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Chi Mei Announces 20" Active Matrix OLED Display

deglr6328 writes "The final barriers to OLED commercialization have been falling fast lately with Kodak's first product shipping soon, Samsung demoing a 256 color OLED wristwatch phone and now Chi Mei Optoelectronics announcing a 20 inch full color active matrix OLED display. The new display was made possible by a breakthrough using amorphous silicon for the TFT. The new technique is said to allow conventional TFT LCD manufacturers to convert their facilities over to OLED with relative ease."

47 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. if it's organic.... by very · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it's organic, would it decay in time?

    1. Re:if it's organic.... by Paul+Johnson · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Good question. Reading between the lines of the Cambridge Display Technology web site, it seems that colour purity and stability have been the big stumbling blocks so far. CDT have demoed small displays in the past, but I don't know how stable they were.

      Polymers tend to degrade with exposure to light, especially UV. In a display UV is not generally a problem but obviously light in general is.

      Paul.

      --
      You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
    2. Re:if it's organic.... by zenyu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      CDT have demoed small displays in the past, but I don't know how stable they were.

      I talked with someone working with them 2 years ago (at IBM). At that point they only lasted a few days in a darkened labs... but a lot of progress could have been made since then. They had a lot of promise even then though, low power & high-res, though they seem to have abandoned high-res here. Perhaps so they "live" longer? It could just be a yield thing though... (Or they are/were aiming for HDTV?)

  2. Will they take... by smaug195 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kidneys as forms of payment? :-/

    Seriously how long before this technology becomes affordable?

    1. Re:Will they take... by Grayraven · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dark Helmet, eh?
      I bet you'd be willing to go out, have sex and give away your firstborn just for the sex. ;-)

      --
      "Source... The Final Frontier" -- keepersoflists.org
  3. I wonder if they've solved... by tuxlove · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...the problem with the blue LED fading over a few years of use? That would be a showstopper for me, unless these units are so cheap that I can buy a new one every 6-12 months without feeling the pain.

    1. Re:I wonder if they've solved... by Seclusion · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I also wonder about defects in general. If OLED's will be better then 99.99% defect free LCD's(which would be pretty good if we weren't talking about millions of pixels).

    2. Re:I wonder if they've solved... by tuxlove · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I also wonder about defects in general. If OLED's will be better then 99.99% defect free LCD's(which would be pretty good if we weren't talking about millions of pixels).

      I saw a 15" OLED screen made by Samsung at CES, and it was beautiful. I will not buy another screen until I can get an OLED one for a decent price. Utterly amazing. But only if the manufacturing process is near-perfect. The 15" screen had at least two bad pixels, and it only takes one to ruin the screen. Though they were only a few out of a million or two, it was very distracting.

    3. Re:I wonder if they've solved... by gollangana · · Score: 4, Informative

      LCDs have defects due to the failure of the Thin Film Transistors that control the state of individual pixels. Given that OLED displays will be using identical TFTs there should be a similar (or worse, due to failure of the OLEds themselves) rate of defects. However - when a TFT fails in an LCD it gives a light point, wheras when one fails in an OLED display it will give a dark point, which is much less annoying.

    4. Re:I wonder if they've solved... by unitron · · Score: 2, Funny

      You aren't supposed to be watching blue movies anyway :-)

      --

      I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

    5. Re:I wonder if they've solved... by silverhalide · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dunno, but if you're still using Windows 9x/ME, your BSODs are gonna wear out those blue LEDs REAL quick...

  4. Prices? by rastachops · · Score: 2, Informative

    Will this mean cheaper displays for the consumer or are they going to be sky high like LCDs were for a few years?

    Unless they are much greater than LCDs in some respect, I don't know why the regular Joe Bloggs would want to upgrade from a CRT.

    1. Re:Prices? by gollangana · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They are better than LCDs. Main reasons are (IMO) 1: they use less energy - backlit LC displays have to have a powerful backlight on constantly - even though only a small proportion of this light makes it through the LC layer. OLEDs are only lit when they need to be viewed. Energy consumption is a major concern in most mobile devices. 2: they can be viewed from any angle (up to 360 degrees if they are sandwiched between 2 layers of amorphorous silicon) - something LCDs still haven't got to grips with.

