Fiber OLEDs, Thinner Than a Hair
January 9, 2018 | KAISTEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Professor Kyung Cheol Choi from the School of Electrical Engineering and his team succeeded in fabricating highly efficient Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) on an ultra-thin fiber.
The team expects the technology, which produces high-efficiency, long-lasting OLEDs, can be widely utilized in wearable displays.
Existing fiber-based wearable displays’ OLEDs show much lower performance compared to those fabricated on planar substrates. This low performance caused a limitation for applying it to actual wearable displays.
In order to solve this problem, the team designed a structure of OLEDs compatible to fiber and used a dip-coating method in a three-dimensional structure of fibers. Through this method, the team successfully developed efficient OLEDs that are designed to last a lifetime and are still equivalent to those on planar substrates.
The team identified that solution process planar OLEDs can be applied to fibers without any reduction in performance through the technology. This fiber OLEDs exhibited luminance and current efficiency values of over 10,000 cd/m^2(candela/square meter) and 11 cd/A (candela/ampere).
The team also verified that the fiber OLEDs withstood tensile strains of up to 4.3% while retaining more than 90% of their current efficiency. In addition, they could be woven into textiles and knitted clothes without causing any problems.
Moreover, the technology allows for fabricating OLEDs on fibers with diameters ranging from 300㎛ down to 90㎛, thinner than a human hair, which attests to the scalability of the proposed fabrication scheme.
Noting that every process is carried out at a low temperature (~105℃), fibers vulnerable to high temperatures can also employ this fabrication scheme.
Professor Choi said, “Existing fiber-based wearable displays had limitations for applicability due to their low performance. However, this technology can fabricate OLEDs with high performance on fibers. This simple, low-cost process opens a way to commercialize fiber-based wearable displays.”
Suggested Items
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Direct Imaging Equipment and Quad-wave DLP Light Engine Technology
05/03/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOGuest Editor Kelly Dack and MivaTek's Brendan Hogan delve into the company's innovative technologies, including direct imaging equipment and quad-wave DLP light engine technology. They highlight the benefits of direct imaging, compensation, and DART technology.
iNEMI Names Grace O'Malley CTO
05/02/2024 | iNEMIThe Board of Directors of the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) has named Grace O'Malley Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
Dubai Launches Global Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence
05/02/2024 | BUSINESS WIREDubai has launched a blueprint for Artificial Intelligence (AI), a yearly plan that will focus on harnessing the technology’s potential to improve quality of life around the world.
NextFlex Convenes the Hybrid Electronics Community at Binghamton University
05/01/2024 | NextFlexBinghamton University hosted the NextFlex hybrid electronics community on April 18 for a day of expert presentations, breakout sessions on technology and manufacturing topics, and networking.
IDTechEx Report on Quantum Technology: Nano-scale Physics for Massive Market Impact
04/30/2024 | PRNewswireThe quantum technology market leverages nano-scale physics to create revolutionary new devices for computing, sensing, and communications. Across the industry, quantum technology offers a paradigm shift in performance compared with incumbent solutions.