How Organic Light Emitting Diodes Revolutionized Displays (and maybe lighting)

Organic light emitting devices, or OLEDs, are very thin (nanometer) devices made primarily with carbon-containing dye compounds. They are extremely attractive due to their simplicity, flexibility, light weight, and ultrahigh efficiency. Following their invention 30 years ago, OLEDs are now exploding into the marketplace, with prospects of ultimately replacing liquid crystal displays for mobile applications, virtual and augmented reality systems, as well as monitors and in televisions. Equally exciting is their imminent entry into the world of lighting. Yet before this revolutionary technology can completely dominate these applications, there are still challenges that must be overcome. These include improving their useful lifetime, improving light outcoupling by cost effective and simple methods, and finding very low cost and rapid methods to pattern very high resolution and low cost pixelated displays. This talk will focus on the evolution of this technology from a simple idea, to the challenges that are still to be faced in perfecting OLED technology. I will provide a perspective about the future of display and lighting technology based on advances yet to come.