Page |1

A Seminar Report on

Light Emitting Polymer

Prepared by : Krishna D. Patel
Roll No. : 51
Class : B.E. 4th I & C
Semester : 8th
Year : 2010-2011
Guided by : Prof. Brijesh B. Naik

Department
Of
Instrumentation & Control Engineering
Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology
Dr R.K. Desai Road,
Athwalines, Surat - 395001, India.
 Page |2

Sarvajanik College of
Engineering & Technology
Dr R.K. Desai Road,
Athwalines, Surat - 395001,
India.
Department
Of
Instrumentation & Control Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Seminar report entitled Light Emitting
Polymer is prepared & presented by Mr. Patel Krishna D. Class
Roll No 51 of B.E.IV Sem VIII Instrumentation & Control

Engineering during year 2010-2011. His work is satisfactory.

Signature of Guide Head of Department

Inst. & Control Engineering
Signature of Jury Members
 Page |3

Acknowledgement

I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Brijesh Naik for his
valuable suggestion and guidance, without which the successful completion of this seminar
report would not have been possible.

I would further like to thanks our Head of Department and all the faculty members for
giving me this opportunity, and also thanks to all my friends & other who have directly or
indirectly helped me in preparing this report.
 Page |4

ABSTRACT

The seminar is about polymers that can emit light when a voltage is applied to it. The
structure comprises of a thin film of semiconducting polymer sandwiched between two
electrodes (cathode and anode).When electrons and holes are injected from the electrodes, the
recombination of these charge carriers takes place, which leads to emission of light .The band
gap, ie. The energy difference between valence band and conduction band determines the
wavelength (colour) of the emitted light.
They are usually made by ink jet printing process. In this method red green and blue
polymer solutions are jetted into well defined areas on the substrate. This is because, PLEDs
are soluble in common organic solvents like toluene and xylene .The film thickness
uniformity is obtained by multi-passing (slow) is by heads with drive per nozzle
technology .The pixels are controlled by using active or passive matrix.
The advantages include low cost, small size, no viewing angle restrictions, low power
requirement, biodegradability etc. They are poised to replace LCDs used in laptops and CRTs
used in desktop computers today.
Their future applications include flexible displays which can be folded, wearable
displays with interactive features, camouflage etc.
Page |5
 Page |6

Index

1.
1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................6
2. LIGHT EMITTING POLYMER......................................................................8
2.1 CHEMISTRY BEHIND LEP......................................................................8
2.2 BASIC STRUCTURE AND WORKING...................................................9
2.3 TYPES OF OLED DISPLAYS.................................................................10
2.4 PIXEL UNIFORMITY..............................................................................14
2.5 MANUFACTURING................................................................................16
2.6 PRODUCTION OF OLEDs......................................................................18
2.7 A SOLID STATE SOLUTION.................................................................18
2.8 OTHER TYPES OF OLED.......................................................................20
2.8.1 TOLED................................................................................................20
2.8.2 FOLED................................................................................................21
2.8.3 SOLED................................................................................................22
3. ADVANTAGES AND DISAVANTAGES....................................................24
3.1 ADVANTAGES:.......................................................................................24
3.2 DISAVANTAGES:...................................................................................24
4. APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS.................................26
4.1 APPLICATIONS.......................................................................................26
4.1.1 PHOTOVOLTAICS ...........................................................................26
4.1.2 POLY LED TV ..................................................................................26
4.1.3 MP3 PLAYER DISPLAY ..................................................................27
4.2 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS ..................................................................27
5. SUMMARY....................................................................................................30
6. REFERENCE..................................................................................................31

1. INTRODUCTION
The field of semi conducting polymers has its root in the 1977 discovery of the semi
conducting properties of polyacetylene. This breakthrough earned Alan Heeger, Alan
MacDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for ‘the discovery
 Page |7

