Toshiba Develops World's First 260,000-Color Polymer Organic Light Emitting Display

    TOKYO, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba Corporation today announced that it
 has developed the world's first prototype of a full-color polymer organic
 light emitting display (OLED), a 2.85-inch display supporting 260,000 colors
 in Q-CIF format and a 64-level (6-bit) gray scale.  The breakthrough display
 was achieved by development of technology for forming a light-emitting polymer
 film on a low temperature polysilicon thin film transistor (TFT) array.  The
 company expects to commercialize OLED in April 2002.
     An OLED displays data via an organic light-emitting diode in the pixels
 formed on a TFT array.  The display itself emits light and has no need of the
 backlight required by LCDs, opening the way to thinner, lighter display panels
 that consume less power.  OLEDs also offer the faster response time required
 for motion pictures and support a wider viewing angle.
     Toshiba developed its prototype display by combining a breakthrough in the
 OLED manufacturing process with technologies it developed in pioneering
 low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs.
     All OLEDs commercialized to date are mono-color or area-color, and use
 small molecules in the light-emitting organic film rather than polymers.  They
 require vacuum-evaporation technology in the production process, which is
 unsuitable for the fabrication of large-sized, high-resolution displays on a
 large mother glass substrate, as required in the TFT production process.
 Toshiba has overcome these limitations with the development of new ink-jet
 printing and solvent-material technologies for depositing a polymer film.
 Both advances can be applied to the achievement of high resolution displays
 and efficient mass production without any need for a vacuum environment.
     Like LCDs, OLEDs fall into two broad categories, passive-matrix and
 active-matrix displays.  A large-sized, full color OLED requires an active
 matrix driver in respect of panel lifetime, power consumption and picture
 quality.  The high level of carrier mobility required for driving OLED in the
 active matrix TFTs can be realized only by polysilicon, not by amorphous
 silicon.  Toshiba established such technology in the process of becoming the
 world's first manufacturer of low temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs, and has
 transferred it to the OLED.
     Toshiba expects to start production of OLEDs in fiscal 2002.  Production
 will initially target cellular phones and small- and medium-sized PDAs, and
 then medium- and large-sized displays, including high-end portable PCs that
 requires higher resolution and a gradation surpassing a 64-gray scale.
     Toshiba's OLED will be exhibited at the Society for Information
 Display (SID) 2001 at San Jose, California, from June 5 to 7, 2001.
 
     Major Specifications
     Pixel Number            144RGB x 176 (Q-CIF)
     Pixel pitch             0.318 x 0.318 millimeter (80 pixels per inch)
     Display Size            2.85-inch
     Gradation               64-gray scale; 260,000 colors
 
     CONTACT:
     Toshiba Corporation
     Corporate Communications Office
     Kenichi Sugiyama
     Tel: +81-3-3457-2105
     Fax: +81-3-5444-9202
     e-mail: kenichi.sugiyama@toshiba.co.jp
 
 

SOURCE  Toshiba Corporation