It’s certainly no secret – Samsung, LG, Sony OLED and other brands of the OLED TV are hitting the market. What you may not realize is that many in the industry are claiming this advancement in technology is possibly the most important in over a decade. With the introduction of hi-def, plasma and LCD, it...
If you are wondering how you end up with that OLED display on your OLED TV, you certainly are not alone. Like most technological advancements, consumers are generally glad to have them but know little about them. Here is a basic overview of OLED technology working for your new TV set. The reason an OLED...
Even if you know much about OLED or even LED, there are always a few more details that could help clarify the topic a bit more. Learning a bit more about the history of OLED is a bit surprising. The technology used is nothing new; it seems the first notice of something about organic LED...
Just about the time people got used to hearing about LED, along came OLED. Of course, even though LED became a common word, it doesn’t mean the average person actually knew what it was. For that reason, it is a good idea to get a basic idea of LED, OLED and what the difference is.
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode
To make better sense of it, the organic LED is self-luminous and therefore does not require backlighting or diffusers. This has become the newest thing for technology when it comes to displays and lighting found in a mobile phone or MP3 player. More recently this has also become popular and more common in use for televisions.
OLED & the TV
The reason OLED has become so popular for TVs is that it produces very quick response times and color reproduction, offering more vibrant and true hues. The way this works is that the luminescent layer of the OLED TV is composed of organic compounds. The end result is a matrix of pixels that bring the clear and vibrant picture viewers see.
The other thing to be aware of is that OLED displays offer more slender and brighter images. Not only that but because they are cheaper to create, the end result is a lower price tag. Not to mention that OLED televisions consume less power than LED ones, which means the cost for usage is less as well.
It’s certainly no secret – Samsung, LG, Sony OLED and other brands of the OLED TV are hitting the market. What you may not realize is that many in the industry are claiming this advancement in technology is possibly the most important in over a decade. With the introduction of hi-def, plasma and LCD, it may hard to believe that OLED is making this big an impact on the TV industry, but it is.
What’s the Big Deal?
The most common question when it comes to OLED TVs is why these sets are thought to be so important to the technology. The short answer is that the contrast ratio is the true selling point here. Of course for the average consumer that doesn’t sound like a big deal, so here is a better way of looking at it:
OLED TVs will be even thinner and lighter than what is currently available. Not only that but these televisions are expected to be better performing as well as much more efficient. Although the initial cost will be more than other types of sets, the decrease in utility bills due to the need for less power will balance it all out.
Currently there is some confusion when it comes to LED TVs. These are actually LCDs that utilize LED for the backlight. Obviously, once OLED TVs are on the market for consumers to buy, these versions will be known as the true organic LED sets. With the OLED TV consumers will actually be getting true organic LED technology.
Say OLED TV and everyone is on board. When it comes to television sets and technology, this is one area of the world of consumerism that everyone seems to buy into even when the economy is not a peak performer. The thing to realize is that OLED display and technology is not new, nor is it limited to the TV. In fact, it has taken years of research, design and development to take it beyond the handheld mobile device stage to bigger and better things.
Some examples of other applications of OLED include:
Personal entertainment devices
PDAs
Handheld mobile communication devices
Watches
Even the screen on your digital camera more than likely uses OLED display. In fact, many computer monitors now also utilize organic LED display in order to offer a clear picture while using less power.
Seeing into the Future
The important focus needed to being able to increase the methods in which OLED can be used for further application is working on the weak issues. For instance, it is currently rather expensive to manufacture devices that utilize OLED display. Until this can be reversed or the manufacturing cost decreased, it may be slightly more challenging to use this technology for potential applications.
Another current hindrance for OLED is the lifespan. The biggest issue is the blue organics have a shorter lifespan than the red and green. In order to have consistent performance from organic LED displays, it will be necessary to remedy this. With time and further development, OLED should be possible for many further applications.
In 2004, Sony announced it was going to be using OLED display for the future of its personal handheld devices. Since then this has become almost the norm for mobile devices, but there was a time when this was a very progressive and innovative approach. Ironically around 2010 as various electronics companies raced and competed to become the first to manufacture an OLED TV, some skeptics were raising the question of whether or not this could be done.
OLED display has worked wonders for years on the small screen, and many wondered if there was a way to expand this same level of organic LED imagery to a screen the size of a TV set. Of course, now that this is now possible, the question is raised about what the future of OLED may be.
