High‐temperature thin‐film barriers for foldable AMOLED displays

We present a thin‐film dual‐layer bottom barrier on polyimide that is compatible with 350°C backplane processing for organic light‐emitting diode displays and that can facilitate foldable active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode devices with a bending radius of <2 mm. We demonstrate organic light‐emitting diodes that survive bending over 0.5 mm radius for 10.000× based on the high‐temperature bottom barrier. Furthermore, we show compatibility of the bottom barrier with the backplane process by fabricating active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays on GEN1‐sized substrates.     

Extremely broadband and wide‐angle retardation films

Abstract— The design and construction of retardation films with any desired dispersion properties is reported. The method is simple and requires only conventional uniaxial retardation films. As an example, the design of retardation films which have constant retardation over the entire visible spectrum is demonstrated. The design methodology will be given. Specific design examples for broadband achromatic quarter‐wave and half‐wave retardation films are disclosed. These films show almost no wavelength dependence even at large viewing angles.     

Highly reliable a‐IGZO TFTs on a plastic substrate for flexible AMOLED displays

We have successfully reduced threshold voltage shifts of amorphous In–Ga–Zn–O thin‐film transistors (a‐IGZO TFTs) on transparent polyimide films against bias‐temperature stress below 100 mV, which is equivalent to those on glass substrates. This high reliability was achieved by dense IGZO thin films and annealing temperature below 300 °C. We have reduced bulk defects of IGZO thin films and interface defects between gate insulator and IGZO thin film by optimizing deposition conditions of IGZO thin films and annealing conditions. Furthermore, a 3.0‐in. flexible active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode was demonstrated with the highly reliable a‐IGZO TFT backplane on polyimide film. The polyimide film coating process is compatible with mass‐production lines. We believe that flexible organic light‐emitting diode displays can be mass produced using a‐IGZO TFT backplane on polyimide films.     

Letter: A new compensation pixel circuit with metal oxide thin‐film transistors for active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays

This paper presents a novel compensation pixel circuit for active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays, in which the coupling effect mask technology is developed to compensate the threshold voltage of driving thin‐film transistor whether it is positive or negative. Twenty discrete compensation pixel circuits have been fabricated by In‐Zn‐O thin‐film transistors process. It is measured that the non‐uniformity of the proposed pixel circuit is significantly reduced with an average value of 8.6%. Furthermore, the organic light‐emitting diode emission current remains constant during 6 h continuous operation, which also confirms the validity of the proposed pixel circuit.     

Ultra‐high‐resolution 1058‐ppi OLED displays with 2.78‐in size using CAAC‐IGZO FETs with tandem OLED device and single OLED device

We fabricated new 2.78‐in 1058‐ppi organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. The displays used OLED devices with a tandem structure and a single structure and a field effect transistor (FET) using c‐axis aligned crystalline In–Ga–Zn–O (CAAC‐IGZO) for an active layer and employing the 1.5‐µm rule over a glass substrate. Even in the displays with such high resolution exceeding 1000 ppi, crosstalk that was observed in the lower luminance region was suppressed. The displays achieved high color reproducibility and reduced viewing angle dependence.     

Achromatic quarter‐wave film using two chromatic wave plates and a twisted‐nematic liquid‐crystal cell

Abstract— An achromatic quarter‐wave film using one twisted‐nematic liquid‐crystal (TNLC) cell, a chromatic half‐wave plate, and a chromatic quarter‐wave plate is presented. The Jones matrix is used to calculate the optical properties of the system. An optimal algorithm is used for optimizing the configuration parameters. Simulation results indicate that the designed configuration is capable of turning a linearly polarized light into perfectly circularly polarized light in the wavelength range 400–700 nm. The manufacturing tolerance of the cell gap and twisted angle of the TNLC are good.     

Development of 8‐in. oxide‐TFT‐driven flexible AMOLED display using high‐performance red phosphorescent OLED

An 8‐in. flexible active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) display driven by oxide thin‐film transistors (TFTs) has been developed. In‐Ga‐Zn‐O (IGZO)‐TFTs used as driving devices were fabricated directly on a plastic film at a low temperature below 200 °C. To form a SiO_x layer for use as the gate insulator of the TFTs, direct current pulse sputtering was used for the deposition at a low temperature. The fabricated TFT shows a good transfer characteristic and enough carrier mobility to drive OLED displays with Video Graphic Array pixels. A solution‐processable photo‐sensitive polymer was also used as a passivation layer of the TFTs. Furthermore, a high‐performance phosphorescent OLED was developed as a red‐light‐emitting device. Both lower power consumption and longer lifetime were achieved in the OLED, which used an efficient energy transfer from the host material to the guest material in the emission layer. By assembling these technologies, a flexible AMOLED display was fabricated on the plastic film. We obtained a clear and uniform moving color image on the display.     

