LG Display becomes first to validate commercial viability of blue OLED

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LG Display becomes first to validate commercial viability of blue OLED

Published: 01 May. 2025, 16:21

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

LG Display's booth at the International Meeting on Information Display 2024 trade show [LG DISPLAY]

LG Display has become the first company in the world to validate the commercial viability of blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), technology the firm considers a significant step toward creating the “dream OLED.”

This marks the first time blue phosphorescent OLEDs have progressed beyond the lab to product-level verification on a mass production line, with the company announcing Thursday that it successfully verified the performance of a blue phosphorescent OLED panel on its production line.

OLED panels emit light through two primary mechanisms — fluorescence and phosphorescence. Fluorescent materials respond directly to electrical input and are simple to use but only achieve 25 percent efficiency. In contrast, phosphorescent materials store energy briefly before emitting light, a more complex process that delivers up to 100 percent efficiency. Switching from fluorescence to phosphorescence can reduce power consumption by as much as 75 percent.

However, realizing phosphorescence in blue — the most challenging primary color — has long posed difficulties. While red and green phosphorescent OLEDs have been commercialized for over two decades, blue remains elusive due to its short wavelength and high energy intensity, which demand materials durable enough to handle the energy without degrading.

LG Display validated the commercial viability of blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), which the firm considers a significant step towards creating the “dream OLED.”[LG DISPLAY]

LG Display overcame this challenge using a hybrid two-stack tandem structure. The design layers blue fluorescent materials on the bottom and blue phosphorescent materials on top. This approach combines the stability of fluorescence with the energy efficiency of phosphorescence, reducing power consumption by approximately 15 percent.

The company completed product-level verification in partnership with the New Jersey-based Universal Display and has filed exclusive patent applications in both Korea and the United States.

LG Display will unveil the new panel at the Society for Information Display 2025 conference, the world’s largest display industry event, set to take place on May 11 in the United States.

“The successful commercialization of blue phosphorescence technology, which has been called the final piece of the ‘dream OLED’ puzzle, will become an innovative milestone toward the next generation of OLED,” said Yoon Soo-young, CTO and executive vice president of LG Display.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY YI WOO-LIM [[email protected]]