ABSTRACT

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 displays has pushed the 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 and revolutionary form of displays known as Organic
Light Emitting Diodes (OLED).

OLEDs offer higher efficiency and lower weight than many other
types of displays, and are present in myriad forms that lend themselves to
various applications. Many exciting virtual imaging applications will
become a reality as new advanced OLED – on – silicon micro displays
enter the market place over the next few years.
 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 2

2. EVOLUTION OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES 4

3. COMPARING TECHNOLOGIES

™ LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAYS 7

™ CATHODE RAY TUBES 8

4. PROS AND CONS 9

5. WHAT ARE OLEDs? 10

6. DESCRIPTION

™ HOW IT WORKS 11

™ THE LAYERS 12

7. POLEDs 16

8. IMPROVING POLED EFFICIENCY 18

9. TYPES OF OLED DISPLAYS 21

10. PASSIVE DISPLAYS 22

11. ACTIVE DISPLAYS 24

12. PIXEL UNIFORMITY 26

13. PRODUCTION OF OLEDs 30

14. A SOLID STATE SOLUTION 31

15. TOLEDs 35

™ TOLEDs CREATE NEW DISPLAY OPPORTUNITIES 36

16. FOLEDs 38

™ FOLEDs OFFER REVOLUTIONARY FEATURES 40

17. SOLEDs 42

18. ADVANTAGES OF OLEDs 43

19. DISADVANTAGES 45

20. FUTURE OUTLOOK AND APPLICATIONS 46

21. SUMMARY 48

22. REFERENCES 49
 PRESENTED BY

CHANDRA SEKHAR KARTHA

S7 ECE

01 - 615

COORODINATOR: SMT. MUNEERA C R

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 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).
 EVOLUTION OF DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES

The rise in importance of electronic displays over the last forty years
has been a direct consequence of the explosive proliferation of
computers of all sizes, from the large mainframes of the 1960s and 1970s to
the small handheld systems of the late 1990s. Initially, displays based on
neon discharges were used to display binary and decimal digits, but these
quickly gave way to displays which exploited the cathode ray tubes
(CRTs) developed for television. Because of the economies of scale
afforded by the huge television market, the CRT still represents nearly half
of the information display market in dollars, and more than half in terms of
units.
In spite of the fact that the CRT is still the most economical
technology for displaying 0.3–3.0 million picture elements (pixels), it has
never been able to shed its most serious drawbacks of weight and
volume. For this reason, even in the early days of television, engineers
dreamed of making thin, light “flat-panel” displays that would capture the
function of the CRT in a more attractive package, perhaps even one that
would be easily portable. Unfortunately, the first major commercial
flatpanel technology, based again on neon discharges, was not, when
introduced, economically competitive with the CRTs it was intended to
replace. As desktop displays, plasma displays (as they were then called)
were too expensive and lacked the ability to render full color. For portable
applications, they were too heavy and too inefficient.
Since the advent of the personal computer in the early 1980s
prompted everyone to look for a way to make a portable version, display
attention shifted to liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which already had
gained a reputation, in watches, for low power demands and low weight.
Early screen images produced on liquid crystal flat panels were grossly
inferior to CRT images, even if the computers incorporating them were
highly portable. In 1983, however, workers at Seiko–Epson produced a
small, backlit liquid crystal display with color filters, and a thin- film
transistor at each pixel site, that yielded for the first time a flat-panel
display with the image characteristics of a color CRT [1]. Within five years,
this technology had been developed to a point at which displays suitable
for portable computers became feasible.
Although this active-matrix LCD technology was not, and is not,
competitive in cost with CRT technology, the new function of portability
was so highly valued that a major industry was enabled by its existence.
The market for portable computers of various sizes is now in the range of
$50 billion per year. Looking back, it is clear that a critical milestone for
triggering the growth of the market was the ability to provide an image
competitive with that of the CRT, after which cost became secondary.
In spite of their great success, even directly viewed flatpanel
displays have their limitations as portable devices. For instance, if one
wants to provide a large amount of information, i.e., a large number of
pixels, it is necessary to use a large flat panel because of the limitations of
the human visual system, especially in adults. But a large display is too
cumbersome for use while walking. Also, with the convergence of
information system technology and entertainment, exemplified by the
DVD (digital versatile disk), creating a large-viewing-angle experience
similar to that encountered in a cinema requires a very large flat-panel
display.
Now, the emphasis is on developing display technologies that will
meet the requirements of the emerging communication and multimedia
applications. This is where most experts believe that Organic LEDs with
their many advantages will be able to provide a comprehensive solution.
 The beginning of worldwide interest in OLEDs first started in the early
1980’s. Then in 1987 the breakthrough of Chin Tang and Steve Van Slyke,
from KODAK, catapulted the OLED industry forward with the publication
of their “Organic Electroluminescent Diodes” paper. They proposed the
use of two organic layers instead of one to be deposited between the
conducting metal layers. This proposed design change was the first of its
kind, and that design model is still used today in many OLED device
applications.

