OLEDS FOR GENERAL LIGHTING

The goal of this program was to reduce the long term technical risks that were keeping the lighting industry from embracing and developing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology for general illumination. The specific goal was to develop OLEDs for lighting to the point where it was possible to demonstrate a large area white light panel with brightness and light quality comparable to a fluorescence source and with an efficacy comparable to that of an incandescent source. it was recognized that achieving this would require significant advances in three area: (1) the improvement of white light quality for illumination, (2) the improvement of OLED energy efficiency at high brightness, and (3) the development of cost-effective large area fabrication techniques. The program was organized such that, each year, a ''deliverable'' device would be fabricated which demonstrated progress in one or more of the three critical research areas. In the first year (2001), effort concentrated on developing an OLED capable of generating high illumination-quality white light. Ultimately, a down-conversion method where a blue OLED was coupled with various down-conversion layers was chosen. Various color and scattering models were developed to aid in material development and device optimization. The first year utilized this approach to deliver a 1 inch x 1 inch OLED with higher illumination-quality than available fluorescent sources. A picture of this device is shown and performance metrics are listed. To their knowledge, this was the first demonstration of true illumination-quality light from an OLED. During the second year, effort concentrated on developing a scalable approach to large area devices. A novel device architecture consisting of dividing the device area into smaller elements that are monolithically connected in series was developed. In the course of this development, it was realized that, in addition to being scalable, this approach made the device tolerant to the most common OLED defect--electrical shorts. This architecture enabled the fabrication of a 6 inch x 6 inch OLED deliverable for 2002. A picture of this deliverable is shown and the performance metrics are listed. At the time, this was the highest efficiency, highest lumen output illumination-quality OLED in existence. The third year effort concentrated on improving the fabrication yield of the 6 inch x 6 inch devices and improving the underlying blue device efficiency. An efficiency breakthrough was achieved through the invention of a new device structure such that now 15 lumen per watt devices could be fabricated. A 2 feet x 2 feet OLED panel consisting of sixteen 6 inch x 6 inch high efficiency devices tiled together was then fabricated. Pictures of this panel are shown with performance metrics listed. This panel met all project objectives and was the final deliverable for the project. It is now the highest efficiency, highest lumen output, illumination-quality OLED in existence.