The OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) Revolution is Here!

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Sony’s Industry First OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) HDTV. You might be tempted to say so what, who cares about a new TV? The reason is that this TV signals the beginning of a "Screen" revolution, Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs).

How would you like to change the color of your walls, floors, and ceilings instantly, any time you choose? How would you like to turn any surface into a display for your TV or Computer? Quoted from March 1994 Science Magazine, “Imagine, for instance, a 10-foot-wide flat plastic panel on the wall that turns into a TV screen at the touch of a button.” All of these things and more are either here now or on their way.
Everyone needs to understand the amazing technology of Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). The emerging field of Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) is important because it is going to replace all TVs, monitors, and all other items that require a display. OLEDs will quickly become so inexpensive, they will also pop up in places we did not expect, and on objects that will surprise us.








They are also being looked at to replace light sources as well as photovoltaic (solar) cells. If you did not know before, today you will be learning about what OLEDs are, and how Richard Friend discovered them. What we can do with OLEDs now. And finally, where this technology will take us in the future.

The first thing you’re might be wondering is, what exactly are Organic Light Emitting Diodes, and where did they come from?
There is a simple answer to what an OLED is, a piece of plastic that puts out light. Exactly how they work can be explained fairly easily too. Power or energy comes in one side of the OLED causing a photon of light to be released on the other. A thin film of Organic Light Emitting Polymer put between two electrodes will glow. A polymer needs to show florescence and to conduct electricity to be a Light Emitting Polymer.
In 1989 at Cambridge University in England, Professor Richard Friend discovered that a piece of plastic could produce light. It all happened quite by mistake. Taken from the October 1990 Nature Magazine, “We wanted to sandwich (the polymer) between two electrodes and use it as an insulator in these field-effect transistors. We were seeing how much voltage we could put across it and we saw a light emerging through this structure, actually through one of the electrodes, which was thin enough to be partially transparent. That was in February 1989, and that was the beginning of the polymer light-emitting diode.”
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OLEDS are already being used to make displays of all shapes and sizes.
There are even OLED keyboards. They are easier to make than LCD Screens because rather than use photolithography; they can be made using printers. A display can literally be printed where you want the screen to be.
Also taken from October 1990 Nature Magazine, “What we’ve demonstrated is that we can actually formulate polymer semiconductors as though they were the inks in an ink jet printer. We can then print them in the three colors—red, blue, and green—into the correct position on a screen. That notion of printing rather than using photolithography is very powerful. It is hugely attractive if it turns to be scalable in a manufacturing way. There are huge cost reductions in manufacturing these devices. Printed OLEDs.
Epson is even using OLEDs as print heads.




They say that it is as good as a laser printer.
Light Emitting Polymers are not limited to a certain size as LCD screens. Also from March 1994 Science Magazine, “They could also replace traditional liquid crystal displays, which are limited to a small size.”
OLEDs are lighter, brighter and more durable than any screen out today. Many companies already have products on the market, Phillips, Pioneer. Even Kodak has put OLEDs in its displays, Sony has made bendable screens. Click on video below to see the new screen.

If you’re like me, just thinking about what we can do now gets me anticipating what will happen in the future.
The future of OLEDS is an exciting area. OLEDs could replace the ink in tattoos. This would allow your tattoo to not only be changed at will and become animated, but with a small interface become a PDA or even a computer screen. If you put the tattoo on your knuckles, your hand could become a flashlight.

OLED Laser

If you continue to the next logical step OLEDs, just like LEDs today, could produce OLED lasers coming out of those same knuckles. As reported in Popular Science October 2003 A PDA that Really gets Under Your Skin, “A thin sensor transponder bonded to your skin detects bioelectrical signals and customizes your tattoo accordingly.”
The future of OLEDs will also be in solar cells. Because OLEDS will be able to be painted onto any surface, the outside of your house could become a solar panel. The roads, cars, electric trains, even the tarp you take camping with you could provide power.
From Oh Gizmo September 2006, “Imagine a cell phone with a bright but energy-efficient screen that also recharges itself when not in use. Or windows that collect energy during the day and function as lights at night."
Stated in the April 2000 Chemical Innovation, “Polymers are being developed that use dyes to increase light collection efficiency. Polymerization methods are being developed that increase the structural order, producing more efficient charge transport properties. Perhaps one day, you can convert the outside of your house into one big solar collector using photovoltaic polymer paint.”
It is not hard to imagine OLED paint on the packaging of every item out there. Animated (with sound) cereal boxes, soda cans, chip bags, clothing tags, etc. Every item could carry its own commercial. Companies could also change the displays over the internet. It’s fun to think about the wonderful future of Organic Light Emitting Diodes.
As you see them pop up as the display of your TV, computer, PDA, cell phone, etc. you can turn to your friend and say, “If you think this is cool, wait until you hear what is on the way.” As you tell them about animated tattoos, walls that change color or become giant screens, animated packaging, and solar panels on virtually any surface. You may find your voice getting a little higher, and the pace of your speech quickening. The future is almost here. If we take one more look into it we will see OLED tattoos providing power for the powerful nanites and nano-computers in our bodies that have become our most personal computers systems yet!