Understanding the Glitches
Just as the glitch with OLED was not being able to use it in anything bigger than handheld devices, the trick in expansion lies in understanding what the kinks are and how to work them out. In order to take OLED display and technology to new heights, it is important to realize where the kinks are. For example:
Color balance issues may still cause this type of display to need some fine tuning before reaching new heights.
Water damage and outdoor performance are both concerns when considering branching out in new directions with this technology.
Power consumption is still not optimal in some applications.
Taking these and other glitches into consideration and tweaking them is what will ultimately decide the fate of OLED.
If you are wondering how you end up with that OLED display on your OLED TV, you certainly are not alone. Like most technological advancements, consumers are generally glad to have them but know little about them. Here is a basic overview of OLED technology working for your new TV set.
The reason an OLED display brings you even better images is due to a number of factors. The OLED display you see is created without a backlight. So in conditions without much light, the OLED as opposed to LED reaches higher contrast ratio levels.
Keep in mind, OLED TV is now becoming popular, but this technology has been used in smaller, portable devices for some time now. The images you see on many mobile devices are the result of OLED display technology.
Technology Advances
As with other advancements in technology, the trick is to find a way to make the science work when applied to different sizes. While the first computers designed were the size of entire rooms, the way to advance was to make the same technology work but in a much smaller scale. As the result you can have the same technology in the palm of your hand now, quite literally.
With OLED display the opposite is true. What first worked for much smaller devices is now being applied to big screen television sets. What was once appropriate for a wristwatch is now being made possible on a large screen TV set.
Aside from the image quality, there are other reasons OLED is ideal. This approach is often more power efficient and therefore costs less to use. Although the current technology itself comes with a higher price tag, the savings is in power use over time. With continued advancements, the initial cost of a TV with OLED display will also begin to decrease.
Even if you know much about OLED or even LED, there are always a few more details that could help clarify the topic a bit more. Learning a bit more about the history of OLED is a bit surprising. The technology used is nothing new; it seems the first notice of something about organic LED dates all the way back to the ‘50s. However, it wasn’t until 1965 when some of the more important discoveries about OLED occurred. During this year there were actually three different groups that made discoveries related to this field.
Martin Pope, along with his team of co-workers in New York realized that without the presence of an exterior electric field, the electroluminescence in the anthracene crystal is the result of the recombining of an electron, more specifically a thermalized electron.
At the same time in Canada, two members of the National Research Council had a first when they managed to create double inject recombination electroluminescence in a single crystal (anthracene) using electron and hole injecting electrodes.
Also this same year, the well known Dow Chemical obtained a patent for a method in which electroluminescent cells are prepared utilizing high voltage.
However, it seems that how far these devices could be taken was restricted by the ability to obtain organic materials of that era that had decent enough electrical conductivity.
The Next Phase
Change for the history of OLED came in the form of the development of polymers, which were greatly conductive. In 1975, another patent was to set a milestone for organic LED when the National Physical Laboratory in the UK first noticed electroluminescence from polymer films. Yet the first diode product was not brought into design until years later in 1987 by Eastman Kodak.
The result of the Eastman Kodak work was a device in which a structure of two layers containing a hole in which the recombination took place in the center layer. This was to be a major milestone in what resulted as the OLED display and technology we have today. By 2004 Samsung OLED was the largest manufacturer across the globe, helping to lead to where we are today with it.
When it comes to OLED products, there are actually quite a few available. The thing is, not many people realize they are using OLED. Part of the reason for this is that, as of right now, OLED is not specifically the selling point for most items it is used in. This, however, will not be the case when it comes to marketing the OLED TV set. Samsung OLED TV or the available Sony XEL-1 OLED TV is the newest, most innovative product available in the technology market.
The bottom line is that OLED display may not have seemed important as a selling point for these other products because it was taken for granted. The next step in technological advancements for each of these devices was naturally to include a display that worked better under poor lighting conditions.
The reason OLED display seems like such a big deal now is that taking this technology to the bigger screen changes the way we watch TV. The improvement in contrast is literally revolutionary. Due to OLED, TVs will be thinner and lighter. Not to mention the power required to operate TVs using OLED will be greatly decreased. The technology that was once used to bring you clear and immediate images on your favorite mobile device is now going to be the same way you see your TV screen images, thanks to OLED display.
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