ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODES

(OLEDS)

By:
Saurabh Saini
(2206096)
8th SEM.
 INTRODUCTION
 OLED is an acronym for Organic Light
Emitting Diode.
 An OLED is a solid state device
(based on electroluminescence) composed
of thin films of organic polymers that produce
light on the application of electricity.

 The device is 100 to 500 nanometers

thick or about 200 times smaller than a
human hair.

 OLED’s can provide brighter, crisper displays and it uses

less power than conventional light-emitting diodes or
liquid crystal displays
 What
What the
the Organic
Organic Light
Light Emitting
Emitting Diode
Diode
consist of:
consist of:

 The Top Layer is the Cathode layer made of

tungsten releases electrons when current is run
through it.

 Emissive Layer transport electrons from the

cathode layer to make light. One polymer used is
polyflurene.

 Conductive layer is made from a type of organic

plastic that transport holes from the anode. One
polymer used is polyaniline.

 Then the Anode Layer that consist of removing

and adding electron holes while the current is
running through it and is made from graphite
particles

 Followed by the Substrate layer is used to support

the Organic LED and is made up of glass, clear
plastic
How OLEDs emit light?
 Low Voltage bias( 2.5 ~ 20 V) is applied on
the electrodes, but the active layers are so
thin that the electric fields in the active
layers are very high (105 – 107 V/cm)

 These high, near-breakdown electric fields

support injection of charges across the
electrode / active layers interfaces. Holes are
injected from the anode, and electrons are
injected from the cathode.

 The injected charges migrate against each

other in the opposite directions, and
eventually meet and recombine.

 Recombination energy is released from the

molecule / polymer segment as photons.
 Fabrication
 The substrates are Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glasses with a
sheet resistance of 20-30Ω.

 Cathode / Anode: Lif-Al.

 TPD and Alq3 are used hole and electron transport layers
respectively.

 Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) was used as another

anode buffer layer.

 All the devices consist of the structure

ITO/CuPc/TPD/Alq3/LiF-Al.  
 Making OLEDs
 Vacuum Deposition or Vacuum Thermal
Evaporation (VTE)
Here the organic molecules are gently heated (evaporated) and allowed to
condense as thin films onto cooled substrates. This process is expensive
and inefficient.

 Organic Vapor Phase Deposition (OVPD)

In a low-pressure, hot-walled reactor chamber, a carrier gas transports
evaporated organic molecules onto cooled substrates, where they
condense into thin films. Using a carrier gas increases the efficiency and
reduces the cost of making OLEDs

 Inkjet Printing (Best)

contd..
 With inkjet technology, OLEDs are sprayed onto
substrates just like inks are sprayed onto paper
during printing. Inkjet technology greatly reduces
the cost of OLED manufacturing and allows
OLEDs to be printed onto very large films for large
displays like 80-inch TV screens.
 Advantage: high-resolution, low cost, materials
saving
 Selectively deposit many layers in a display
simultaneously
 Surface properties of the substrate affect the
uniformity of the film thickness
 Types of OLEDs
 Passive matrix OLED
 Active matrix OLED
 Transparent OLED
 Top emitting OLED
 Foldable OLED
 White OLED
Passive-Matrix OLED
(PMOLED)
 PMOLEDS are easy to
make,but they consume more
power than other types of
OLED, mainly due to power
needed by external circuitry.

 PMOLEDs are most efficient

for text and icons and best
suited for small screens (2- to
3- inch diagonal) such as
those you find in cell phones,
PDAs and MP3 players
Active-Matrix OLED (AMOLED)
 AMOLEDs consume less
power than PMOLEDs
because the TFT array
requires less power than
external circuitry, so they are
efficient for large displays.
 AMOLEDs have faster refresh
rates suitable for video.
 Used in computer monitors,
large-screen TVs and
electronic signs and
billboards.
Transparent OLED (TOLED)
 TOLEDs have only
transparent components
(substrate, cathode, anode) and
when turned off, are upto 85%
as transparent as their
substrate.
 When TOLEDs is turned on, it
allows light to pass in both
directions.
 A TOLED display can be
either active- or passive-
matrix. This technology can be
used for head-up-displays.
Top-Emitting OLED (TEOLED)
 TEOLED has a
substrate that is either
opaque or reflective.
 They are best suited to
active-matrix design.
 TEOLED can be used
in smart cards.
Flexible OLED (FOLED)
 FOLED have substrate made
of very flexible metallic
foils or plastics.
 They are light-weight and
durable. Their use in devices
such as cell phones and
PDAs can reduce breakage.
 Potentially, FOLED displays
can be attached to fabrics to
create “smart” clothing.
White OLED (WOLED)
 WHOLEDs emit white
light that is brighter, more
uniform and more
efficient than that emitted
by fluorescent lights.
 WOLEDs also have true
color qualities
incandescent lighting.
 Because they can be made
in large sheets, they can
replace fluorescent lights.
Advantages
 Brighter than LEDs because the organic layers are much thinner and can be
multi-layered
 OLED substrates can be plastic rather than glass
 Easier to produce and can be made into larger sizes
 Do not require backlighting like LCDs - LCDs work by selectively blocking
areas of the backlight to make
the images that you see, while OLEDs
generate light themselves
 Consume much less power than
LCDs - This is especially important
for battery-operated devices such
as cell phones
 Have large fields of view, about
170 degrees
Disadvantages
 Organic materials have a shorter lifetime than
LCD and plasma screens
 Intrusion of water can destroy the organic
materials
-Compensated by complex sealing
processes
-Complex sealing processes make product
less flexible
 Manufacturing processes are EXPENSIVE!
Applications
 Current main applications
 Small monochrome displays for hand held
electronic devices (cell phones, PDAs,
digital cameras, GPS receivers etc.)
 Ultra-lightweight, wall-size television
monitors
 Large screen computer monitors
 General White applications (to replace
incandescent / halogen and fluorescent)
 Head-up instrument for aircraft and
automobiles.
 Lighting panels for illumination of
residential and commercial buildings,
advertising boards etc.
 Color-changing lighting panels and light
walls for home and office, etc.
 Application
Future Application
•OLED’s can be printed onto flexible substrates and this allows for new
innovations such as roll-up displays and displays embedded in fabrics
•Green technology- OLED screens turned “off” will consumer no power at
all and show true black while LCD screens can not
•The prototype of a thin ,rollable flexible OLED display by Universal
Display Corp.

This is how a keyboard

looks in a near future
using OLEDs
 Challenges
Brightness and Lifetime requirement
 State of art OLED brightness and lifetime-100 nits and
40,000 hours.
 High brightness level require the display driving voltage
levels to be increased which trades off expected lifetime.

Moisture sensitivity
 Over-time moisture can react with organic layers and
cause degradation and defects in an OLED display
 Sealing techniques used decreases flexibility.
Thank you