and development of conductive polymers’. The physical and chemical understanding of these
novel materials has led to new device applications as active and passive electronic and
optoelectronic devices ranging from diodes and transistors to polymer LEDs, photodiodes,
lasers, and solar cells. Much interest in plastic devices derives from the opportunities to use
clever control of polymer structure combined with relatively economical polymer synthesis
and processing techniques to obtain simultaneous control over electronic, optical, chemical,
and mechanical features.
With the imaging appliance revolution underway, the need for more advanced
handheld devices that will combine the attributes of a computer, PDA, and cell phone is
increasing and the flat-panel mobile display industry is searching for a display technology
that will revolutionize the industry. The need for new lightweight, low-power, wide viewing
angled, handheld portable communication devices have pushed the display industry to revisit
the current flat-panel digital display technology used for mobile applications. Struggling to
meet the needs of demanding applications such as e-books, smart networked household
appliances, identity management cards, and display-centric handheld mobile imaging devices,
the flat panel industry is now looking at new displays known as Organic Light Emitting
Diodes (OLED).
For the preparation of the latest materials to prepare against this onslaught of demand
for lighter and less power hungry display technologies, electrical engineers have enlisted the
help of the humble jellyfish in their efforts to develop better light-emitting diodes (LEDs),
according to a report published in the December 1 issue of the journal Advanced Materials.
The Pacific Ocean jellyfish Aequorea victoria, it appears, produces just the sort of light that
researchers try to coax from crystalline semiconductors such as gallium arsenide or indium
phosphide. Moreover, the jellyfish accomplishes this with great efficiency: its light comes
from a substance dubbed green fluorescent protein (GFP), which collects the energy produced
in a certain cellular chemical reaction and emits it as green light from a molecular package
known as a chromophore.
An OLED is an electronic device made by placing a series of organic thin films
between two conductors. When electrical current is applied, a bright light is emitted. This
process is called electro phosphorescence. Even with the layered system, these systems are
very thin, usually less than 500 nm (0.5 thousandths of a millimeter).
 Page |8

2. LIGHT EMITTING POLYMER

It is a polymer that emits light when a voltage is applied to it. The structure comprises
a thin-film of semiconducting polymer sandwiched between two electrodes (anode and
cathode) as shown in fig.1. When electrons and holes are injected from the electrodes, the
recombination of these charge carriers takes place, which leads to emission of light that
escapes through glass substrate. The bandgap, i.e. energy difference between valence
band and conduction band of the semiconducting polymer determines the wavelength
(colour) of the emitted light.

FIGURE 2.1 – Structure of PLED

The first polymer LEPs used poly phinylene vinylene (PPV) as the emitting layer. Since
1990, a number of polymers Light-Emitting Polymers have been shown to emit light under
the application of an electric field; the property is called the electro luminescence(EL) PPV
and its derivatives, including poly thiophenes, polypyridines, poly phenylenes and
copolymers are still the most commonly used materials. Efforts are on to improve stability,
lifetime and efficiency of polymer devices by modifying their configuration.

2.1 CHEMISTRY BEHIND LEP

LEPs are constructed from a special class of polymers called conjugated polymers. Plastic
materials with metallic and semiconductor characteristics are called conjugated polymers.
These polymers posses delocalised pi electrons along the backbone, whose mobility shows
 Page |9

properties of semiconductors. Also this gives it the ability to support positive and negative
charge carriers with high mobility along the polymer chain.
The charge transport mechanism in conjugated polymers is different from traditional
inorganic semiconductors. The amorphous chain morphology results in inhomogeneous
broadening of the energies of the chain segments and leads to hopping type transport.
Conjugated polymers have already found application as conductor in battery
electrodes, transparent conductive coatings, capacitor electrolytes and through hole platting in
PCB’s. There are fast displaying traditional materials such as natural polymers etc owing to
better physical and mechanical properties and amenability to various processes.

2.2 BASIC STRUCTURE AND WORKING

An LEP display solely consists of the polymer material manufactured on a substrate of
glass or plastic and doesn’t require additional elements like polarizers that are typical
of LCDs. LEP emits light as a function of its electrical operation.
The basic LEP consists of a stack of thin organic polymer layers sandwiched
between a transport anode and a metallic cathode. Figure shows the basic structure.
The indium-tin-oxide (ITO)coated glass is coated with a polymer. On the top of it,
there is a metal electrode of Al, Li, Mg or Ag. When a bias voltage is applied, holes
and electrons move into the polymer. These moving holes and electrons combine
together to form hole electron pairs known as “excitons’. These excitons are in excited
state and go back to their initial state by emitting energy.
When this energy drop occurs light comes out from the device. This
phenomenon is called electroluminescence. The greater the difference in
energy/between the hole and the electron, the higher the frequency of the emitted
light.
The development of blue LEF material enthused the world about the possibility
full colour display.
 P a g e | 10

FIGURE 2.2 – Structure and Working

2.3 TYPES OF OLED DISPLAYS

OLED displays are typically of two major types: Passive-matrix displays and Active-matrix
displays.

