An OLED revolution? Organic LEDs

Early Flexible OLED Technology

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) have been around for years, if not decades, when you consider research in universities and labs.  But only now are OLEDs reaching mainstream, and starting to turn up on consumer products (TVs, monitors, watches), advertising, and more.

So what is OLED, will it compete in the lighting industry, and what is its potential for the average household?

Like many emerging technologies, there is as much incorrect information on the web as there is correct information.

OLEDs are basically an LED based on organic material.  The major promise of this technology is that it should become cheaper and faster to produce than traditional LEDs.  Further, OLEDs can be made in thin sheets in almost any form factor.  Lighting designers love this fact because they can eliminate the point-source lighting that is ubiquitous today with sheets of diffused lights.

To help sum-up OLED, here are the main points:

OLED Pros

• Should be cheap to manufacture
• Should be fast to manufacture (Dupont printed a 50" OLED TV in 2 minutes!)
• Very light weight, thin, and flexible substrates
• New form factors should improve lighting ambiance and design
• New form factors can integrate lighting into new places (clothing, safety systems, etc)

OLED Cons

• For lighting, less efficient than traditional LEDs
• Lifespan is less than LED and LCD, limiting applications it can currently be used in
• Can be damaged by UV light exposure
• For displays, high reflectivity and screen burn-in are potential problems

Basically, in consumer electronics OLED is well suited for small displays with a short lifespan (i.e. less than 5 years).  However, improvements are being made in lifespan.

In lighting, niche applications, creative lighting designs, and similar areas are well suited for OLED.  It does not appear that OLED will ever be more efficient than traditional LED lighting.

OLED in Today's Products

OLED is not a future technology (though refinements and improvements are occurring rapidly) - it is available today in many products.

Here are a few products that an Amazon search turned up:

• Digital keychange picture displays
  
• Display on a 16MP Sony DSC-TX100V Camera
  
• Nikon Coolpix S80 camera display
  
• A Kenneth Cole watch
  
• Pulse and Oximeter
  

Sony even created the first OLED TV (XEL-1), which many believe is how future TVs (maybe even in 5 years) will be made.