GE Announces OLED Manufacturing Breakthrough

bughunter writes "Today GE announced the successful demonstration of the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices (press release). This demonstration is a key step toward making OLEDs and other high-performance organic electronics products at dramatically lower costs than what is possible today. The green crowd is thrilled as well. Personally, as the parent of a 3-year-old technophile, I'm dreading the animated cereal boxes." Now can I get my Optimus Keyboard for less than $1,299?

Our ugly future

Personally, as the parent of a 3-year-old technophile, I'm dreading the animated cereal boxes.

In another twenty years there will likely not be a surface anywhere that isn't animated. The animated billboards and signs are already here.

As if having blinking shiney flashey crap on the internet isn't bad enough now we're subjected to it in meatspace.

Is this for lighting or displays?

Most of the linked articles talk about "new technology for lighting" as in panel lights for rooms and such. Are these panels being manufactured for display tech too? Or is the refresh rate not fast enough yet?

Re:Is this for lighting or displays?

For OLEDs refresh rates aren't a problem, patterning is. I presume this roll to roll technique is for lighting, as lighting panels don't require high precision deposition, just fire on the layers in a big mixture and go. When you move towards displays then you want very precise RGB pixels, patterned in a specific way, and a resolution of HD. For evaporation deposition that requires a shadow mask and 3 separate events for each colour. Shadow masks are a pain.

The reason Sony have only managed an 11" OLED display (and at $1500 they are still making a loss) is due to the difficulties of pattering it all (and getting good consistency). For GE and white light it is much much more straight forward. Whack on the layers, connect it up and go - they don't need to worry about any patterns. In the longer term solution processable OLEDs would substantially improve things. Solution processable means inkjet deposition (just like home printers), which means fine control of deposition and the ability to run with a roll to roll techniques. Solution processability is a few years away, however.

Re:Is this for lighting or displays?

The key advantage of OLED is that it does not require a backlight. Meaning, since they are technically stamped emitting diodes, their backlight is "built-in" so to speak. The main issue with OLED's is that their life has never been real good, at about 10K hours in most applications which is real low... They also suffer from problems just like their cousin LED's where their luminance decreases pretty dramatically over time depending on usage and heat buildup. Think of this like bleaching of colors in the areas of the screen that get used the most. Refresh rates really have never been an issue with OLED's from my understanding. In short, a number of additional technology issues will still need to be worked out for OLED's to get widespread application usage...

Re:Is this for lighting or displays?

a number of additional technology issues will still need to be worked out for OLED's to get widespread application usage...

"Cheap" is a cure-all for a lot of applications. If I can swap in a new screen for $25 and 5 minutes (like a toner cartridge), then 10K hours isn't so low.

Animated meatspace

> Personally, as the parent of a 3-year-old technophile, I'm dreading the animated cereal boxes.

I can see the counter-adverts on the ordinary boxes now "GE Free". And on the animated boxes "Cereal may contain nuts and batteries"

What I have been wanting for some time is something to brighten the sheer boredom of riding in a corporate lift. (I accept that stores and the like will batter a captive audience with ads so they are tortured into compliance by the time they arrive. Shut eyes, turn up iPod.)

The idea is to have something other than, say, a big 13 drifting past to tell you you have passed floor 13. I'd like a small 13, but some nice elevation dependent pictures. Earth and grass for the ground floor. Apples or tweety-birds for the next floor and so on. Eagles well up. And of course, space junk for senior managerial levels. Top floor a galaxy, with a warning that they are only 4% ordinary matter.

But I am bothered about the basement images. I'd rather avoid drippy caves, and anything with religious overtones. Suggestions anyone?

OLED displays needed

One of the things we've found out is that no HD LCD, plasma, or rear-projection DLP displays are as good as a broadcast reference CRT monitor in terms of luminance dynamic range, viewing angle, or color gamut. Only front-projection DLPs seem to be able to match good quality CRTs, but then you need all that space for the projection.

OLEDs have a real chance of matching or even beating CRTs in a true "flat panel" form factor.

And I also like the idea of using OLED rolls as wallpaper so we can have 7,680 × 4,320 pixel video on the wall (which will, of course, need 22.2 surround sound (UHDTV [wikipedia.org]).

Re:What Was the Cost?

