Dupont and Dainippon Screen Manufacturing will form a strategic alliance to develop mass production techniques for organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, according to an announcement made in Japan.
Sony OLED display
(Credit: CNET)The focus is on developing better processes and printing equipment for the fabrication of OLED displays.
OLEDs are attracting interest because the panels are paper thin but offer extremely high-quality images, superb color saturation, and fast response times. And they draw little power because they don't require a backlight.
At the same time, they face durability challenges. The organic matter used to illuminate the image can by ruined by the elements, so special sealing technology is necessary. Also, a new study by DisplaySearch found that the brightness on Sony's 11-inch XEL-1 TV began to degrade significantly after 1,000 hours.
That's not all. OLEDs face size constraints. Many of the widely-used, mass-market OLEDs used today are only between and three and four inches diagonally. Sony's XEL-1, one of the largest, is only 11 inches but is priced at close to $2,000.
Dupont and Dainippon hope to solve the size problem and bring down the cost in the process. Their goal is to develop printing equipment that that will enable the production of very large OLEDs that would rival the largest LCD TVs in size.
DuPont brings its small molecule-based OLED solution materials and process technology to the table, while Dainippon Screen has developed a nozzle printing technology.
Sony appeared to be on the verge of starting the next revolution in TV technology last year when it introduced its first OLED television, most notable for its paper-thin screen. The display, which uses bright and low-power organic light-emitting diodes, appeared so promising that the prospects for LCD and plasma TVs were soon called into question.
(Credit:
Sony)
A new study, however, may cast that future in a different light. A research firm called DisplaySearch tested Sony's XEL-1 TV and found that its brightness began to degrade significantly after 1,000 hours--translating to a loss of half its original quality in 17,000 hours, according to the Associated Press. That projection stands in marked contrast to Sony's claim that the display would last 30,000 hours or 10 years of typical use before reaching that degradation level, which is a standard industry measure.
The company reportedly stands by its claims, and DisplaySearch did acknowledge that longstanding longevity problems with OLED displays have been addressed in the latest versions of the technology. Still, the research follows other reports of production issues that have slowed Sony's development of the OLED TV as a mass-market phenom. And given the high cost of making them, which has produced retail prices of $2,500 for an 11-inch screen, they probably won't be a standard living room fixture anytime soon.
Sony XEL-1 EL TV currently sells in Japan for just under $2,000
(Credit: Sony)There's thin. Then there's paper thin. Sony showed an electroluminescent (EL) display that's print-paper thin at the Display2008 conference in Tokyo.
The Sony EL display is based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology that uses electroluminescent organic materials. OLED panels are extremely thin because they don't need backlights. The electroluminescent layer contains a polymer substance that directly converts electricity to light.
The panel shown this week at Diplay2008 is about 0.3mm thick, besting Sony's current 1.4mm-thick EL TV (photo). Epson lists its Premium Glossy Photo Paper as 0.3mm thick. So by this standard the panel is literally paper thin.
Sony also exhibited an 11-inch panel.
The most cutting of cutting-edge technology is always a sticker shocker. Sony currently sells an 11-inch EL TV (960×540) for a staggering 190,000 yen, or just under $2,000. That's right, an 11-inch display. Even smaller than the displays on subnotebooks, which typically come with 12-inch LCDs.
The image quality is stunning, however, producing the best--or close to the best--of all of the following: color, contrast, viewing angles, and refresh rates.
"It has a superhigh contrast ratio (allegedly, 1 million to one), it boasts faster response times than LCD or plasma, it looks incredibly sharp with colors that really pop--and because OLED screens don't require a backlight, they're more energy efficient than plasma or LCD," according to this CNET review.
Another thing: the organic matter used can by ruined by the elements, so special sealing technology is necessary for the displays.
Sony has been making smaller, 3.8-inch OLED displays for gadgets since 2004.
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