Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Stanford and Samsung Display use solar panel tech to create new ultrahigh-res OLED display

Stanford University reports that by expanding on existing designs for electrodes of ultra-thin solar panels, Stanford researchers and collaborators in Korea have developed a new architecture for OLED – organic light-emitting diode – displays that could enable televisions, smartphones and virtual or augmented reality devices with resolutions of up to 10,000 pixels per inch (PPI). (For comparison, the resolutions of new smartphones are around 400 to 500 PPI.) 

The crucial innovation behind both the solar panel and the new OLED is a base layer of reflective metal with nanoscale (smaller than microscopic) corrugations, called an optical metasurface. The metasurface can manipulate the reflective properties of light and thereby allow the different colors to resonate in the pixels. These resonances are key to facilitating effective light extraction from the OLEDs. 


Illustration of the meta-OLED display and the underlying metaphotonic layer, which improves the overall brightness and color of the display while keeping it thin and energy efficient. (Image credit: Courtesy Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) 

In lab tests, the researchers successfully produced miniature proof-of-concept pixels. Compared with color-filtered white-OLEDs (which are used in OLED televisions) these pixels had a higher color purity and a twofold increase in luminescence efficiency – a measure of how bright the screen is compared to how much energy it uses. They also allow for an ultrahigh pixel density of 10,000 pixels-per-inch.

Full Report: Stanford materials scientists borrow solar panel tech to create new ultrahigh-res OLED display LINK

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