Flexibility is key to new OLED display technology

MANHASSET, New York — Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology has been quietly working its way into a few commercial and military applications in recent months. A more advanced version of OLED incorporating flexible metal foil is poised to propel the technology into even more markets, according to a company pioneering the technology.

"OLED is just starting to make it into the marketplace," said Janice Mahon, of Universal Display Corp., in an interview Monday (Nov. 22). She pointed to Sony's new Personal Entertainment Device and Fujitsu's new cell phones as examples. "In the next year, we're going to see many new cell phones with the technology."

With more than 600 patents in the field, Universal Display is finding that companies with interest in the technology are coming to it. The New Jersey-based firm has research-and-development contracts with several companies in the commercial arena, including Samsung, Tohoku Pioneer, DuPont Displays, Toyota Industries Corp., PPG Industries and Toshiba. In the military sphere, the company has partnered with L-3 Communications Display Systems to develop an advanced display for the U.S. Air Force.

As part of its $825,000 contract with L-3, Universal Display is developing a full-color, active-matrix FOLED (flexible organic light-emitting diode) display prototype on metal. The metal substrate can lead to a rugged, retractable display. Mahon, the firm's vice president of Technology Commercialization, said the industry growing around the technology has been struggling with different substrate approaches, including plastic, glass, and metal. All seem to be useful for different applications.

FOLED is based on the established OLED technology, which can be merged with flexible substrates. The result is a display that's thinner and lighter than today's liquid-crystal displays. The FOLED products consume less power than LEDs and eventually should be much cheaper. The underlying OLED technology is based on the development of small-molecule OLEDs being built on flexible substrates to form FOLEDs.

"FOLEDs are less breakable," said Mahon. "That's one reason we'll be seeing them in cell phones. And the displays will look better and be clearer."

She expects televisions using OLED technology to begin hitting commercial markets by 2006. The TV technology uses Universal Display's phosphorescent (PHOLED) approach, which has an additional advantage of using less power--a particular benefit for large TV screens, which have been gaining in popularity in recent years.

Further out, Mahon sees even broader applications: automobiles could be coated with FOLED active matrix technology; which would allow drivers to easily change the color of their cars, if they wish. The technology would have obvious camouflage benefits for military usage. For instance, in discussing the use of FOLED for the Air Force, Universal Display stated: "Integrated with a polysilicon, thin-film transistor backplane and thin-film encapsulation technologies, the active matrix FOLED display will be designed to offer high information content and video-rate performance.

Universal Display has also partnered with Princeton University and the University of Southern California to develop additional FOLED technologies.