Passive Displays:
The passive-matrix OLED display has a simple structure and is well suited for low-cost and
low-information content applications such as alphanumeric displays. It is formed by
providing an array of OLED pixels connected by intersecting anode and cathode conductors.
Organic materials and cathode metal are deposited into a “rib” structure (base and
pillar), in which the rib structure automatically produces an OLED display panel with the
desired electrical isolation for the cathode lines. A major advantage of this method is that all
patterning steps are conventional, so the entire panel fabrication process can easily be adapted
to large-area, high-throughput manufacturing. To get a passive-matrix OLED to work,
electrical current is passed through selected pixels by applying a voltage to the corresponding
rows and columns from drivers attached to each row and column. An external controller
circuit provides the necessary input power, video data signal and multiplex switches. Data
signal is generally supplied to the column lines and synchronized to the scanning of the row
lines. When a particular row is selected, the column and row data lines determine which
pixels are lit. A video output is thus displayed on the panel by scanning through all the rows
successively in a frame time, which is typically 1/60 of a second. The first OLED displays,
 P a g e | 11

like the first LCD (Liquid Crystal Displays), are addressed as a passive matrix. This means
that to illuminate any particular pixel, electrical signals are applied to the row line and
column line (the intersection of which defines the pixel). The more current pumped through
each pixel diode, the brighter the pixel looks to our eyes. OLEDs were recently demonstrated
as the light emitting component in a passively addressed display product. These passive
matrix displays demonstrate the feasibility of OLEDs in these applications, but encounter a
fundamental barrier as the display size and pixel density increase. Since the luminous output
of an OLED is proportional to the charge injected through the device, the current densities
required to operate passively addressed displays rapidly rise as the time available to drive
each pixel decreases with increasing display resolution. These high currents cause large
voltage drops in the ITO lines of the passive array, pushes the OLED operation to higher
voltages and creates display driver issues that are not easily resolved.

Active Displays:
In contrast to the passive-matrix OLED display, active-matrix OLED has an integrated
electronic back plane as its substrate and lends itself to high-resolution, high-information
content applications including videos and graphics. This form of display is made possible by
the development of polysilicon technology, which, because of its high carrier mobility,
provides thin-film-transistors (TFT) with high current carrying capability and high switching
speed. In an active-matrix OLED display, each individual pixel can be addressed
independently via the associated TFT’s and capacitors in the electronic back plane. That is,
each pixel element can be selected to stay “on” during the entire frame time, or duration of
the video. Since OLED is an emissive device, the display aperture factor is not critical, unlike
LCD displays where light must pass through aperture. Therefore, there are no intrinsic
limitations to the pixel count, resolution, or size of an active-matrix OLED display, leaving
the possibilities for commercial use open to our imaginations. Also, because of the TFT’s in
the active-matrix design, a defective pixel produces only a dark effect, which is considered to
be much less objectionable than a bright point defect, like found in LCD’s. Moving to an
active matrix drive scheme can overcome a number of the issues posed by passively driven
display schemes. The goal of the active matrix OLED (AMOLED) display is to generate a
constant current source at each pixel using thin film transistors which, in this work, were
made in a polysilicon technology. Each pixel is programmed to provide a constant current
during the entire frame time, eliminating the high currents encountered in the passive matrix
 P a g e | 12

approach. However, polysilicon thin film transistors suffer from significant initial output
characteristic non-uniformity due to the nature of the polysilicon crystal growth. This makes
it difficult to create a uniform current source at each pixel. A new AMOLED pixel has been
designed which addresses this issue and the results which were presented show the improved
performance compared to a standard pixel.

FIGURE 2.3 – Active and Passive matrix

Introducing a major new development in driver technology…

Until now, there have been two ways to drive an OLED display: passive matrix (PM),
and active matrix (AM). PM displays are simpler and lower cost, but are limited to
small sizes as the power consumption becomes dominated by resistive and capacitive
losses at higher resolutions and/or larger panel sizes. On the other hand, AM, based on
thin film transistor driving technology, is scalable with respect to both resolution and
panel size, but is more complex and very capital intensive, and is therefore out of
reach for many manufacturers including those in developing economies with no LCD
manufacturing capacity.
 P a g e | 13

Now there is a third driving solution:

Total Matrix Addressing (TMA™)
� TMA is a new driving technology for PM displays, which has the potential to
reduce power consumption and to extend panel lifetime for a given pixel count
(resolution or information content).
� TMA extends PM display resolution into the hitherto AM-dominated display space,
whilst being competitive on power consumption.
� TMA should significantly increase the range of panel sizes which can be addressed
using PM driver schemes.
� TMA is applicable to polymer and small molecule OLED technologies, and both
fluorescent and phosphorescent materials.
How does total matrix addressing work?
Total Matrix Addressing reduces the effective multiplex rate by driving lines with
common information components simultaneously. It allows the driving of multiple
rows and columns simultaneously, substantially reducing the peak luminance
requirements.
Implementation of TMA has been made possible by the development of new
driver and high speed image processing technologies. A high speed image processing
algorithm was required to make TMA cost effective and to enable implementation
with full speed video.
Measurements on small passive matrix displays show at least a fifty percent
reduction in power consumption, or double the display luminance at the same power
consumption. Simulation shows that the benefit improves significantly for higher
resolutions, and suggests that power consumption will be competitive with a
substantial range of AM-OLED displays.
The high speed algorithm has been demonstrated running full 25 frames-
persecond video in programmable silicon. This has allowed CDT to evaluate the
feasibility of implementing this technology in various types of OLED product. While
development continues, CDT is presently considering how to bring this technology to
market in the shortest possible time. If this technology can be implemented
 P a g e | 14

successfully in PM display driver chips, it will provide a major boost to the PM OLED
industry.

