GE Announces OLED Manufacturing Breakthrough 192
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?
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
GE is up nearly 5% (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Organic != 'Green' (Score:5, Informative)
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' (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Informative)
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:Why does it have to glow? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Is this for lighting or displays? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why does it have to glow? (Score:5, Informative)
OLED = 'Green' (Score:4, Informative)
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... (Score:5, Informative)
>
> 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:What Was the Cost? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Ok, so how about this idea... (Score:3, Informative)
So, you leave your kids at home just like your computer. Have you got any idea what a 2 year old can do to your home while you're away? Add the legal aspect of child endangerment, and leaving your kids at home while shopping is usually NOT an option. Unless you still haven't moved out of the basement and can pawn off the little sunshines on your mom upstairs.
No, I will punish the behavior
Oh, and I don't suggest punishing your kid in a store nowadays, nine times out of ten some do-gooder will call CPS on you. And punishing later doesn't work until they are past the age of screaming fits anyway.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:4, Informative)
Hemlock tea exists and is OK for you so long it is made from the tree and NOT from the ground plant (that's the version that killed Socrates).
A quick google search turns up a company named TerraVita which sells its hemlock tea for $14 per 25 bags box. So the GP already has competitors.
Re:Organic != 'Green' (Score:3, Informative)
As somebody else said, 1/2 the efficiency of an incandescent lightbulb isn't exactly amazing. A 12 watt compact fluorescent puts out what, about as much light as a 40 watt incandescent? So these OLEDs are probably only about half as efficient as a compact fluorescent. Then again, the LCD layer and light piping attenuates the light of the fluorescent backlighting in an LCD panel. Also an OLED won't use as much power for dark-displaying pixels whereas lit and "dark" backlit LCD pixels consume the same amount of energy. So it would probably average out to being about the same efficiency for OLED and backlight LCD for a laptop power budget - a good thing or these will have a much more restricted market.
I hope they can take this to production soon though. The 20" Sony Trinitron tube I use as a second monitor at home is showing signs of being on its last legs and probably only has a year or two left in it at most. It's lasted me over ten years and I got it used/refurbished, so I don't feel bad about replacing it because I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it. However I would like to replace it with an OLED panel if possible to keep the environmental impact down. I have also been holding out for these to replace my TV set but, with the only recently-ended HD format wars, the lack of region-free BR format players, and a still-going-strong 27" picture tube, I'm in less of a rush for that.