From the release:

The demonstration of a low-cost, roll-to-roll process for OLED lighting represents the successful completion of a four-year, $13 million research collaboration among GE Global Research, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENER) and the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The goal of the collaboration was to demonstrate a cost-effective system for the mass production of organic electronics products such as flexible electronic paper displays, portable TV screens the size of posters, solar powered cells and high-efficiency lighting devices. ECD Senior Vice President Nancy Bacon said, "This program was a major step in developing high volume roll-to-roll manufacturing for OLEDs and other organic semiconductor devices. The success of this program is testimony to the effectiveness of NIST's advanced technology program model, and our 20-year history of pioneering research in roll-to-roll technology. We currently are utilizing this technology to mass produce our flexible, durable and lightweight UNI-SOLAR brand solar laminates. ECD looks forward to continuing collaboration with GE to further develop this technology for future commercialization."

The success is in the creation of a manufacturing process, the strip was the demonstration of its success.

Re:What Was the Cost?

Exactly. In mechanical engineering terms, this is what we call the beta prototype - the prototype created with the real-world manufacturing process described in the manufacturing plan. The expensive one-of-a kind stuff is an alpha (like concept cars, etc.), which are usually hand-made. I would expect they'll have these mass produced quite soon, and at an affordable price for many applications.

Remember, if their plan didn't show expectations of profit (i.e.: a sellable product), they wouldn't be researching it. They're a company, they're out to make money. Luckily, in this case, they're trying to do it by developing a responsible technology.

Reason to be excited

I would be excited ... if there were more details convincing me this is a 'breakthrough.'

The one thing that I think sets this apart from most "breakthroughs" is that they're demonstrating a prototype of an actual fabrication process rather than a prototype of a product that would then require plenty more research to figure out how to fabricate it.

In other words, it's one thing to demonstrate a prototype product, but an entirely other thing to demonstrate how you actually plan to mass produce that product, which this is!

Of course, it's yet another thing to actually produce your production equipment and drive adoption among manufacturers, but this announement is still one major step beyond most next-gen display announcements (SED, I'm looking at you...).

Re:What Was the Cost?

I would be excited ... if there were more details convincing me this is a 'breakthrough.' That word gets thrown around a lot these days.

If the announcement came out of some startup, it would be questionable, but it came from General Electric Research in Schenectady, NY. That's an organization over a century old, and a big chunk of the electrical industry was invented there. If they say they have a production process for making something in quantity, they probably do.

Re:What Was the Cost?

If they say they have a production process for making something in quantity, they probably do.

The OP wasn't arguing that GE doesn't have the production process. He/she just wasn't convinced that the process was "a breakthrough." The photo I saw looked like the LEDs were about 1 inch square each, and the attached article suggested that they were about twice as efficient per lumen as incandescent lighting. The efficiency of incandescent lighting isn't exactly hard to beat.

Would you consider a new process for manufacturing buggy whips to be a "breakthrough?" I'm not saying it's NOT a breakthrough, (obviously this could lead to amazing display technology) but I agree with the point the OP was trying to make: it would be nice to have more details.

Organic != 'Green'

Organic, before the marketing hype took over it, means 'carbon based'. That is not to say that any pesticides or insecticides were not used in the production of this OLED. But the Organic in OLED means that the base of the LED is a polymer with a carbon based composite deposited on it. The purpose 4-year project appears to have been to find a significantly more efficient (roll to roll) way of printing the organic compound to the polymer. So while the creation of the tool took four years, it could mean the ability to greatly increase production and reduce costs significantly.

What makes OLED's 'green' is that they don't require back lighting like LCD displays. Which means you can generate images for a fraction of the electrical draw.

-Rick

Re:Organic != 'Green'

Yep my favorite was when I saw Organic Sea Salt....
Right up there when the Video store had Apollo 13 in the SciFi section.

Re:Organic != 'Green'

While I'm probably more of a tree-hugger than most Slashdotters, I'm occasionally tempted to start marketing Organic Hemlock Tea ... "The first tea that's guaranteed to reduce your impact on the environment!"

OLED = 'Green'

What makes OLED's 'green' is that they don't require back lighting like LCD displays. Which means you can generate images for a fraction of the electrical draw.

Well, that and they're pretty danged efficient light emitters. As in, finally, efficient and long-lasting solid-state room lighting.