2.4 PIXEL UNIFORMITY

The most critical issue in the design of an AMOLED pixel is the pixel to pixel luminance
uniformity. Driving the OLED with a constant current provides the best pixel to pixel
uniformity since the OLED threshold variations no longer impact the charge passed through
the devices. This requires that the active components at each pixel of the AMOLED display
provide a constant current to the OLED. OLEDs are presently fabricated with the anode
connected to the ITO on the active matrix plate and the cathode connected to a metal alloy
back plane such as Mg:Ag or Al:Li. The effect of OLED threshold variations can be
eliminated by using a PMOS device on the active plate since the OLED will be connected to
the drain of the PMOS transistor. In this configuration, the transistor will provide a constant
current to the OLED as long as the transistor stays in saturation.

FIGURE 2.4 - Two-Transistor AMOLED Pixel

If an NMOS device were used on the active matrix plate, the OLED would be connected to
the source of the transistor and additional techniques would be needed to ensure that the
OLED threshold variation did not affect the gate to source voltage of the transistor. PMOS
polysilicon devices are available, so the pixel designs use a PMOS device to drive the OLED
and the transistor is operated in saturation to overcome the OLED threshold variations. The
simplest pixel, shown in the above figure, uses two transistors: one drives the current for the
OLED, MP2, and another, MP1, acts as a switch to sample and hold a voltage on the gate of
the drive transistor. The major cause of luminance non-uniformity in the two-transistor pixel
 P a g e | 15

is the variation in the drive transistor MP2. This transistor has a high level of output
characteristic variation due to the nature of the polysilicon grain growth. This local non-
uniformity can be improved by process refinements, but it is difficult to reduce the variation
across the array to a level necessary for good gray scale control. For example, if the pixel
configuration of Fig. 1 was designed to provide maximum brightness with 3 volts of
overdrive on the drive transistor, MP2, then the voltage division for one gray level with 8 bits
of gray scale is 3 volts/256 = 12 mV. The
threshold variation across the 2.7 inch diagonal display was 300 mV with local variations on
the order of 100 mV. These numbers indicate that, even with a high quality process, the
transistor threshold variations are much too large to provide the pixel to pixel uniformity
necessary for a high quality flat panel display. This conclusion is confirmed in Fig. 2 which
shows the visible effects of transistor non-uniformity on the two transistor pixel design of
Fig. 1. An improved AMOLED pixel has been designed which eliminates the effects of the
polysilicon transistor threshold voltage variation. The advantage of the four-transistor pixel is
that it uses an autozero cycle to reference the data against the transistor threshold voltage,
eliminating the effects of the transistor threshold voltage variation. The improvement can be
seen by comparing Fig. 2 where there is an obvious, visible improvement in the pixel to pixel
luminance uniformity in the four transistor test pixel array.

FIGURE 2.5 - Four-Transistor AMOLED Pixel

Power dissipation in an OLED display is a critical issue. Measurements and modeling show
that the temperature increase due to power dissipation in the active plate and in the OLEDs
can be severe because the heat transfer from the display to the ambient is relatively
inefficient. It is essential that the active matrix electronics consume a minimum of power
since the OLEDs themselves dissipate power while generating light. It is important to note
 P a g e | 16

that while the OLEDs dissipate considerable power, the overall efficiency can be over 3
lm/W with all the drive electronics while AMLCDs are typically 1 to 2lm/W. The design
trade off to address in the active matrix electronics design is that, while some power must be
consumed in order to provide current control, this power must be kept to a minimum.
Reduced power dissipation in the supporting electronics leads to a smaller control voltage
range with a subsequent requirement of more accurate electronics. The electronics must
provide the necessary gray scale control while dissipating as little power as possible. Finally,
the pixel should use a minimum of control lines, storage capacitors and transistors. For
example, the two-transistor pixel of Fig. 1 requires two transistors, select and data control
lines, one power line and a storage capacitor. The four-transistor pixel requires more
components than the two-transistor pixel. This may be the greatest weakness of the four
transistor pixel but theextra devices are essential to provide the necessary pixel to pixel
luminance uniformity.

