OLED
Evaluation and clarification of the new Organic Light Emitting Display technology
Organic Light Emitting Displays (OLEDs) are a new type of thin emissive displays predicted to possess superior properties to existing techniques e.g. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The main advantages are low power consumption and a thin display structure. This report contains an explanation of the emissive OLED technology, its functionality and the physics of the organic layer structure in an OLED. The technology is described with respect to the two classes of organic materials used in displays, small molecules and conjugated polymers. The information is derived from a study of literature and from different measurements performed on a full-colour OLED microdisplay, based on colour filters. The evaluation of the OLED revealed the main disadvantage of an unsatisfactory lifetime of approximately only one week. The results of the measurements and study are furthermore compared to the traditional LCD technology. A conclusion with the advantages and drawbacks with the OLED technology summarises the report together with a short analysis of the future for OLEDs, partly achieved through a written enquiry sent to approximately 20 possible OLED manufactures.