Optical characterization of OLED displays

Multispectral viewing angle and imaging characterization have been applied to different organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. Angular dependence of the OLED emission is always complex because of its multilayer structure. Spectral information is also related to the geometry of Fabry–Perot‐like structure of each OLED. High‐resolution viewing angle measurements of different OLED displays are reported and compared. Multispectral viewing angle polarization properties are also reported. Imaging measurements allow to detect wavelength shift on the surface of the displays probably related to thickness non‐uniformities. Local radiance fluctuations from one pixel to the other more related to driving problems due to the dispersion of the electric properties of the driving thin‐film transistors are also detected.     

Room‐temperature deposition of thin‐film indium tin oxide on micro‐fabricated color filters and its application to flat‐panel displays

Abstract— Direct deposition of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film on color filters is of practical use in the fabrication of state‐of‐the‐art flat‐panel displays. Room‐temperature dc magnetron sputtering of thin‐film ITO and issues related to the integration of ITO‐on‐glass panels containing micro‐fabricated color filters and other functional materials have been investigated. The resulting polycrystalline ITO exhibited good adhesion to the underlying color filters, as well as good optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Application of this ITO deposition technology to color liquid‐crystal and organic light‐emitting diode displays will also presented.     

Thermal transfer for flat‐panel‐display manufacturing

Abstract— Photolithography is currently the predominant patterning method in the flat‐panel‐display (FPD) industry. Thermal lithography is a novel approach offering superior process control, a completely dry process, and considerable cost savings. Thermal imaging is now the dominant imaging method in computer‐to‐plate applications in the printing industry, with over 6000 installations world‐wide. Two applications, in which this technology could be applied in the FPD industry, will be discussed in detail: color filters for liquid‐crystal displays (LCDs) and barrier ribs for LCDs and organic light‐emitting‐diode (OLED) displays.     

Design of an integrated optical pickup with NA of 0.85 for small form factor optical disk drives

We design an integrated optical pickup for small form factor optical disk drives. The specifications of the pickup are compatible with those of the Blu-ray disk (BD) in terms of numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens, the wavelength of the laser diode, and the thickness of the cover layer. The objective lens unit with NA of 0.85 consists of two aspherical refractive lenses and a diffractive optical element for compensation of the chromatic aberration. Each element of objective lens unit will be fabricated on a wafer as an array type, and the three wafers will be aligned and bonded to form an objective lens array. Therefore, elements of the objective lens unit are designed to have sufficient alignment tolerances for various directions such as de-center and tilt. The optical performances of the objective lens unit are evaluated by simulation against various disturbances such as wavelength change of emitting light from laser diode, misalignments, etc. We also design a quarter wave plate, a polarized holographic optical element, and the shape of photodiode integrated circuit array to generate focusing and tracking error signals. The entire height of the pickup including working distance is 2 mm, and the effective pupil diameter of the objective lens unit is less than 1 mm.     

RGB‐to‐RGBW conversion with current limiting for OLED displays

Abstract— Organic‐light‐emitting‐diode (OLED) displays employing white‐light‐emitting OLEDs in combination with RGBW color filters can demand high peak currents to present images with bright, highly saturated colors. Image‐processing methods that take advantage of a very highly efficient white subpixel in addition to filtered RGB subpixels to reduce the peak current and power of these displays are described. The image‐quality impact of these algorithms are explored to develop a final image‐processing algorithm.     

Prospects and challenges of mini‐LED and micro‐LED displays

We review the emerging mini/micro–light‐emitting diode (LED) displays featuring high dynamic range and good sunlight readability. For mini‐LED backlit liquid crystal displays (LCDs), we quantitatively evaluate how the device contrast ratio, local dimming zone number, and local light profile affect the image quality. For the emissive mini/micro‐LED displays, the challenges of ambient contrast ratio and size‐dependent power efficiency are analyzed. Two figure‐of‐merits are proposed for optimizing the optical and electrical performances of mini/micro‐LED displays.     

Deformed nanostructure of photo‐induced biaxial cholesteric films and their application in VA‐mode LCDs

Abstract— Novel biaxial retardation films made from photo‐induced deformed cholesteric liquid‐crystal (LC) nanostructures using reactive mesogen mixtures (RMMs) for a viewing‐angle compensation of vertically aligned liquid‐crystal displays (VA‐LCDs) was developed. The deformed cholesteric LC nanostructure has been observed by X‐ray‐diffraction (XRD) measurement. The birefringence of the film was described well by our optical model based on a form birefringence theory. The VA‐LCDs with photo‐induced biaxial cholesteric films have excellent viewing‐angle properties.     

Single‐source dual‐layer amorphous IGZO thin‐film transistors for display and circuit applications

In this study, the authors report on high‐quality amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide thin‐film transistors (TFTs) based on a single‐source dual‐layer concept processed at temperatures down to 150°C. The dual‐layer concept allows the precise control of local charge carrier densities by varying the O₂/Ar gas ratio during sputtering for the bottom and top layers. Therefore, extensive annealing steps after the deposition can be avoided. In addition, the dual‐layer concept is more robust against variation of the oxygen flow in the deposition chamber. The charge carrier density in the TFT channel is namely adjusted by varying the thickness of the two layers whereby the oxygen concentration during deposition is switched only between no oxygen for the bottom layer and very high concentration for the top layer. The dual‐layer TFTs are more stable under bias conditions in comparison with single‐layer TFTs processed at low temperatures. Finally, the applicability of this dual‐layer concept in logic circuitry such as 19‐stage ring oscillators and a TFT backplane on polyethylene naphthalate foil containing a quarter video graphics array active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode display demonstrator is proven.     