    2. Re:Prices? by packeteer · · Score: 4, Informative

      The specs are indeed impressive. A 20 inch display running at 25 watts is wonderful. Not only are these going to be good for desktops but think about laptop uses. Longer battery life, better viewing angle for that presentation at the office, and most importantly a bright and vivid display that wont make your eyes hurt like some LCD's. Also in a few years these things will of course be cheaper but better to. These are simply prototypes and first generation models. Soon they will draw LESS energy and be brighter, lighter, cheaper, and probably cool (maybe not possible). So im not buying one yet (living off a student's income... ie slim to nil) but i can see a time where these things are too good to NOT buy. Whoever is selling these is going to make a fortune because as the old saying goes i predict they will almost sell themselves.

      --
      unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
  5. curiously, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    what kind of electromagnetic emissions do these things put out? Supposedly the previous generation of LCDs were meant to be low-emissional, but I've noticed by carefully looking at the specs that many of them fail standards which CRTs typically pass.

  6. Organic?? by Flounder · · Score: 4, Funny
    This monitor has been produced without using any pesticides.

    Or, it's ch-ch-ch-CHIA!

    --

    No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova

  7. Re:Organic LED's? by m1chael · · Score: 2, Funny

    can you buy two and breed them?

    --
    I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
  8. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by UniverseIsADoughnut · · Score: 2, Insightful

    >>That is pretty pathetic!

    The new Dell laptops can do 1600x1200!

    what's the point of 1600x1200 on a 15 inch screen? Your only going to run it at 800x600 unless you want to be straining your eyes all the time. at most someone might run it at 1024x768.

    I ran my 17 inch monitor at 1024 like most people. Now I have a 21 and run it at 1600x1200, i'm thinking of lowering it because it's almost to small.

  9. Resolution? by Osty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the announcement, it seems like this 20" display can only do 1280x768. I'm sorry, but at 20", it better be able to do better than that. If it won't do at least 1600x1200 (or I guess 1600x960, with that aspect ratio), I'm not interested. My 19" CRT comfortably does 1600x1200, so any LCD or OLED display would have to do at least that for me to consider upgrading.

    1. Re:Resolution? by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, it is only the first generation, I'm pretty sure the first generation of LCDs wasn't exactly stunning in comparison to CRTs of the time. There were problems with clor depth, refresh, brightness, etc, not to mention sky high prices.

      Wait a few generations, I'm sure they'll become competetive.

      --


      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
    2. Re:Resolution? by ketamine-bp · · Score: 2, Informative

      For large screens with OLED, I'll assume it pretty hard to be something for Full-screen video or showing purpose, which is located far, far (i.e. >30cm) away from the viewer, hence the resolution need not be that big.

      FYI, a typical TV screen has much less resolution (i.e. around 640x480 - don't bitch me about the 525 lines bit - I know it and Please note that there is something called Vertical blanking interval, google it if you dare.) and I'm very, very happy with it.

      I think most of the guys/gals/geeks/etc. will be happy with that big a screen with that quite-a-bit of resolution for gaming/movie/pr0n[sic] purposes.

    3. Re:Resolution? by jcenters · · Score: 4, Funny
      I'm pretty sure the first generation of LCDs wasn't exactly stunning in comparison to CRTs of the time. There were problems with clor depth, refresh, brightness, etc

      Well, all new display technologies have a problem with clor depth. That's just a given.

      Remember the first laptops? The clor to brigess ratio was terrible, and frankly, the clors were as deep as a strand of dental floss.

      When I got mine (A Compuq Bust-A-Gut 2000), the clors were so thin that it hurt my eyes. I angrily called the Compuq tech support line. They sent me a "Clor Inflation Pump", which was a temporary solution, at best.

      But nowadays, LCD technology has advanced by leaps and bounds (Though still not appropriate for a desktop, IMHO). My new Powerbook has a crisp, sharp display, and MY clors are as deep as Socrates. :-)

      --

      vi ~/.emacs

    4. Re:Resolution? by BigBadBri · · Score: 2, Funny
      Goddamn fancy CRT's - until they can do a proper orange text on black, I'm sticking with my dumb terminal.

      Hell, it took me years to stop missing the sound of the teletype!

