Low Cost, Scalable Manufacturing of Microlens Engineered Substrates (MLES) for Enhanced Light Extraction in OLED Devices

Solid state lighting is being promoted as the ultimate lamps of future. Though the internal quantum efficiency of OLED devices is almost 100%, external efficiency is a mere 36% mainly because of poor light out-coupling (~40%) from the device. Improvement in light out-coupling to >70% and further reducing the manufacturing cost will rapidly accelerate the commercialization of the OLED technology. The development of large meter scale non-vacuum manufacturing methods that address light out-coupling at both substrate interfaces is necessary to address this problem. Sinmat proposes a novel low cost method to create microlens engineered substrates that is expected to show significant enhancement in out-coupling efficiency, while reducing manufacturing cost. Commercial Application and Other Benefits: Lighting consumes >20% of the total electricity generated in the US and nearly 30% of electricity used in commercial and residential buildings. Proposed technology would increase the efficiency of OLEDs by 3 fold from ~50 lm/W to 150 lm/W which will be twice the efficiency of compact fluorescent lamps. Commercialization of solid state lighting technology will lead to substantial energy saving and environmental benefits to the nation.