Since Tang and Slyke’s 1987 discoveries our knowledge has

increased to the point where we are beginning to see electronic devices
using OLED displays instead of liquid crystal displays (LCD). But between
conceptualization and implementation lies a long path which many
budding technologies have taken long to traverse. Here are a few
examples:
 Comparing Technologies

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

For comparison, LCDs, which are widely used today, are

nonorganic, non emissive light devices, which means they do not
produce any form of light. Instead they block/pass light reflected from an
external light source or provided by a back lighting system. The back
lighting system accounts for about half of the power requirements for
LCDs, which is the reason for their increased power consumption (over
OLED technologies).

LCD production involves the same sort of layering technique used in

OLED displays, with some modification. First there is the formation of
electrodes on two glass substrates. Then the substrates are joined together
and the liquid crystals are sealed within them. Backlights are used to
spread light out by a thin light diffuser. Finally the system is placed into a
metal frame.
 CATHODE RAY TUBES

Displays made from CRTs are produced using electron tubes in which
electrons are accelerated by high-voltage anodes, formed into a beam
by focusing electrodes, and projected toward a phosphorescent screen
that forms one face of the tube. The electrons beam leaves a bright spot
wherever it strikes the phosphor screen.
 Pros and Cons

CRTs

• Cost less and produce a display capable of more

colors than LCD displays.
• CRTs also use emissive technology, meaning that they
can provide their own light - this means you can view
images from any angle.

LCDs

• LCDs have gained popularity due to their smaller,

lighter form factor and their lower power consumption.
• Many users report lower eyestrain and fatigue due to
the fact that LCD displays have no flicker.
• LCDs emit fewer low-frequency electromagnetic
emissions than CRTs.
 What Are Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED)?

Organic Light Emitting Diode technology pioneered and patented by

Kodak/Sanyo, enables full color, full-motion flat panel displays with a level
of brightness and sharpness not possible with other technologies.

Unlike traditional LCD’s, OLEDs are self-luminous and do not require

backlighting, diffusers, polarizers, or any of the other baggage that goes
with liquid crystal displays. Essentially, the OLED consists of two charged
electrodes sandwiched on top of some organic light emitting material.
This eliminates the need for bulky and environmentally undesirable
mercury lamps and yields a thinner, more versatile and more compact
display. Their low power consumption provides for maximum efficiency
and helps minimize heat and electric interference in electronic devices.
Armed with this combination of features, OLED displays communicate
more information in a more engaging way while adding less weight and
taking up less space.

Invented in 1963 and envisioned as a slimmed-down replacement

for bulky cathode ray tubes or as screens for wall mounted televisions – a
use never realized due to problems scaling up to large surfaces – liquid
crystal displays have instead become the standard for everything from
watches to laptop computers. Despite this, however, remains high
production and commercial expenses that have never come down
enough to successfully mass market these displays, leaving the
technology vulnerable to new innovations.
 DESCRIPTION:

How It Works:

The basic OLED cell structure consists of a stack of thin organic

layers sandwiched between a transparent anode and a metallic
cathode. The organic layers comprise a hole-injection layer, a hole-
transport layer, an emissive layer, and an electron-transport layer. When
an appropriate voltage (typically between 2 and 10 volts) is applied to
the cell, the injected positive and negative charges recombine in the
emissive layer to produce light (electro luminescence). The structure of
the organic layers and the choice of anode and cathode are designed
to maximize the recombination process in the emissive layer, thus
maximizing the light output from the OLED device.