2.5 MANUFACTURING
In order to manufacture the polymer two techniques are used.
Spin coating process
This technique involves spinning a disk, that is glass substrate at a fixed angular velocity and
letting a small amount of polymer solution to drop on the top of the disk. It is shown in the
figure. Spin coating machine used has a few thousands rotations per minute.
The robot pours the plastic over the rotating plate, which in turn, evenly spreads the
polymer on the plate. This results in an extremely fine layer of the polymer having a
thickness of 100 nanometers. Once the polymer is evenly spread, it is a\baked in an oven to
evaporate any remnant liquid.
 P a g e | 17

FIGURE 2.6 – Spin Coating

Printer based technique

LEPs can be patterned using a wide variety of printing techniques. The most advanced is ink-
jet printing (figure). Resolution as high as 360 dpi have been demonstrated, and the approach
are scalble to large-screen displays. Printing promises much lower manufacturing cost.

FIGURE 2.7 – Ink jet printing

 P a g e | 18

2.6 PRODUCTION OF OLEDs

As OLED materials are extremely thin -- and some are chemically reactive and oxidize
immediately on exposure to water or oxygen, creating black spots that ruin the display -- they
can be 10,000 times more sensitive to moisture and oxygen than LCDs. To protect them,
display
makers currently use glass as the display substrate (the same as LCDs) and glue a glass lid oil
top, with a desiccant powder inside the display to absorb moisture that comes through the
glue line. This design works but is awkward and costly.

2.7 A SOLID STATE SOLUTION

Currently, a number of FPD (Flat Panel Display) makers are evaluating a thin-film solution
that offers moisture and oxygen permeability approximately equal to a sheet of glass. It
comprises alternating layers of polymer and ceramic films applied in vacuum. The total
thickness of the coating is only ~3[micro]m, and it can be applied directly on top of an OLED
display, eliminating mechanical packaging components. A liquid precursor is flash-
evaporated to a gas, which then flows into a vacuum chamber where it condenses back to a
liquid and onto a substrate. It is not a traditional vacuum process such as evaporation,
sputtering, or chemical vapor deposition. All these are gas-to-solid deposition processes in
which atoms or molecules hit a substrate in a line of sight path and are converted back to the
solid state. By their very nature, these deposition processes create conformal layers that have
the same topography and surface roughness as the underlying substrate. In contrast, the
polymer layer formed in this new vacuum process is actually condensation of gas to liquid.
The precursor gas molecules travel to the substrate and condense on all its surfaces, thereby
encapsulating and planarizing the entire structure. The coating covers all the imperfections
and provides a flat surface. In addition, because it is a liquid, the flat surface of the monomer
is atomically smooth. The substrate next moves to an ultraviolet light source, which
polymerizes the liquid to create a solid polymer film, still with an atomically smooth top
surface. This provides an ideal surface on which to deposit a barrier film. Next, a ceramic
film, ~500 [Angstrom] thick, is deposited on top of the polymer layer. Because the surface is
so smooth, the ceramic film has very few defects and is therefore an almost perfect moisture
barrier. An OLED display, however, requires an even better barrier, so the process is
repeated, creating a stack of multiple polymer and ceramic layers in which each ceramic film
 P a g e | 19

is a near-perfect moisture barrier. This combination of ceramic and polymer layers, with a
total thickness of ~3microm, creates a moisture barrier with a water permeability in the range
of [10.sup.-6]gm of water/[m.sup.2]/day. This is the water impermeability required by an
OLED display. The application of this multilayer polymer/ceramic encapsulating thin film is
challenging, and the following factors have to be considered:
• The organic emissive layers in the OLED display are extremely thin, on the order of
nanometers, and have little mechanical strength. Subjecting the OLED layers to shear stresses
when the monomer is polymerized and solidifies, which involves about 2% shrinkage, is a
concern.
• OLED materials are sensitive to the UV light used to initiate polymerization. Consequently,
the formulation of the monomer as well as the UV intensity and duration must be carefully
controlled. This is especially critical with top-emission displays, since they have transparent
cathodes and the OLED layers would be directly exposed to the UV light.
• A plasma is typically used in depositing the ceramic barrier layers, which can also damage
the OLED layers and must be carefully controlled.
• Temperature excursions during UV curing and sputtering must be avoided, as many OLED
materials would be damaged by temperatures 100°C.
• As with most manufacturing processes for semiconductors or flatpanel displays, applying
thin-film encapsulation to an OLED display demands tight control of particles. The thin-film
encapsulation tool is connected directly to the OLED vacuum tool, where particulate is
already tightly controlled. It is essential to ensure that the organic and inorganic deposition
processes used in building the multilayer barrier stack do not create any particulates.
• Finally, to qualify the thin-film encapsulation process, encapsulated OLED displays must be
subjected to high temperature and humidity-- typically 60[degrees]C/90%RH for 500 hours--
as well as thermal shock testing to ensure that the displays will satisfy the requirements of
mobile electronic-device manufacturers (i.e., for cell phones and PDAs). Besides being
extremely thin yet impermeable to water, the Barix coating is also transparent to visible light.
This means OLED display makers could conceivably avoid having to make a bottom-
emission display in which the light path is partially blocked by the TFT silicon transistors on
the substrate, thereby reducing the display efficiency and placing a limit on resolution. If the
mechanical packaging--metal cans, glass lids, and desiccant--were replaced by transparent
thin-film encapsulation, then the display could be designed so that all the light exits the top of
the display,significantly boosting efficiency and enabling much higher resolution. This
efficiency increase means more than just saving electrical power. The other limiting factor
 P a g e | 20

