's guess if it can overcome the onrush of flat-panel display technology and its quest for lower manufacturing costs. CRTs may wind up like the classic TV vacuum tubes that were shunted aside by better products like transistors and ICs. Flat-panel display technology is a fast-moving train that's not making any stops.