Both the electroluminescent efficiency and control of colour output

can be significantly enhanced by "doping" the emissive layer with a small
amount of highly fluorescent molecules.
 THE LAYERS:

Today’s basic OLED structures may be comprised of four active

layers of material to be deposited on top of a substrate. In choosing a
good substrate candidate, one needs to find a material that has very
smooth surface. Some possible choices for substrates are silicon, glass and
plastic. The first layer to be deposited on top of the substrate is a
transparent conducting anode layer. A current and widely used material
for this part of the device is a 300nm layer of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). The
next thin layer is called the hole transport layer (HTL). An example of a
compound that could be used here is N, N’-bis (3-methylphenyl)-[1,1’-
biphenyl]-4,4’-diamine (TPD, ~60nm). On top of the HTL layer is the thin
electron transport layer (ETL). A proven ETL layer commonly used today is
a 60nm thick layer of 8-tris-hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3). This layer is
where the recombination of holes and electrons occurs and the result is
emitting light. Finally, a thin conductive cathode material with a low work
function is applied over the ETL layer. A good candidate for this layer is
300nm of a combination of magnesium and silver (Mg: Ag) with a ratio of
ten to one respectively. Since this layer is so thick, the light is emitted back
through a transparent substrate.

Another possible device structure consists of only three layers of

material. This device is made up of a substrate coated with ITO, a single
polymer to replace both the HTL and ETL layers, and a metal cathode
layer. Polymers are beginning to be utilized more and more in OLED
manufacturing due to a few appealing characteristics. First and foremost
of these qualities is the ability of polymers to be incorporated into mass
production processes with less difficulty than many organic compounds.
Rather than using a physical vapor deposition system for organic
compounds, large ink presses or spin coaters can be used to deposit
polymers. One polymer that is beginning to be incorporated into OLED
production is Poly3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene/polystyrenesulfonate
(PEDOT/PSS). This polymeric compound is both transparent and
conductive. Some experimentalists are using this compound as an
interface in between the ITO layer and the HTL layer as a hole injection
enhancer.

The key material is that used in the organic emitter layer. This
semiconducting organic layer must contain a material with conjugated π-
bonds, but can be either a small molecule in a crystalline phase (small
molecule OLEDs or SMOLEDs) or a polymer (polymer OLEDs or POLEDs).
These molecules contain chemical groups called chromophores, which
absorb incident energy and emit visible light. The color of the emitted light
depends upon the precise composition of the material. Red, green, and
blue emissive materials can be used together to produce the full color
spectrum.

SMOLEDs use organic emissive materials with molecular weights up

to several hundred daltons and do not contain repeating units as
polymers do. Anthracene (three benzene rings fused in a chain) was the
original material studied by Pope in his pioneering work on SMOLEDs.
Fused benzene ring compounds (arenes) are now commonly used and
recently another promising class of arenes, pentacenes (chain-like
structures of five aromatic rings), has been found.

Pioneered by Kodak, the technology has been licensed to IBM,

UDX, and Ritek, who are now pursuing this approach. Researchers are
working to overcome the common limitations of SMOLED organic emitters,
which include limited efficiency in converting electrical energy into light
(electroluminescence efficiency), rapid degradation upon contact with
oxygen or water (which makes production difficult), and poor solubility
(which leads to aggregation).

For example, many SMOLED organic emitters incorporate transition

metal-atom-containing species that convert a high fraction of the input
electric charge to emitted light. Examples include adducts of the mercury
trifunctional Lewis acid trimer and the arene compounds pyrene,
naphthalene, and biphenyl. These adducts exhibit bright red, green, and
blue phosphorescent emissions in the solid state at ambient temperatures.
These trimer-arene adducts overcome three limitations of SMOLED
emitters:
 • Typical arenes only fluoresce, limiting electroluminescence
efficiency to 25%, while OLEDs containing phosphorescent trimer-
arene adducts have an upper limit of 100%;

• Arene-arene intermolecular interactions in the solid state reduce

device efficiency through self-quenching and excimer formation.
These interactions are not present in trimer-arene adducts; and

• The trimer-arene adduct compounds provide better control of color

than arenes alone.

Encapsulation technology is also being developed to reduce the

degradation that limits SMOLED operating life, while reducing the
undesirable effects of aggregation in the organic emitter. For example,
poly(benzylaryl ether) dendrimers have been used to encapsulate
quinacridone. Because dendrimers are soluble in organic solvents,
spincoating processes can be used. However, the limited solubility of
SMOLED organic emitter materials means devices cannot usually be
fabricated using solution processing but require more expensive vacuum
vapor deposition.
 POLED

The alternative approach to small molecules is to use polymers as

the organic emitter layer. Cambridge Display Technologies developed
the POLED approach, which is also now being pursued by Philips, who
have a number of products (Fig. 3), DuPont and its subsidiary Uniax, and
Dow Chemical.

