OLED TVs

For over decades it was told that the flat TV screens, the darlings of the science fiction writers were just about that corner. When they have finally arrived, these technologies got quickly multiplied. Firstly there was the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology then there was the plasma, then the Surface-conduction Electron-Emiter (SED). Now all these three are going to meet by the fourth technology of the flat screens, one that contains the potential of being a roll-up of fiction.

It is called the OLED or the Organic Light Emiting Diode technology. It assures to revolutionize everything that uses the displays from HDTVs, computer monitors to the keyboards, PDAs and cell phones. The first OLED was developed by the Kodak in late 1980s. Since that times, the companies such as Sony and Samsung have been working on to perfect both the manufacturability and the technology itself. This attempt is beginning to bear the fruit now and the products utilizing a technology this are right about that corner. The organic process utilized in the OLED is called the electrophosphorescence and is the biological phenomenon that was noted and was wondered at for the eons. Plankton, Fireflies and many other sea creatures naturally possess this characteristic. But it is only in these past few years that the researchers are able to synthesize that non-biologically.

Although the OLED panels are consists of several fluorocarbon doped polymer layer, the result is the system that is very thin, generally less than a 0.5 thousandths of the millimeter thick and these OLEDs produce the self-luminous displays which do not need the backlighting and could operate at low current even with 2-10 volts. The thin displays could be made much flexible, and have the wide viewing angle up to the 170 degrees.

Just like the Plasma and the liquid Crystal, the OLED could be made either as an active or passive matrix. The passive matrix might be the one where columns and rows of the pixels are opted, i.e. energizing the column 5 and row 6 would imply that only that pixel at that particular intersection, 5 columns over and 6 rows down over would light. The particular operating mode as this is ideal for cheap, small displays such as the watches and smart-cards. The 2nd method, an active matrix mod is the one in which every LED element is carried out separately to an edge of its display and is brought by the own transistor using the technology of TFT (Thin-Film-Transisor). In this case every LED can be turned off or on without the regard to what's been happening on rest of display. This mode emits quick response times and also allows for much control over the contrast and brightness levels.

Conclusion
HDTVs with large screens that are as thin as the wallpaper are very prospect that can be appealed and might be a first large-scale utilization of the OLEDs. Although the Samsung has declared the first OLED TV of 40” based on this very technology, still it is unclear when this OLED technology would be in the mass production and when becomes a price competitive with the existing technologies. If it could fulfill this promise, a large variety of the applications would benefit.