LEDs get as bendy as OLEDs

Organics get some competition

21 August 2009 16:04 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Scientists have developed a way of making traditional inorganic LEDs just as flexible as the much vaunted new organic LEDs, or OLEDs as they're more commonly known.

The process isn't quite ready for full commercialisation yet, but it involves making a surface where only a small fraction is occupied by the actual LEDs - the rest is comprised of whatever you want the flexible or transparent background material to be.

To achieve that, the scientists made up one large LED sheet using gallium, indium, phosphorous, etc, and then cut away any bits they didn't need, leaving a working red surface. Those bits that were left could then be transferred to another surface using elastic "printing" materials.

None of the LEDs failed during the scientists' testing, however the wiring had more difficulty, buckling under the strains of test procedures. It only works with red light too, for now. Still, there are no insurmountable obstacles, so it looks like traditional LED displays might still have a future after all.

Via: arstechnica.com

Full tags

Hardware, OLED, LED