POLEDs consist of a thin (0.1 µm) two-layer polymer film sandwiched

between the two electrodes. The bilayer film consists of an emitting
polymer layer, such as polyparaphenylene or polyfluorene, atop a
conducting polymer layer, such as a combination of polyaniline and
polystyrenesulfonate or polyethylenedioxythiophene and polystyrene
sulfonate.

The combination of the electrical properties of metals and

semiconductors with the mechanical properties of polymers enables
POLEDs to be deposited on flexible substrates. Such flexible displays could
find applications in portable computers, electronic books, and billboard-
type displays. This is a unique advantage over both SMOLEDs and current
display technologies. POLED displays also operate at a lower voltage and
are more power-efficient than SMOLED displays. In addition to these
advantages, manufacturing costs are lower because solution processing
(spin coating) and ink-jet printing methods can be used instead of
vacuum vapor deposition.

However, there are important areas in which POLED technology

needs improvement, including increased electroluminescence efficiency
and longer operating life, particularly for blue light emitters.
 Improving POLED efficiency

Until recently, it was thought that the light-emitting polymers used in

POLEDs were inherently limited in efficiency, able to convert no more than
25% of their energy into light because of spin statistics. The theoretical
studies of Jean-Luc Brédas of Georgia Institute of Technology indicate
that higher efficiencies are possible.

Brédas proposes that the key to higher efficiency is the two-step

charge recombination process that begins when initially separated
charges combine to form a loosely bound charge-transfer state (Fig. 4a).
When the opposite charges meet, they neutralize one another and
produce a singlet or triplet excited state (exciton) (Fig. 4b). The decay of
that excited state results in the emission of light. During the charge-
recombination process, the spin directions of the electrons involved can
orient themselves into four possible combinations, each with an equal
statistical likelihood. The first pattern, a ‘singlet’, can have only one of the
four possible spin combinations. The other, a ‘triplet’, can have three
different combinations. Thus spin statistics predict that singlets will be
formed in only 25% of charge recombinations, and only singlets produce
light in π-conjugated polymers.

Brédas has shown theoretically that systems built from long polymer
chains should be able to boost the percentage of light-emitting singlets to
as high as 50%. This is because, with increasing molecular weight, triplets
take longer to convert to neutral excitons. During this time, the triplet state
can convert to a singlet, while singlet conversion to excitons remains
rapid. As a result, spin statistics become biased in favor of singlet
formation, which accounts for more than 25% of the four possible spin
combinations. This results in an increase in POLED efficiency beyond the
25% limit. The π -conjugated polymer molecular weight required is still
being defined, however.

“These results are important in the sense that they lead to an

understanding of why polymer LEDs can have an efficiency that goes
beyond the 25% limit predicted on the basis of simple spin statistics,” says
Brédas. Besides improving efficiency by using longer polymer backbones
to increase molecular weight, Brédas is also investigating the use of
chemical group substituents on the polymer backbone to improve
efficiency.

Eric Meulenkamp, principal scientist at Philips Research, has

reported a different method of increasing POLED efficiency. By dispersing
a phosphorescent ‘guest’ material into a light-emitting polymer ‘host’, it is
possible to use all the excited states, both singlet and triplet, for light
emission provided that the triplet energy gap of the host is higher than
that of the guest. Scientists at Philips Research and TNO Industrial
Technology have developed a proprietary copolymer suitable for hosting
a green triplet emitter and providing a high luminous efficacy of 24 cd/A.
Still higher efficiencies and efficient blue emission could be achieved by
further optimizing the copolymer composition.

Meulenkamp also reports increasing POLED efficiency using a

proprietary anode layer. The novel anode significantly reduces losses that
arise from imbalances in the hole and electron partial currents. With
present anode layers, the hole current can far exceed the electron
current. This results in significant energy wastage, since the excess holes
cannot combine with electrons to generate light. The new proprietary
anode layer introduces a barrier to hole injection, thereby reducing the
number of excess holes. With balance between holes and electrons at
high voltage, efficiency is increased from 2-4% in conventional devices to
around 12%. This translates into a luminous efficacy of 35 cd/A for a yellow
light-emitting polymer and 20 cd/A for blue.
 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, 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 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.
 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 1. 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 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.

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 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 the
extra devices are essential to provide the necessary pixel to pixel
luminance uniformity.
 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.
 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 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 flat-

panel 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 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.
 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.
• 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.
 FOLEDs

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.
 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-the-
wall. 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 full-
production 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.
 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 displays. The company expects that SOLEDs may in the future
enable high resolution Web-enabled devices.
 Advantages of OLED displays:

• 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).