Vertically integrated,double stack oxide TFT layers for high‐resolution AMOLED backplane

We developed a novel vertically integrated, double stack oxide thin‐film transistor (TFT) backplane for high‐resolution organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays. The first TFT layer is bulk‐accumulation mode, and the second TFT layer is a single gate with back‐channel etched structure. The extracted mobilities and threshold voltages are higher than 10 cm²/Vs and 0 ~ 1 V, respectively. Both TFTs are found to be extremely stable under the bias and temperature stress. The gate driver with width of 530 μm and a pitch of 18.6 μm was developed, exhibiting well shifted signal up to the last stage of 900 stages without output degradation, which could be used for 1360 ppi TFT backplane.     

Pixel structures using the negative feedback method for high‐resolution active matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays

Novel two pixel structures are proposed for high‐resolution active matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays. The proposed two pixels (pixel structures A and B) use the negative feedback method for high‐resolution displays that requires to have small‐sized storage capacitance. The proposed pixel structures A and B improve the luminance uniformity by reducing the voltage distortion in the storage capacitor. However, the proposed pixel structure A is vulnerable to the organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) degradation because the anode voltage of the OLED affects the emission current. In order to compensate the OLED degradation, the proposed pixel structure B stores the turn‐on voltage of OLEDs in the storage capacitor. The simulation results show that the emission current error of the proposed pixel structure B is improved by four times in comparison with the proposed pixel structure A when the OLED turn‐on voltage increases by 0.1 V. Also, the emission current error of the proposed pixel structure B when the threshold voltage of driving thin‐film transistors varies from ?2.2 to ?1.8 V is from ?0.69 least significant bit (LSB) to 0.13 LSB, which shows the excellent luminance uniformity. The proposed pixels are designed for 5.5‐in. full high‐definition displays.     

Surface‐light‐emitting transistors based on vertical‐type metal‐base organic transistors

Abstract— Light‐emitting transistors having a metal‐base organic transistor (MBOT) structure demonstrate both the function of an organic thin‐film transistor (OTFT) and organic light‐emitting diode (OLED). The MBOT is a vertical‐type organic transistor having a simple structure composed of organic/metal/organic layers demonstrating high‐current and low‐voltage operation. The light‐emitting MBOT was fabricated simply by inserting additional layers of hole‐transporting and emissive materials used in the OLED into the col lector layer. The device showed perfect surface emission similar to an OLED. A luminance modulation of 370 cd/m² was observed at a collector voltage of 20 V and a base voltage of 3 V. This device can be applied to an OLED display device to increase the numerical aperture or reduce the required current of the TFT backplane.     

A 5.8‐in. phosphorescent color AMOLED display fabricated by ink‐jet printing on plastic substrate

Abstract— A flexible phosphorescent color active‐matrix organic light‐emitting‐diode (AMOLED) display on a plastic substrate has been fabricated. Phosphorescent polymer materials are used for the emitting layer, which is patterned using ink‐jet printing. A mixed solvent system with a high‐viscosity solvent is used for ink formulation to obtain jetting reliability. The effects of evaporation and the baking condition on the film profile and OLED performances were investigated. An organic thin‐film‐transistor (OTFT) backplane, fabricated using pentacene, is used to drive the OLEDs. The OTFT exhibited a current on/off ratio of 10⁶ and a mobility of 0.1 cm²/V‐sec. Color moving images were successfully shown on the fabricated display.     

Active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode displays with indium gallium zinc oxide thin‐film transistors and normal,inverted, and transparent organic light‐emitting diodes

Abstract— Active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) displays have gained wide attention and are expected to dominate the flat‐panel‐display industry in the near future. However, organic light‐emitting devices have stringent demands on the driving transistors due to their current‐driving characteristics. In recent years, the oxide‐semiconductor‐based thin‐film transistors (oxide TFTs) have also been widely investigated due to their various benefits. In this paper, the development and performance of oxide TFTs will be discussed. Specifically, effects of back‐channel interface conditions on these devices will be investigated. The performance and bias stress stability of the oxide TFTs were improved by inserting a SiO^x protection layer and an N²O plasma treatment on the back‐channel interface. On the other hand, considering the n‐type nature of oxide TFTs, 2.4‐in. AMOLED displays with oxide TFTs and both normal and inverted OLEDs were developed and their reliability was studied. Results of the checkerboard stimuli tests show that the inverted OLEDs indeed have some advantages due to their suitable driving schemes. In addition, a novel 2.4‐in. transparent AMOLED display with a high transparency of 45% and high resolution of 166 ppi was also demonstrated using all the transparent or semi‐transparent materials, based on oxide‐TFT technologies.