Fighting OLED Degradation

摘要

In recent years, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become the subject of intensive research in many universities and industrial laboratories worldwide. Many believe that they have the potential to unseat the existing dominant technologies ― cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) and liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) ― but there are important technical obstacles that must be overcome. OLEDs offer many advantages over existing display technologies. They can be made into very thin, sheet-like flat-panel displays of large sizes, which would be desirable replacements for the bulky vacuum picture tubes in TVs and computer monitors. They are also suitable for large high-resolution displays, unlike inorganic-semiconductor LEDs that are limited to very small sizes. And their emissive qualities give them a wide viewing angle, unlike some LCDs, which still have a limited viewing angle and need to be illuminated. Flat-panel displays have a fast-growing annual market of US$20―30 billion, and there are many new applications for display devices. If OLEDs could be developed into a commercially viable technology, the rewards could be enormous.