 Disadvantages:

• 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.

• Color – The reliability of the OLED is still not up to par. After a

month of use, the screen becomes non uniform. Red and blues
die first, leaving a very green display. 100,000 hours for red,
30,000for green and 1,000 for blue. Good enough for cell
phones, but not laptop or desktop displays.

• 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.
 Future Outlook:

The OLED technology faces a bright future in the display market, as

the ever-changing market environment appears to be a global race to
achieve new success. Eventually, the technology could be used to make
screens large enough for laptop and desktop computers. Because
production is more akin to chemical processing than semiconductor
manufacturing, OLED materials could someday be applied to plastic and
other materials to create wall-size video panels, roll-up screens for laptops,
and even head wearable displays.

Close to 100 manufacturers are at work developing applications for

organic light emitters. Here are some examples:

Application: Small displays

Uses: Personal electronic equipment

Products (Display Makers): Digital camera (Kodak/Sanyo); cellular phones

(Pioneer, RiTdisplay); car audio components (Pioneer, TDK); electric razor
(Philips)

Status: On the market

Application: Large displays

Uses: TVs; computers; billboards; vehicle windshields

Products (Display Makers): 15.5-inch OLED (Samsung SDI); 17-inch PLED

(Toshiba); 20-inch OLED (ChiMei/IBM); 24-inch multipanel screen (Sony)

Status: Prototype; two to four years from market

Application: Bendable displays

Uses: Clothing; portable devices

Products (Display Makers): Wearable computer (Pioneer); rollable display

(Universal Display Corporation)

Status: Prototype; several years from market

The OLED market appears to be expanding at a rapid pace. Sales

of passive OLED displays rose from $2 million to $18 million this year.
Projected sales by 2005 are expected to reach $717 million, with active
matrix sales accounting for half of that.
 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.
 BIBILIOGRAPHY

1. SHORT LIFETIMES OF LIGHT EMITTING POLYMERS

AUTHOR: JEFFREY FREDRICK GOLD, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
LINK: http://www.math.utah.edu/~gold/doc/lep.pdf

2. SCREEN PRINTING FOR THE FABRICATION OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODES

AUTHORS: GHASSAN E. JABBOUR, RACHEL RADSPINNER AND NASSER

PEYGHAMBARIAN

LINK:http://www.optics.arizona.edu/oled/ARTICLES/IEEEJofSelTopQuant
Elec2001iss5pp769.pdf

3. MICRODISPLAYS BASED ON ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODES

AUTHOR: W. E. HOWARD, O. F PRACHE
LINK: http://www.usdc.org/resources/tutorials/OLEDhoward.pdf

4. SEMICONDUCTING POLYMER LEDs

AUTHOR: DAVID BRAUN
LINK: http://www.depeca.uah.es/wwwnueva/docencia/ING-ECA/tec-
disp/art4.pdf

5. DESIGN OF AN IMPROVED PIXEL FOR AN ACTIVE MATRIX OLED

DISPLAY
AUTHORS: R. M. A DAWSON, SHEN, FURST, SHANNON et. al
LINK:http://www.poem.princeton.edu/Sturm%20publications/CP.136.IDI
S.1998.pdf
6. TOWARDS ELECTRONIC PAPER
AUTHOR: KARL AMUNDSON
LINK:http://www.paperstudies.org/news_events/events/seminars/prese
ntations/epaper2-8-02.pdf

7. THE FUTURE OF DISPLAYS

AUTHORS: PATRICK BAUDELAIRE AND GUNTHER HAAS
LINK:http://www.riam.org/Download/RIAM%20Future%20Displays%20G
H-PB%2015-Dec-03%20Baudelaire.pdf

8. FABRICATION OF AN OLED ON A PHOTO PAPER SUBSTRATE

AUTHOR: ANDREW J. BRONCZYK
LINK:http://www.erc.arizona.edu/Education/REU/Student%20Reports%2
003/Andy%20report.pdf

9. ELECTRONIC PAPER: ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODES

LINK: http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/01s/Tollefsrud2.htm

10. SITE OF PC TECH GUIDE

LINK: http://www.pctechguide.com/07panels_OLEDs.htm

11. DEVELOPMENTS IN ORGANIC DISPLAYS – JOHN K. BORCHARDT