| OLED is a new technology that can make thin, | | | | |
| efficient and bright displays. OLEDs are made from | | | | AMOLEDs have a different driver electronics - each |
| organic light-emitting materials, and OLEDs do not | | | | pixel is controlled directly. AMOLEDs are more |
| require any backlight and filtering systems that are | | | | expensive, and much more difficult to create, but can |
| used in LCDs. So OLEDs are more simple to make | | | | be used for larger displays (current prototypes are |
| and actually can be made flexible and transparent as | | | | up to 40") and are very power efficient. |
| well. OLEDs are also very efficient, and companies | | | | |
| are working towards OLED lighting - an OLED | | | | The first OLED products in the market used |
| "lightbulb" will be efficient and thin, opening the way | | | | PMOLEDs - these were MP3 players, sub-displays on |
| for great new lighting designs. | | | | cellphones and radio decks for automobiles. The |
| | | | | displays were small and usually with just one or two |
| There are two types of OLEDs used in displays - | | | | colors. When AMOLED panels started to emerge in |
| PMOLED and AMOLED. The difference is in the driving | | | | 2007 and 2008 we have seen these larger displays in |
| electronics - it can be either Passive Matrix (PM) or | | | | mobile video players, digital cameras, mobile phones |
| Active Matrix (AM). | | | | main displays and even OLED TVs. |
| | | | | |
| With Passive-Matrix OLEDs, the display is controlled | | | | PMOLEDs are still very popular - there are more MP3 |
| by switching on rows and columns. When you turn on | | | | player sold today with PMOLED than with LCDs. But |
| row number x and column number y, the pixel at the | | | | for larger displays, AMOLED is the best technology, |
| intersection is lit - and emits light. Each time you can | | | | and is growing much more quickly than PMOLED |
| choose just one pixel to light. So you have to turn | | | | displays. Obviously for larger displays, such as TV, |
| these on and off very quickly. You do so in a certain | | | | laptop monitors or PDAs, AMOLED is the only choice. |
| sequence, and create the desired image. This is | | | | |
| somewhat like the interlace-system used in old CRTs, | | | | Today there are several companies that are working |
| but the control is done pixel-by-pixel. | | | | on technologies that actually close the gap between |
| | | | | PMOLEDs and AMOLEDs - offering a sort of hybrid |
| PMOLEDs are very easy and cheap to build, but they | | | | system. The promise is that these displays will be |
| are limited to small sizes (up to 3", typically). The | | | | both easy to make and allow power efficient larger |
| image displaying is a bit complicated (because of the | | | | displays. We still have to wait and see whether these |
| row/column method). Also the power consumption is | | | | technologies actually work on commercial displays. |
| not as good as AMOLEDs. | | | | One such technology is Dialog's SmartXtend. |