with OLED displays (aside from protection from moisture) is the lifetime of the emissive
materials, especially blue emitters.Unlike LCDs, which are voltage-driven, OLED displays
are current-driven. Moreover, the amount of current that flows through the emissive materials
has a major effect on lifetime. More efficient top-emitter displays require much less current
for a given brightness because they avoid the inefficiencies of bottom-emitters where light is
partially blocked, and thus have longer lifetimes. A thin-film moisture barrier that meets
OLED display requirements is therefore an enabling technology, for OLED TVs.

2.8 OTHER TYPES OF OLED

2.8.1 TOLED
The Transparent OLED (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. Because TOLEDs are 70% transparent when turned off, they may
be integrated into car windshields, architectural windows, and eyewear. Their transparency
enables TOLEDs to be used with metal, foils, silicon wafers and other opaque substrates for
top-emitting devices.

TOLED Creates New Display Opportunities:

• Directed top emission: Because TOLEDs have a transparent structure, they may be built on
opaque surfaces to effect top emission. Simple TOLED displays have the potential to be
directly integrated with future dynamic credit cards. TOLED displays may also be built on
metal, e.g., automotive components. Top emitting TOLEDs also provide an excellent way to
achieve better fill factor and characteristics in high resolution, high-information-content
displays using active matrix silicon backplanes.
• Transparency: TOLED displays can be nearly as clear as the glass or substrate they're built
on. This feature paves the way for TOLEDs to be built into applications that rely on
maintaining vision area. Today, "smart" windows are penetrating the multi-billion dollar flat
glass architectural and automotive marketplaces. Before long, TOLEDs may be fabricated on
windows for home entertainment and teleconferencing purposes; on windshields and cockpits
for navigation and warning systems; and into helmet-mounted or "head-up" systems for
virtual reality applications.
 P a g e | 21

• Enhanced high-ambient contrast: TOLED technology offers enhanced contrast ratio. By

using a low-reflectance absorber (a black backing) behind either top or bottom TOLED
surface, contrast ratio can be significantly improved over that in most reflective LCDs and
OLEDs. This feature is particularly important in daylight readable applications, such as on
cell phones and in military fighter aircraft cockpits.
• Multi-stacked devices: TOLEDs are a fundamental building block for many multi-structure
and hybrid devices. Bi-directional TOLEDs can provide two independent displays emitting
from opposite faces of the display. With portable products shrinking and desired information
content expanding, TOLEDs make it possible to get twice the display area for the same
display size.

2.8.2 FOLED
FOLEDs are organic light emitting devices built on flexible substrates. Flat panel displays
have traditionally been fabricated on glass substrates because of structural and/or processing
constraints. Flexible materials have significant performance advantages over traditional glass
substrates. In display technology, FOLED (flexible organic light emitting device) is an
organic light emitting device (OLED) built on a flexible base material, such as clear plastic
film or reflective metal foil, instead of the usual glass base. FOLED displays can be rolled up,
folded, or worn as part of a wearable computer. The devices are said to be lighter, more
durable, and less expensive to produce than the traditional glass-based alternatives. FOLED's
light-weight base materials significantly decrease the overall weight of a screen. This
capacity makes FOLED displays especially useful for portable devices, such as laptop
computers and other displays where weight is a consideration, such as large wall-mounted
screens. Furthermore, a FOLED display is less prone to breakage than a glass-based display
and compared to the silicon-based LCD displays used for small displays and flat-screen
monitors, are much less expensive to produce. Time Magazine named Universal Display
Corporation (UDC)'s rollable FOLED wireless monitor prototype one of the best 10
environmentally -- friendly technologies for 2002. UDC is working on such FOLED-based
products as rollable, refreshable electronic newspapers and video screens embedded in car
windshields, walls, windows, and office partitions. According to UDC, such products could
be on the market within five years.
 P a g e | 22

FOLEDs Offer Revolutionary Features for Displays:

• Flexibility: For the first time, FOLEDs may be made on a wide variety of substrates that
range from optically-clear plastic films to reflective metal foils. These materials provide the
ability to conform, bend or roll a display into any shape. This means that a FOLED display
may be laminated onto a helmet face shield, a military uniform shirtsleeve, an aircraft cockpit
instrument panel or an automotive windshield.
• Ultra-lightweight, thin form: The use of thin plastic substrates will also significantly
reduce the weight of flat panel displays in cell phones, portable computers and, especially,
large-area televisions-on-thewall. For example, the weight of a display in a laptop may be
significantly reduced by using FOLED technology.
• Durability: FOLEDs will also generally be less breakable, more impact resistant and more
durable compared to their glass-based counterpart.
• Cost-effective processing: OLEDs are projected to have fullproduction level cost advantage
over most flat panel displays. With the advent of FOLED technology, the prospect of roll-to-
roll processing is created. To this end, a continuous organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD)
process for large-area roll-to-roll OLED processing has been demonstrated. While continuous
web FOLED processing requires further development, this process may provide the basis for
very low-cost, mass production.

