High resolution OLED debut, using direct UV lithography process

Researchers at the University of Cologne, Germany, have claimed to have made the world's first high-resolution, full-color organic light emitting diode display (OLED), using direct lithography. The University's research team reported the results of their OLED studies at a forum on information display (SID).

They used the direct lithography process with the German Merck OLED Materials Co., Ltd. (Merck OLED Materials GmbH) collaborative development. Different from other methods, such as ink-jet printing, the technology does not need to develop new technology, but to change the chemical properties of organic materials.

R & D team leader, University of Cologne professor Klaus Meerholz pointed out that "by adding oxetane (xetane) side group (materials), we obtained the light emitting polymer thin film resistance, light resistance of these intelligent can be exposed to ultraviolet light, made from a variety of patterns."

The team used this method to create a fully operational true color matrix display that can display simple images and support video playback. It is reported that the power consumption is much smaller than most traditional monitors.

In the process of fabrication, the first layer of polymer is deposited on the transparent substrate by spin coating (spin-coating) process. The polymer film is then irradiated by ultraviolet light passing through the mask mask so that the polymer (film) is cross connected to form a layer of insoluble material. The film material which is not exposed to ultraviolet radiation is cleaned with solvent.

The other two layers are then deposited using the same method to produce pixel units (pixelated device) with three independently addressable colors. Meerholz stressed that their work is still in the preliminary stage, in order to achieve commercial application before further study.