Saturday, November 29, 2008

Scientists improve blue OLEDs

Scientists at the South Korean Pusan National University and Seoul National University have made a breakthrough that could lead to big-screen, energy efficient OLED displays.

The organic light-emitting diode technology, which has seen use in several small-scale applications, offers improved energy efficiency and a greater field of vision over standard liquid crystal display systems, but its developers have had trouble recreating the blue layer needed to generate high-quality RGB displays. According to Gizmodo, that's no longer a problem.

Professor Jin Sung Ho, the lead on the project to improve OLED technology, believes that his team's breakthrough in creating a high-quality blue layer to add to existing red and green layers will lead to large-scale "energy efficient" displays that could easily replace existing LCDs in current TV and monitor manufacturing. If the technology pans out, it could finally offer big-screen enthusiasts an option for blacker blacks and an end to 'smearing' that cheaper LCDs can suffer from.

That said, the report is lacking in substance at the moment: there's no talk of viable prototype yet, much less commercialisation. It's likely that the new technology could take several years to bring to market – so don't hold your breath for a top-notch 50" OLED TV for your big-screen gaming just yet.

South Korea certainly has an interest in developing OLED further, however: as the current largest producer of LCDs in the world, a breakthrough in efficiency and quality of the technology many are seeing as its logical successor would stand them in good stead for keeping the display manufacturing crown.

Hoping to see big-screen OLED TVs available the next time you're looking to upgrade, or has current LCD technology improved enough that OLED is superfluous? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

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