2.8.3 SOLED
SOLED (Stacked Organic Light - Emitting Diode device) is a display technology from the
Universal Display Corporation (UDC) that uses a stack of transparent organic light-emitting
devices (TOLEDs) to improve resolution and enhance full-color quality. SOLEDs use a pixel
architecture developed at UDC that stacks sub pixels (the red, blue and green elements in
each pixel) vertically rather than arranging them side by side, as is usually done in CRT and
LCD displays. Within a SOLED display, each sub-pixel element can be controlled
independently. Pixel color can be adjusted by varying the currents through the three color
elements and gray scale can be adjusted by pulse-width modulation. Brightness is controlled
by manipulating current through the stack. According to UDC, their SOLED technology
enables a three-fold improvement in resolution and better color quality over CRT and LCD
 P a g e | 23

displays. The company expects that SOLEDs may in the future enable high resolution Web-
enabled devices.
 P a g e | 24

3. ADVANTAGES AND DISAVANTAGES

3.1 ADVANTAGES:
• Robust Design - OLED’s are tough enough to use in portable devices such as cellular
phones, digital video cameras, DVD players, car audio equipment and PDA’s.
• Viewing Angles – Can be viewed up to 160 degrees, OLED screens provide a clear and
distinct image, even in bright light.
• High Resolution – High information applications including videos and graphics, active-
matrix OLED provides the solution. Each pixel can be turned on or off independently to
create multiple colors in a fluid and smooth edged display.
• “Electronic Paper” – OLED’s are paper-thin. Due to the exclusion of certain hardware
goods that normal LCD’s require, OLED’s are as thin as a dime.
• Production Advantages – Up to 20% to 50% cheaper than LCD processes. Plastics will
make the OLED tougher and more rugged. The future quite possibly could consist of these
OLED’s being produced like newspapers, rather than computer “chips”.
• Video Capabilities – They hold the ability to handle streamlined video, which could
revolutionize the PDA and cellular phone market.
• Hardware Content – Lighter and faster than LCD’s. Can be produced out of plastic and is
bendable. Also, OLED’s do not need lamps, polarizers, or diffusers.
• Power Usage – Takes less power to run (2 to 10 volts).

3.2 DISAVANTAGES:
• Engineering Hurdles – OLED’s are still in the development phases of production. Although
they have been introduced commercially for alphanumeric devices like cellular phones and
car audio equipment, production still faces many obstacles before production.
• Overcoming LCD’s – LCD’s have predominately been the preferred form of display for the
last few decades. Tapping into the multi-billion dollar industry will require a great product
and continually innovative research and development. Furthermore, LCD manufacturers will
not likely fold up and roll over to LCD’s. They will also continue to improve displays and
search for new ways to reduce production costs.
• Aging of LEP – One of the major barriers to the commercial development of LEP is its
useful lifetime. Even under ideal conditions, the light intensity gradually decreases and some
 P a g e | 25

discrete regions become totally dark. This phenomenon is the ‘aging of LEP’. One method to
reduce or stop aging is that the final soldering of the displays is to be done in an airtight
environment because as soon as the LEP molecules come in contact with oxygen, these
would disintegrate. The solution was to do the final soldering in a glass jar filled nitrogen.
The enclosure protects the device from impurities and provides a higher degree of efficiency
by giving the screen an estimated life span of 30,000 working hours.
• Space charge effect – The effect of space charge on the voltage-current characteristics and
current-voltage characteristics becomes more pronounced when the difference in the electron
hole mobilities is increased. Consequences of space charge include lowering of the electric
fields near the contacts and therefore suppression of the injected tunnel currents and strongly
asymmetric recombination profiles for unequal mobility thereby decreasing the luminescence
and hence decreases the efficiency. Research is underway to overcome this barrier Even
though this limitations are there LEPs found to be superior to other flat panel displays like
LCD, FED (field emission display) and etc.
 P a g e | 26

4. APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

4.1 APPLICATIONS
Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) can easily be processed into large-area thin films using
simple and inexpensive technology. They also promise to challenge LCD's as the premiere
display technology for wireless phones, pagers, and PDA's with brighter, thinner, lighter, and
faster features than the current display.

