Three Color (RGB) Polymer Light Emitting Devices

Huge market opportunities in flat panel displays have motivated continuing efforts to develop a "leap-frog" technology. Organic light emitting devices are an emerging technology which promises a radically new approach to the manufacture of such displays. UNIAX is active in this high risk/high payoff technology through its program to develop polymer light emitting diodes. This type of device consists of a layer of electroluminescent polymer "sandwiched" between a pair of metal electrodes. Devices which emit different colors are produced by using chemically distinct polymers for the active layer. Because the electronic structure of the polymer is an important determinant of the electrical characteristics of the device, this latter fact implies that different color emitters have different electrical characteristics. In order to construct a full color display based on this technology, a different driver circuit is required for each of the three different color sub-pixels. UNIAX has discovered a method which can be used to make different color polymer light emitting devices with identical electrical characteristics. This enables the fabrication of full color flat panel displays with greatly simplified driver circuits. UNIAX proposes to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept by fabricating a demonstration prototype. Economical color flat panel displays are expected to find use in a number of military and civilian applications, including heads-up displays, appliances, automotive instrument panels, and consumer electronics. The total market for all such applications is estimated to reach anywhere from $14 billion to $20 billion by the end of the decade.