On May 1st, LG Display announced that it has achieved a groundbreaking feat by becoming the first in the world to commercialize blue phosphorescent OLED panels through mass production lines. This accomplishment, realized just eight months after partnering with U.S.-based organic luminescence materials company UDC to develop blue phosphorescence, is being hailed by industry experts as a crucial advancement in realizing the so-called "dream OLED."
In the display industry, OLEDs that employ phosphorescence to realize the three primary colors—red, green, and blue—are often called the "dream OLED." There are two types of luminescence methods in OLEDs: fluorescence and phosphorescence. Fluorescence, although simpler in structure, only achieves an efficiency of around 25%, whereas phosphorescence, despite requiring a more complex structure, can reach up to 100% emission efficiency, offering significant energy-saving benefits. Phosphorescence consumes roughly one-fourth of the power needed by fluorescence to achieve the same brightness.
However, blue phosphorescent materials have long been considered challenging to commercialize due to technical difficulties. The short wavelength and high energy of blue light complicate the stabilization and longevity of the material.
To address these challenges, LG Display adopted a "hybrid two-stack tandem" structure, which stacks a blue fluorescence layer beneath a blue phosphorescence layer. This innovation achieved both stability and high efficiency, maintaining the longevity and quality of conventional OLEDs while reducing power consumption by approximately 15%.
Notably, this achievement goes beyond mere laboratory testing, having undergone verification for optical characteristics, reliability, and process applicability on actual mass production lines—a world first. Collaborating with UDC, LG Display has ensured the technical completeness necessary for commercialization and has filed exclusive patents for this technology in both South Korea and the United States.
The OLED panels featuring this technology will be showcased at the upcoming "SID 2025" in San Jose, California, from May 11. These displays, suitable for application in smartphones and tablets, are expected to find extensive use in cutting-edge electronic devices requiring high definition and efficiency, such as AI PCs and AR/VR devices.
Yoon Soo-young, CTO of LG Display, remarked, "The successful commercialization of blue phosphorescence marks an innovative milestone in next-generation OLED technologies," adding that the company aims to dominate the premium market with this advancement and expedite the evolution of OLEDs.