      --
      oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
  10. What about the cost? by grumpygrodyguy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The new technique is said to allow conventional TFT LCD manufacturers to convert their facilities over to OLED with relative ease

    The real question is, will this mean affordable big screens?

    I saw a flatscreen LCD monitor in CompUSA the other day going for $2000. Sure it looked great, but $2000 is wacko. $200 maybe, but not $2000.

    --
    The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
  11. size isn't everything by tp9674 · · Score: 3, Funny
    From the caption

    'World's largest 20" OLED full color display'

    I'm I the only one that thinks 'world's smallest 20" display' would be more impressive"

    1. Re:size isn't everything by ketamine-bp · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please kindly note that:

      - 20" is not larger than 21" even for very large values of 20".
      - 20" is not smaller than 19" even for very small values of 19".

      Well.

    2. Re:size isn't everything by the_consumer · · Score: 2, Funny

      - 20" is not smaller than 19" even for very small values of 19".
      I think maybe you climb outta that k-hole, friend ;)

      --
      "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
  12. Why this is important. by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, the early ones will be expensive. But, the whole point of this technology is that it is cheaper than LCD. Once the initial R&D has been paid for, they will be cheap. Plus, take a look at those specs. 300 Cd/m^2 at 25W. The Apple 20" Cinema Display only has 230 Cd/m^2, and it uses over twice as much power, 60W! These are a big deal because they use even less energy than an LCD, and they'll be easier to manufacture. (LCD's are actually easier to manufacture than CRTs, but economies of scale kick in, that's why CRTs are so much cheaper. Plus LCDs are prone to pixel failure, which OLED displays supposedly aren't.)

    --
    Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
    The purpose of that site was not known.
    1. Re:Why this is important. by ndogg · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're not making it easier for me to justify my new LCD that I bought that cost me an arm and a leg. It's really hard to type and get around these days.

      --
      // file: mice.h
      #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  13. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by Osty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I ran my 17 inch monitor at 1024 like most people.

    Most people I know run their 17" monitors at 1280x1024, not 1024x768. 1024x768 is fine for a 15" monitor, but it's too damn big on anything larger. On 19" or up (assuming a good 19", anyway), 1600x1200 is the way to go.


    what's the point of 1600x1200 on a 15 inch screen? Your only going to run it at 800x600 unless you want to be straining your eyes all the time. at most someone might run it at 1024x768. ... Now I have a 21 and run it at 1600x1200, i'm thinking of lowering it because it's almost to small.

    If you have eyesight problems, you may want to mention that. Yes, 1600x1200 seems small when you first start using it, but it grows on you. Give it time, and so long as you don't have sight issues (mild glasses or contacts don't count), you'll soon love the extra screen real estate. My laptop can only do 1280x1024 (couldn't justify the extra cost for a UXGA screen), and it's pretty annoying to go from my desktop 19" or 21" CRTs at 1600x1200 to the 16" LCD at 1280x1024. My roommate has a Toshiba laptop with a 15" UXGA screen, and it's surprisingly useable at 1600x1200. 1280x1024 is good enough for a second monitor on a dual-head machine, but not for normal work.

  14. After seeing the pic... by Spytap · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "World's largest frame for monitor" seems more appropriate! Jesus, there's like a foot of plastic around that thing! Kind of defeats the space saving purpose of LCDs if you have to take everything off of one side of the room just to fit the bitch in sideways!

  15. Resolution by madmarcel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok, so I got a bit carried away in my previous message :) But...

    <ramble>
    If you buy a laptop now, most of them are set at the maximum resolution: 1024x768, regardless of whether they have a 12", 14" or 15" LCD screen.
    Only a few offer higher resolutions. Whether or not that's a good thing on a 15" screen is another matter altogether.

    Not too long ago I was using a CGA screen, which had 320x240 in 4 Colours! I thought that was pretty amazing...look how far we've come since then...see if you can find a recently made program that will run in that resolution.
    640x480 is still feasible though...but it's getting less.