THAT is going to save more than a few barrels of oil. After all, even /. posters burn more power on lighting than on backlighting, monitor tans notwithstanding.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

You obviously haven't gotten out of your parents basement, so we know you haven't gotten laid. Therefore, we know you don't have any kids. As such, you have no idea what its like to be at your wits end in the grocery store with your children.

Let me put it in terms that you would understand.

Imagine that you've stayed up for 4 months straight coding some program--but every time it starts to work, it changes and you have to change your code all over again. Then imagine that every time you tried to sleep, your compile failed and you have to sit up all night making sure that it compiles okay. All the while you are running all over the basement to make sure that none of your other compilers are failing either, and lifting them up and down to change out their power supplies.

Got that? Okay. Good. Now imagine that you just want to go to Microcenter to pick up some more Bawls but your laptop is SCREAMING at the top of it's 2" speakers that it wants Serial-ATA. You know that it doesn't use Serial-ATA, but it is just making all kinds of noise, and shaking. Then other people start to look at you and your laptop making such a cacophony, and your bloodshot eyes just roam over them like they are zombies and you are three seconds away from killing everybody within a 50' radius of you.

Oh, and this happens every single time you go to the store. Like clockwork.

You will cave in. You don't know you will, but trust me--and every other parent out there--you will cave, and buy it whatever it wants to just shut it up.

So Yeah. There is no 'Just don't buy it' crap with kids. Someday, if you ever get out of your parents basement, you will know that.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

Oh, and this happens every single time you go to the store. Like clockwork.

Simple solution - don't take your kids out if he's being a shit.

You will cave in. You don't know you will, but trust me--and every other parent out there--you will cave, and buy it whatever it wants to just shut it up.

No, I will punish the behavior.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

Amazing. I never did that when I was a kid. And if you show them that you won't tolerate it in the first place, it'll stop happening. Promise. Kids aren't stupid, they know what works. They know they'll get what they want if they just keep at it, and there is NO DOWNSIDE to them. No punishment that I hear you implementing, no going without, nothing. Try it... hold them accountable, and they'll act accountably.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

There are obviously a wide range of natural temperaments among young children. However, as the father of three, I assure you that not all children behave as described, and I suspect that almost all children can be trained not to behave as described. (Some mental illness or developmental disability might preclude such training).

The reason that bystanders stare in horror at seriously misbehaving children and parents is that such behavior is NOT normal and is therefore unexpected/shocking. People also stare when adults are abusive or disruptive or antisocial. Any behavior outside normal conventions will prompt staring.

My advise is that young children like to have rules and behavioral boundaries. Clear rules make them feel socially confident and reduce anxiety. Children test the boundaries when they feel insecure, and the best response is to reinforce the previously established boundaries. That makes them feel like the world is stable and sensible. When a parent moves the boundaries or the child can't find the boundaries, nobody will be happy - least of all the child. Interestingly, the exact same guidance applies to puppies.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

<i>you'll either have to buy 'em or deal with the crazed screaming/whining/sulking that will ensue.</i>

That's why my wife won't let me in the cereal isle, and I'm an adult.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

"..have to buy 'em or deal with the crazed screaming/whining/sulking that will ensue."
consistency is key.
My kids don't whine and scream when we ahve said no to something consistently. They few things where we broke consistently still haunt us... sigh. Live and learn.
Even then they learn, it's just a longer process.

Re:Ok, so how about this idea...

> Speaks the guy with no kids.
> ... you'll either have to buy 'em or deal with the crazed screaming/whining/sulking that will ensue...
> you can fight that fight, but you have to fight it often enough already for crap that actually matters more than a box of cereal. Lot of people will give in just to avoid the inevitable scene.

No, you just have to fight it a couple of times, be consistent, and don't give in occasionally. My three kids, all under 6 years old, never whine and scream for stuff because they know it is not a strategy that will ever work. We say no to junk. If they whine and scream we say no to everything. We never make exceptions. People cannot believe how "well behaved" our kids are. We cannot believe how badly behaved most other kids are.

Remember, partial reinforcement is more powerful than continuous reinforcement, so giving in once in a while will guarantee maximum screaming and whining.

Re:Why does it have to glow?

OLED = organic LIGHT EMITTING diode

Re:Why does it have to glow?

So called "interferometric modulator" [wikipedia.org] displays (IMOD for short) would be what you are looking for. It'll be a while before they are printed onto cereal boxes, but the potential is there.