—Kail Andersen

Intimate Computers

“The Interface between Mind and Machine”

Most people think that the time of having the melding of man and machine is a long way off; that the bionic man is not even science fiction, but fantasy. It is simply something that we do not need to be worried about.
This pervasive thinking is not only wrong, but grossly distorted. Far before the moment the first pacemaker was put in the first patient, the melding of man and machine had already begun. From that time on there has been a steady pace toward a more complete connection of computers and people. Even now we are so completely dependent on computers that our modern societies cannot function without them. In other words, there is no going back. Inventor Ray Kurzweil has been talking about a technological singularity for quite some time now. In short it is a fast approaching time when computers reach a point of surpassing human intelligence through The Law of Accelerating Returns. "A technological singularity is a hypothetical event occurring when technological progress becomes so rapid that it makes the future after the singularity qualitatively different and harder to predict." (Wikipedia)

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The consequence of a continued denial of the true state of the mind/computer interface will be, not only a less effective joining of the two, but a lot more fear and apprehension about it. The costs of not understanding that we are only taking the next step in a process started long ago, is a delay of the inevitable comprehensive union of mind and computer. There is also the unfounded fear of becoming a “Borg.” If we will only approach the bright future of what I like to call intimate computers, with understanding and our eyes wide open, the melding will be almost seamless.
As you will see, the melding of people and computers is already here. The only thing left to decide is how much, and how fast. Humans are always trying to be more efficient, so the progression is going to happen—whether people want it to or not. In fact, it is happening right now, and will only increase as we become more advanced in our ability to create intimate computers.
Man has always been using tools to improve his life, be it a stick to get termites or ants out of a mound, or a rock to smash open a crab. Humans have been following this pattern for hundreds of thousands of years. Man wants to accomplish a task; he makes a tool to solve the problem. Man then uses tools to make a machine to accomplish the task more easily. Man then makes a computer to tell the machine what to do so he can get more done. Man then makes remote devices to communicate with his computers more easily. If we follow the progression into the future, man will make extensive neural links, to communicate with his computers so he can be more efficient. Kevin Warwick Professor of Cybernetics at University of Reading, England is in the process of doing exactly that.

You can see this next progression beginning to happen now, as scientists experiment with connections. “This micrograph of an array, in which nanowires connect with a rat cortical neuron, show the potential for creating functional interfaces between nanodevices and live cells or other biological systems.” (Lieber)
The introduction of mind/computer interfaces are not a horror movie waiting to happen, but only the next step in our quest to be more efficient. We can even see people being helped by computer-powered artificial limbs right now. “…this ‘Revolutionizing Prosthetics’ program builds on DSO’s Human Assisted Neural Devices Program, which has recently decoded the brain’s motor signals with such fidelity that motor movements of a robotic arm can be achieved entirely by direct brain control.” (Ling)

Now a person would have to be very naive not to see that there is a potential for great abuse when it comes to any technological advance. Science fiction stories are rife with doomsday scenarios about runaway technology. One of my favorites is from a short story Evaporation from the book Nanodreams. “This was the bitterest part of his ordeal: Death was no escape. His nanodocs had not been entirely deactivated. Stripping him of his right to immortality was beyond McCandless’s authority.” (Smeds) In the above scenario a positive use of nanotechnology was healing someone, and conveying immortality. This constructive attribute of the technology was turned into a means of torture. This duality of technology is nothing new. Almost without fail, anything beneficial can also be used to bring harm. A very good example is nuclear power. It can be used to provide great quantities of electricity, but it can also destroy entire cities when used as a bomb. As this quote from Edmond Danken Sailer states, “Technology is only as good or bad as the person using it.” If we tried to use only technologies that did not have the capacity to cause harm, we would still be living in caves.
The future of intimate computers is a bright one that will include the greatly increased efficiency of everyone, and a universal increase in the standard of living of humanity. This is already evidenced by increased efficiency that mobile computing has provided. There are numerous television programs and documentaries that show that intimate computers are beginning to be experimented with. The most impressive, and revealing program was on a quadriplegic man Matt Nagle who had a chip in his head.
Not only did his mind accept the interface, but it treated the input just as it would input from any of his other senses. His mind accepted it as another “sense.” The potential of this discovery is immense. People with artificial limbs now, will be able to have a sense of heat and touch in the future. “The goal of synthetic skin is to eventually allow environmental information such as heat and touch to be conveyed through the limb to the wearer. The synthetic skin currently under development is known as polyimide, and is constructed by incorporating carbon nanotubes into a rubbery polymer.” (Keenihan)

I find the coming intimate computers exciting. Not just for the serious aspects such as bionics, and restoration of sensation to paraplegic and quadriplegic people,but I am also looking forward to the more frivolous aspects. There is a day coming in our lifetimes when we all will be able to have wireless interfaces with any computing device from our brains. Voiceless cell phones, PDAs, even a laptop or desktop computer will be accessible from our intimate computer interface.

This thinking might frighten some people, but if one looks at the reality of the doomsday scenarios that could come true, very few have ever come to pass. This is not to say that they are not worthy of exploration because they certainly are. Looking into the negative potentials of the mind/computer interfaces allows us to foresee the possible disasters that we need to avoid. All in all, it seems clear that mankind is just continuing on a path already chosen, becoming more and more efficient, and eventually (and some would say inevitably) fulfilling any potential humanity might have.

—Kail Andersen






Works Cited

Keenihan, Sarah. “Nano-enabled prosthetic skin on ‘bionic’ limbs.” Australian
Prospectives on Nanotechnology, January 15th, 2008
Lieber, Charles M. “The Incredible Shrinking Circuit.” Scientific American Reports,
Special Edition on Nanotechnology. Dec. 2007: 65-71.
Ling, COL Geoffrey, M.D., Ph.D. “Revolutionizing Prosthetics.” Defense Sciences
Office Website,
http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrusts/bio/restbio_tech/revprost/index.htm.
Smeds, Dave. Nanodreams, “Evaporation.” 207-226 New York: Simon & Schuster
Publishing, 1995.
Wikipedia, Technological Singularity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity