Applications:
architectural, automotive and household lighting
There are currently two basic types of solid-state lighting devices: inorganic light emitting diodes, or LEDs, and OLEDs. Current LEDs are very small in size (about one square millimeter) and are extremely bright. Having been developed about 25 years before OLEDs, LEDs are already employed in a variety of lighting products, such as traffic lights, billboards, replacements for incandescent lighting, backlights for smartphones, computer monitors and televisions, and as border or accent lighting. However, the high operating temperatures and intense brightness of LEDs can make them less desirable for certain general illumination applications, where diffusers cannot be readily employed.
OLEDs, on the other hand, are larger in size and can be viewed directly, without using diffusers that are required to temper the intense brightness of LEDs. OLEDs can be added to any suitable surface, including glass, plastic or metal foil, and can be cost-effective to manufacture in high volume. Given these characteristics, product manufacturers have launched some initial OLED lights for diffuse specialty lighting applications and are working toward general illumination. If these efforts are successful, we believe that OLED lighting products will be used in applications currently addressed by incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps, as well as for new applications that take advantage of the OLED form factor. In particular, the ability of OLED technology to produce uniform illumination over arbitrary shapes is making OLED lighting very attractive to the automobile industry. Commercial OLED tail lights were introduced into the market in 2016 and there is work on utilizing OLEDs for signal lights and other applications in automobiles and the aerospace industry.