    Now Think ahead. Think 5 years ahead.
    The programs, GUIs and interfaces that we use are becoming more graphically demanding, they require better graphics cards, and will probably require higher resolutions.
    Obviously there will be steps in the development of the resolution that these OLED displays are capable of, BUT if you are going to present a new type of display, why not produce a demo/prototype that has a resolution that beats anything currently available on the market? Would create a low more interest than just the 'new technology' angle IMHO

    And think about this: If you are going to make screens BIGGER, the resolution will have to go up as well. Dramatically. Ever looked at those new-fangled plasma displays? Huge screens + low resolution = pretty awfull and WAY too expensive.

    As for myself:
    I use a 17" CRT screen, it's set to (approx) 1400x1200 in X-windows and 1280x1024 in Windoze. I don't think that is too small, I can read the small fonts perfectly (and I do sit some distance away from the screen thankyouverymuch :)

    It's nice to surf the web and be able to see an entire webpage (or most of it) on the screen at once.
    <<Insert obligatory pr0n joke right here ;^) >>
    I can also see more of my code at once. This is a Good Thing(tm) :D

    I get annoyed when I have to use a machine that's set to a lower resolution.

    I must admit though that when other (mostly older) people use my machine they complain about the small fonts.
    </ramble>

  16. Lookit that gigantic bezel by IvyMike · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's too bad that the monoitor has such a gigantic bezel. (And by "bezel", I mean the frame around the monitor) It's ugly, and it make placing multiple monitors side by side less useful.

    In fact, this is sort of a generic question: Why do current LCDs have a bezel, and can OLED technology remove the need for a bezel totally? I thought that the bezel was somehow related to the backlighting, and since OLEDs didn't have backlighting, they could be nearly frameless. But I might have just imagined that. Somebody's got to know.

    1. Re:Lookit that gigantic bezel by lxs · · Score: 3, Funny

      Repeat after me : Pro-to-type!

    2. Re:Lookit that gigantic bezel by MrMickS · · Score: 4, Interesting
      In fact, this is sort of a generic question: Why do current LCDs have a bezel, and can OLED technology remove the need for a bezel totally? I thought that the bezel was somehow related to the backlighting, and since OLEDs didn't have backlighting, they could be nearly frameless. But I might have just imagined that. Somebody's got to know.

      On the larger screens here are three possible reasons:

      1. Rigidity. By placing the screen into a large plastic frame the LCD doesn't form part of the physical structure of the display. So if you move it you aren't placing any stress on the TFT matrix.
      2. Damage resistance. Say you've just bought a nice big 23" LCD display with a thin frame around it. You position it on your desk and and a sitting admiring it whilst consuming your favorite beverage. The door opens, you turn forgetting the beaker in your hand and hit it against the edge of the display. Crack it's gone. If only you'd had a larger frame around the display.
      3. Apple started putting large displays around their LCD displays. Everyone else just had to copy :)
      It is interesting considering the lack of a frame around the display on my Ti PowerBook.
      --
      You may think me a tired, old, cynic. I'd have to disagree about the tired bit.
    3. Re:Lookit that gigantic bezel by BigBadBri · · Score: 3, Insightful
      It's so dumbasses like me can go...

      Will ye look at the bezels on that!!!

      Seriously, I guess it's because it's a prototype and they need somewhere to house the control circuits that they won't have optimised / minaturised yet.

      I'd imagine that on a production model, the control circuitry could be at the back, and a minimal bezel used to allow you to construct your desired wall of 20" monitors.

      --
      oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
  17. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by Anonymous+Freak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I see it as a good thing in the long run. But, OSes need to be set to double the size of everything within the OS. So that it actually uses the extra pixels to smooth things out, add detail.

    I see Apple's OS X as the best option for these kind of insane resolutions, with its built-in Display PostScript (a.k.a. Quartz) handling everything. It should be a simple matter to just say that you want, say, 1" tall icons, no matter what dpi the screen has. Or that your 10 point font should be equal in size to a printer's 10 point font. 'points' are based on old physical typesetting sizes, and are based on a 72dpi base. Dell's monstrous 1920x1200 resolution more than doubles that at 147dpi. Note that the Sony Picturebook, with it's 8.9" 1280x600 display tops that at 159dpi, and their U-series ultra-micro notebooks even go beyond that at a whopping 200dpi! For reference, a 17" CRT (16" viewable) at 1024x768 has a 'measly' 80dpi. (Pumping it to 1280x960 makes it go to 100dpi. And if you run that 'bastard' resolution of 1280x1024 (a 5:4 resolution on a 4:3 screen,) you end up with non-square pixels at 100dpi horitontally, and 107dpi vertically. Note that 1280x1024 LCD screens use square pixels, so they are have a slightly different aspect ratio than most other CRTs and LCDs.)

