NOVEL LIGHT-EMITTING DEVICES TAKE FLAT-PANEL DISPLAY MARKET TO NEXT LEVEL



Vladimir Bulovic
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Research Laboratory of Electronics

Flat-panel displays constitute a $35 billion-per-year worldwide market that is growing more than 20 percent annually. While LCD (liquid crystal display) technology holds the largest market share, emissive displays, such as those based on organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), are rapidly gaining ground. Their share of the market is projected to grow from $500 million in 2004 to more than $3 billion in 2009. However, fundamental issues of material stability and color saturation, along with high manufacturing costs, have hindered the commercialization of OLEDs. In addition, there are no OLEDs emitting in the technologically important infrared region.

This project aims to further accelerate the growth of this multi-billion-dollar market with a technology based on nanoparticles called quantum dots. The novel hybrid organic/inorganic quantum-dot light-emitting devices — QD-LEDs — combine the ultra-vivid picture quality and thin-film format of OLEDS and the manufacturability of LCDs. QD-LEDs have the potential to change the way TVs and other display-based products are made.