Active Matrix OLED Displays and 5 Cool Devices That Use Them

Active matrix organic LED displays have been appearing in a number of prototype and production devices recently thanks to their superior viewing angles, refresh rate and low power consumption. The use of OLED displays in mobile phones is growing but initial adoption has been slow thanks to problems with the lifetime of early screens.

An organic LED consists of organic light emitting pixels deposited onto a TFT (thin film transistor) array. The pixels illuminate on electrical activation without the need for the power hungry backlight that traditional LED displays required.

Active matrix OLED’s are more power efficient than passive matrix OLED’s as the pixels are activated individually rather than row by row. Samsung is confident about the prospect of active displays outselling passive displays despite higher production costs:

AMOLED applies independent R,G,B driving method unlike PMOLED which makes possible of high density & precision display. The cost for the equipment and materials of AM type is relatively expansive caused by its complex processes compared to PM method; however, AMOLED is prospected to have the world market in next-generation displays of post-TFT LCD, regardless of those disadvantages thanks to its low power consumption, high density & precision, quick response time, wide viewing angle, and slim design.

Capacity for AMOLED displays is currently quite limited, Samsung can only make 1.5 million a year and believes the main market for displays larger than those found on cell phones won’t hot up until 2009. After that we will start to see flexible displays becoming viable in 2010. Sales of AMOLED screens are expected to total 17 million this year, a 380 percent increase over last year.

AMOLED displays can be produced at just 0.52 mm thick which brings huge possibilities for ultra thin and even flexible devices.

AMOLED Devices

Organic LED displays are already coming to market with the 11 inch Sony model below being displayed in Japan late last year. As manufacturers become more skilled at producing AMOLED displays we can expect the number of devices using them to increase sharply.

In December 2007 Samsung released a limited availability HSDPA phone with AMOLED display. Only 1000 SPH-W2400 phones were made and Samsung only sold them in Korea unfortunately.

LG jumped on the AMOLED bandwagon in February this year with another HSDPA phone destined for Korea. The LG SH150A also has the sort of super fast internet we won’t see in the UK for a while.

In March AMOLED displays reached the digital camera market with Samsung launching a 10.2 megapixel delight to the Asian market.

In 2006 Samsung showed off a prototype 17 inch AMOLED display with ultra fast response times to a host of impressed gadget lovers but the screen has still to make it into production.

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