    Note that I have the original PictureBook, which has the same size screen as the current models, only with a slightly lower resolution, which comes in at 127dpi. I find it perfectly readable with WinXP's ClearType. (Yes, I'm torturing a Pentium MMX/266 with 64MB of RAM by installing XP on it...)

    --
    Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
    The purpose of that site was not known.
  18. It's still going to be useless for gamers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...Unless it can avoid the prime reason why gamers avoid LCD's.

    Pixel refresh times. The very best lcd monitors have a pixel rise time of 12, and a pixel fall time of 4, giving you a disgusting scraping haze effect whenever turning in a 3d game, or scrolling lots of text fast.

    If they'd mentioned it's pixel refresh times, I'd have phoned them already, but since they didn't it's probably really pathetic (like regular lcd's)

  19. Right on schedule by djupedal · · Score: 2

    18 months ago, reports were that it would take 18 months for these to come out of the labs.

    Nice to see some industries aren't sitting around...now if we could only get Bluetooth, GSM, 802.g and fuel cells up to speed...

  20. A Good Tutorial on OLEDs by MjDascombe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Can be found here

  21. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by mixmasta · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well, you say that because you don't understand (like most people) that greater resolution _improves_ readability, if you know how to configure things correctly.

    Also, running an LCD on a it's non-native resolution (800x600) is a great way to turn a $2000 monitor into something that looks worse than a $100 vga crt they sold about 10 years ago.

    This is thanks to that blurry scaling they use these days. Kind of like buying a corvette and never taking it out of first gear.

    If you're proud of that, you go guy!

    --
    #6495ED - cornflower blue
  22. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by g4dget · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The new Dell laptops can do 1600x1200! what's the point of 1600x1200 on a 15 inch screen?

    The point is that scalable fonts finally end up looking halfway decent. Displaying scalable fonts on a 75dpi or 100dpi screen, with hinting and everything else, is at best a mediocre compromise.

  23. Wrong sort of organic by flend · · Score: 2, Informative

    CDT work with novel polymer displays which, particularly in the blue, have stability problems.

    This display is made from small organic molecules - a more mature field and is unlikely to suffer degradation effects any worse than say, a plasma display.

  24. Re:Ahahaha...first post :P by jsoderba · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You realise that you can change the dpi setting of your display, don't you?

    My Windows box runs at 1280x960 with 120 dpi fonts. This makes the fonts much easier on the eyes (I'm a bit anal about typography) and lets you fit many more icons and toolbars onto the screen.

    It does cause problem with a few poorly tested programs who don't lay out their controls in a resolution independent way, but I've found most such programs lacking in other ways as well.

  25. "organic" != banana peel by aricusmaximus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Probably not a serious problem. If you look at the dupont site http://www.dupont.com/displays/oled/ these appear to be "Polymer OLEDs" or LEDs made with basically a type of plastic. So think organic (carbon based) as in the plastic that makes your keyboard instead of organic as in a banana peel.

  26. Re:Cheaper? by stevel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Um, because you're paying for much more than the raw manufacturing? A lot of the money goes to the movie studio and the production house which did the mastering, extras, DVD menus, etc. Some goes to the distribution chain.

    Prices to purchase movies have come down a LOT over the past decade, and the quality has gone up. LCD panel prices have also dropped, as have plasma panels and other display technologies formerly considered "exotic". I expect that OLED, should it pan out, will help give us better product at lower prices - eventually.

  27. Missing the real point here... by Dr+Zubi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A lot of the discussion is a rehash of whether OLED's have advantages in power consumption, response time, viewing angle, and color compared to LCD's (the answer is yes). What no one seems to have noticed is that the point of the announcement is that this display was built using amorphous silicon TFT's. This is the same technology used for active matrix LCDS. This means that display companies that want to convert some of their LCD production capacity to OLEDs can do so without necessarily the $500,000,000-$1,000,000,000 it takes to put up a polysilicon fab (like Kodak/Sanyo are doing). So, this means more OLEDs, sooner, for the masses.