4.1.1 PHOTOVOLTAICS

CDT’s PLED technology can be used in reverse, to convert light into electricity.
Devices which convert light into electricity are called photovoltaic (PV) devices, and are at
the heart of solar cells and light detectors. CDT has an active program to develop efficient
solar cells and light detectors using its polymer semiconductor know-how and experience,
and has filed several patents in the area.

Digital clocks powered by CDT's polymer solar cells.

4.1.2 POLY LED TV

Philips will demonstrate its first 13-inch PolyLED TV prototype based on polymer OLED
(organic light-emitting diode) technology Taking as its reference application the wide-screen
30-inch diagonal display with WXGA (1365x768) resolution, Philips has produced a
prototype 13-inch carve-out of this display (resolution 576x324) to demonstrate the feasibility
of manufacturing large-screen polymer OLED displays using high-accuracy multi-nozzle,
multi-head inkjet printers. The excellent and sparkling image quality of Philips' PolyLED TV
prototype illustrates the great potential of this new display technology for TV applications.
According to current predictions, a polymer OLED-based TV could be a reality in the next
five years.
 P a g e | 27

4.1.3 MP3 PLAYER DISPLAY

Another product on the market taking advantage of a thin form-factor, light-emitting polymer
display is the new, compact, MP3 audio player, marketed by GoDot Technology. The unit
employs a polymeric light-emitting diode (pLED) display supplied by Delta Optoelectronics,
Taiwan, which is made with green Lumation light-emitting polymers furnished by Dow
Chemical Co., Midland, Mich.

4.2 FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Here's just a few ideas which build on the versatility of light emitting materials.

High efficiency displays running on low power and

economical to manufacture will find many uses in the consumer electronics field. Bright,
clear screens filled with information and entertainment data of all sorts may make our lives
easier, happier and safer.
 P a g e | 28

Demands for information on the move could drive the

development of 'wearable' displays, with interactive features.

Eywith changing information cole woul give many brand

ownerve edge

The ability of PLEDs to be fabricated on flexible substrates

opens up fascinating possibilities for formable or even fully flexible displays e catching
packaging intent at the point of sa d s a valuable competition.

FEW MORE DEVELOPMENTS

• Because the plastics can be made in the form of thin films or sheets, they offer a huge
range of applications. These include television or computer screens that can be rolled
up and tossed in a briefcase, and cheap videophones.

• Clothes made of the polymer and powered by a small battery pack could provide their
own cinema show.
 P a g e | 29

• Camouflage, generating an image of its surroundings picked up by a camera would

allow its wearer to blend perfectly into the background

• A fully integrated analytical chip that contains an integrated light source and detector
could provide powerful point-of-care technology. This would greatly extend the tools
available to a doctor and would allow on-the-spot quantitative analysis, eliminating
the need for patients to make repeat visits. This would bring forward the start of
treatment, lower treatment costs and free up clinician time.

The future is bright for products incorporating PLED displays. Ultra-light, ultra-thin
displays, with low power consumption and excellent readability allow product
designers a much freer rein. The environmentally conscious will warm to the absence
of toxic substances and lower overall material requirements of PLEDs, and it would
not be an exaggeration to say that all current display applications could benefit from
the introduction of PLED technology. CDT sees PLED technology as being first
applied to mobile communications, small and low information content
instrumentation, and appliance displays. With the emergence of 3G
telecommunications, high quality displays will be critical for handheld devices.
PLEDs are ideal for the small display market as they offer vibrant, full-colour displays
in a compact, lightweight and flexible form. Within the next few years, PLEDs are
expected to make significant inroads into markets currently dominated by the cathode
ray tube and LCD display technologies, such as televisions and computer monitors.
PLEDs are anticipated as the technology of choice for new products including virtual
reality headsets; a wide range of thin, technologies, such as televisions and computer
monitors. PLEDs are anticipated as the technology of choice for new products
including virtual reality headsets; a wide range of thin, lightweight, full colour
portable computing; communications and information management products; and
conformable or flexible displays.
 P a g e | 30

5. SUMMARY
The Organic Light Emitting Diode forms of display still have many obstacles to overcome
before it’s popularity and even more importantly, its reliability are up to par with standards
expected by consumers. Although the technology presents itself as a major player in the field
of displays, overcoming these obstacles will prove to be a difficult task. However, the
OLED’s advantages over LCD’s and future outlook have many in the industry goggle-eyed at
the realm of possibilities. For all we know and can hope for OLED’s could change the ways
in which we see things.
 P a g e | 31

6. REFERENCE

• www.cdtltd.co.uk
• www.research.philips.com
• www.covion.com
• www.techalone.com
• www.scribd.com
• www.lep-light.com