OLEDs to become as cheap as newsprint

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 1st September 2009
Comments (22) Stumble
OLEDs to become as cheap as newsprint

OLED technology remains expensive and size-restricted, but work at the RIKEN Centre looks to change all that.

Japanese scientists have created a new method for making OLED sheets which could see the cost drop as low as "printing newspapers."

According to OLED-Info.com - via Engadget - the technique developed at the RIKEN Centre in Japan uses an electrospray system to deposit the OLED on to the substrate. This produces devices with crisper graphics than those created using the spin-coating method.

While electrospray depositing systems have been developed before, the smoothness of the coating - and thus the quality of the display - has left a lot to be desired. Yutaka Yamagata believes he has solved this issue using an innovative mix of two different solvents. OLED devices created using Yamagata's technique have, in tests, activated at lower voltages and supported higher current densities than those created using the traditional spin-coating technique.

Yamagata believes that with work, his technique could be refined enough to manufacture OLED devices "as inexpensive[ly] as printing newspapers," meaning that the days of traditional dead-tree media could soon be numbered.

It'll be a while, of course, before the technology sees a commercial application: with OLED technology still very much in its infancy, there's certainly room for improvement in terms of display size and overall cost. Whether the costs would ever actually approach that of printed newspaper - and whether that would lead to broadsheets filled with annoying animated adverts - remains to be seen.

Arre you still hoping that OLED technology will be powering your next display, or is the combination of traditional TFT - for big screens - and e-ink - for portable devices - just fine for the time being? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote Arkanrais 1st September 2009, 13:49
When this comes out, I'm going to have to wallpaper my house with the stuff.
as a side note, I've always wondered if it's possible to make some kind of tech similar to this that can be graphed on to your skin for shape changing tattoos.
Quote Bauul 1st September 2009, 13:51
Quote:
Originally Posted by News
Arre you still hoping that OLED technology will be powering your next display,

Yarr there be pirates at Bit-Tech today!
Quote l3v1ck 1st September 2009, 13:51
Sweet!
Huge cheap TV's, here we come.
Quote CardJoe 1st September 2009, 13:52
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
I've always wondered if it's possible to make some kind of tech similar to this that can be graphed on to your skin for shape changing tattoos.

Just use a non-permanent marker.
Quote Phil Rhodes 1st September 2009, 14:03
This has been a goal for at least a decade - creating a display that you can simply print in a continuous roll.

On the other hand we have heard claims like this before, and I don't see super low cost, low power consumption displays around me.
Quote Veles 1st September 2009, 14:05
Well the cheap printing ideal has been on the wiki page for OLEDs for ages, it would be awesome to be able to have your walls made of the stuff though, no more need for lights, your walls and ceiling are the lights, and if you get bored of the wallpaper or paint colour, it's as easy as changing it on your desktop.
Quote dicobalt 1st September 2009, 14:09
Pie in the sky. Not gonna happen.
Quote andrew8200m 1st September 2009, 14:29
Quote:
Originally Posted by CardJoe
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
I've always wondered if it's possible to make some kind of tech similar to this that can be graphed on to your skin for shape changing tattoos.

Just use a non-permanent marker.

LOL!

However, back on topic! It would be a good idea to have these instead of newspapers I suppose. If you could then just go into a news agents, pay for the paper as you would (as a file) and then plug it in and read it it would be fantastic saving no end on paper etc.


Andy
Quote materialsdave 1st September 2009, 15:06
If you'd like to learn more about the science behind the story, you can access the original paper free at http://ow.ly/nBVp.

Dave Flanagan, Deputy Editor, Advanced Materials
Quote talladega 1st September 2009, 17:47
lolz. animated porn mags.
Quote RichCreedy 1st September 2009, 19:25
why go to news agent, you could just subscribe to the paper, and have it downloaded via your broadband.

Oh sorry anyone who owns/works in a newsagents :S
Quote Veles 1st September 2009, 19:35
or you could just have a 3G newspaper
Quote HourBeforeDawn 1st September 2009, 19:59
this is awesome well the news paper concept is but anyhow Im talking about cheaper OLED production thats the way to go and will replace LCD tech, cant wait ^_^
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 1st September 2009, 20:22
As good as this sounds, I won't be holding my breath.

News like this often comes to nothing.
Quote bagman 1st September 2009, 22:46
it would make some really cool lighting effect if you put it in your pc
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 1st September 2009, 23:49
Quote:
Originally Posted by bagman
it would make some really cool lighting effect if you put it in your pc

How's about wallpaper that you can change at will..
Quote D B 2nd September 2009, 02:34
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
When this comes out, I'm going to have to wallpaper my house with the stuff.
as a side note, I've always wondered if it's possible to make some kind of tech similar to this that can be graphed on to your skin for shape changing tattoos.
go a bit further with that idea and you have chameleon like abilities at camouflage.

By making OLED's cheeper, and better, your sure to find them used in more and more things .. I wonder what all that will turn out to be?
Quote eddie543 2nd September 2009, 04:10
Quote:
Originally Posted by talladega
lolz. animated porn mags.

Someones got the right Idea :):):)
Quote ssj12 2nd September 2009, 06:38
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
When this comes out, I'm going to have to wallpaper my house with the stuff.
as a side note, I've always wondered if it's possible to make some kind of tech similar to this that can be graphed on to your skin for shape changing tattoos.

Didn't Sony make wallpaper OLED TVs a while back? they are just working on making it durable, making the tech support larger screens, or something I believe.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 2nd September 2009, 08:07
I remember a news item about Philips;They had painted displays in the works, although only one color, just paint it on a wall in your house and connect 2 wires to it. don't remember the exact explanation but it was a interesting read...
Quote Constructacon 2nd September 2009, 09:02
Old news. I saw these animated newspapers in Harry Potter films years ago

On a serious note, we wouldn't be buying these daily. Wouldn't we end up with some Kindle-esque device for our newspapers and just download the news?
Quote Star*Dagger 2nd September 2009, 15:12
Any article that starts with "Japanese scientists have created a new method.." is a good one, especially when it is something like this that will increase our quality of life. Imagine have a wall that is your Super-HD TV.

Animated porn magazines, ironically i didnt think of that at first, I thought of those sci-fi movies where people are reading animated newspapers. I would like to go on the record as supporting animated porn!

I wonder what this will do for billboards, will we have a cacophony of movement when we walk down the high streets? Will this lead to us seeing motion as less of a threat and cause the mass extinction of humanity when fast moving aliens invade.

In any case, I embrace this advance.

Yours in not wanting moving billboards Plasma,
Star*Dagger
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