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Organic LEDs To Replace LCDs?
Shostykovich writes "There's a story here on the LA Times about some interesting organic-LED technology being explored by the likes of Kodak and IBM. These LEDs are made using "organic compounds", and they're hoping to replace LCDs with these in a few years." Light on tech talk, but they see to think that these could work for head displays.
Obviously, these people aren't paranoid enough. If they were, they would realize that no matter how little you put in, organic compounds put in electronics will evolve and take over the world. I'm still waiting for the leech computer to gain sentience and run amok. When will science learn.
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We have been working with prototypes of these kinds fo things for a few months.. they really are quite neat..
:)
One thing that is nice is that they use a LOT less power than conventional LCD's. Also, there is no ghost when animation occurs like in conventional LCD displays.. Even in high quality laptop and flatpannel displays you get teh ghost effect, it makes quake3 almost unplayable.
This stuff is really cheep to build too... Once R&D is finished, cost of manufacturing will be almost as trivial as copying mp3's on napster. No more paying $900 for a new laptop display when it breaks.
Overall, this is very great technology. I cant wait for my Crusoe 1ghz with this display and wireless ethernet to come out
Two infinite things: your stupidity and mine. But I'm not sure about the latter. If my sig offends you, I'm sorry.
You can find out more about OLED from the company working on it, Universal Display Corporation
That organic compounds are really just plastics, and have nothing to do with life, DNA or aliens.....
But I'm sure everyone on Slashdot already knew that, though.
Definition
- In the context of chemistry and materials,
- organic refers to a materials based on carbon (an element abbreviated as C). Additional elements that are commonly found in organic materials are hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S).
Additional Info- An unrelated and confusing definition of organic is used most often in reference to "natural" foods. For example, a simple definition of "organic produce" is fruits or vegetables that have been raised without the use of pesticides or herbicides. Of course, many pesticides and herbicides are actually themselves organic (using either or both definitions of "organic")!
Materials that are not organic are usually referred to as inorganic.However, this does not necessarily mean that organic chemicals are good for you. For example, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is a deadly toxin, benzene (C6H6) is a carcinogen and thalidomide is a potent teratogen.
When it comes to considering the toxicity of any material, remember that the dose makes the poison . Some chemicals (organic or not) present no or minimal hazard even at very high concentrations, while others can be deadly in minute amounts.
Some organic compounds are highly reactive and are incompatible with other chemicals such as strong oxidizing agents. Be sure to read your MSDS!
Second Law of Blissful Ignorance
"ghosting" only occurs in DSTN LCD's [Dual Scan STN (Super Twist Nematic) Liquid Crystal Displays] because of the relaxation time for the LC molecule. TFT (Thin Film Transistor) LCD's "force" the molecule to 'unalign' fast when switched off using a voltage potential. hence fast switching hence....no ghosts.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
First off, I'm going to have to qualify this with "I have no idea what the LA Times is talking about, because they really don't mention any science"
But the trick is SAMs (self assembled mono-layers). If you start with molecules that will direct light, transport electricity, and/or convert electricity (often in the case of single electrons) into light, that's a big step. There is a lot of synthetic work that goes into finding the right molecules. And then, the hard bit, is creating them in such a way that they will densely pack onto a surface, by themself.
The cool thing about SAMs is the S and the A. They assemble themselfs. You just put the right concentration of these molecules in solution, and then create the right conditions for them to drop out of solution and onto a surface. This is done with a small electric potential on the surface, adding another analyte to the solution, or simply evaporating some of the solution away... ;-) And poof... a nicely coated surface with your magic molecules. Of course, it's a bit more complex and involved than that, but, that's sorta the basic idea.
These things will not only make cheaper, sharper, brighter displays, but they will improve communications as well. As it turns out, fiber optic communications is not limited by the speed of light, we're communicating no where near that fast in the real world. It's limited by the speed we can accurately create a "pulse" of light to funnel down a fiber. And these cool little SAMs can be turned "on and off" faster than the current switches and relays that we use in fiber optic communication today... So, they will speed up data transmission too someday in the future.
My two cents... It's been a few years since I looked into this, and I'm sure I might have SOME of the details muffed up.... But that's a lot closer to what's going on than "they are just making better plastic."
OLEDs have been mentioned for a while: 1998 by Compaq, lightly technical discussion from chemsoc, a view that says OLEDs complement rather than replace TFT-LCDs from Electronic Business-Asia (August 2000), January of 1999 shows that Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese chemical company, has demonstrated(search for "organic") 640x480x16mil with OLEDs.
Some US patents of interest: US05965901 (Cambridge Display), US05247190 (a 1993 Cambridge Patent), US04539507 (a Kodak claim geared towards reduced power consumption).
And so on.
Two fellas at Eastman Kodak who are real important on this issue are Steven A. VanSlyke and Ching W. Tang, both of whom have were sent in 1995 to give lectures in Japan on OLED technology.
My two cents says, it's about time companies stopped hyping this to the press in underdetailed press releases and actually start showing something for all their R&D efforts. Quit trying to make it the be-all end-all product the first time and get us cheaper, less power-hungry displays. When tube manufacturers realize their goose is cooked, prices will plummet for Digital TV in the US and OLED manufacturers will be handed the display market on a silver platter.