At The LED Show pre-conference workshop, Philips Lighting highlighted the similarities and differences between LEDs and OLEDs. The presentation also emphasized methods by which OLED cost may be reduced dramatically.

OLEDs and LEDs are complimentary today, yet may someday compete in general illumination applications. This is one of the takeaways from a presentation by Angela Hohl-AbiChedid, director of business development for Philips Lighting, who also highlighted some of the methods that likely will be used to reduce the cost of manufacturing OLED panels. Hohl-AbiChedid opened the pre-conference workshop for The LED Show in Las Vegas, NV, this week.

OLEDs and LEDs

While OLEDs and LEDs are both simple semiconductor devices that create light through electron-hole recombination in response to electrical current, they are manufactured by different means and provide a different kind of light. LEDs are point light sources fabricated in a manner similar to other semiconductor chips, while OLEDs are diffused light sources that are manufactured into panels. Each panel use inorganic emissive materials that are sandwiched between a cathode layer and glass substrate (the anode).

A feature article in the debut edition of Illumination in Focus reviews OLED system efficacy, manufacturing cost, performance and lifetime challenges. Among other highlights, the article states that panel manufacturers are capable of making OLEDs today with adequate brightness for many lighting applications, in the 3000 cd/m² range.