Samsung Goes Brave New World With 40-Inch OLED Panel

Samsung's 40-inch OLED TV. Via Nikkei Electronics/Tech-On

(PhysOrg.com) -- Samsung showed off its 40-inch OLED panel at FPD International in Yokahama, Japan. It is a work in progress with a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080, a contrast ratio of a million to one and a color gamut of 107-percent NTSC. The 40-inch OLED panel has a peak luminance of 600 cd/m2. The jaw-dropper is the 8.9mm depth of this pilot line model.

Samsung is currently limited to OLED panels up to 31-inches on its production lines. The show-stopping 40-inch panel was created on a pilot-line. The driver board is a low temperature poly-Si TFT. It is made by the super grain silicon technology without the use of lasers. The current mass production line is not tooled for the 40-inch panel.

Nikkei Electronics reporter Takuya Otani, quotes a Samsung staffer saying, the RGB organic light emitting materials are formed by vapor deposits. A fine metal mask is employed. Fluorescent materials are used for red and green and phosphorescent materials are used for the color blue.

In order to reduce variations in luminance, the panel incorporates a circuit that equalizes the current on the screen. The Samsung 40-inch OLED panel is a bottom emission type with a microcavity structure to improve the color gamut, added the staffer.

In other news, Samsung showed off its 14.1-inch OLED TV and a 31-inch OLED TV during GITEX Technology Week in Dubai. According to Bo Joong Kim, General Manager of the AV Division of Samsung Gulf Electronics LTD, the finished products on display weigh 40-percent less than conventional HDTV LCD models. Moreover, the contrast ration is one million to one with a color gamut of 107-percent and brightness of 550 cd/m2. Samsung hopes to have mid-to-large size OLED TVs available to the consumer by 2010.

Mr. Kim says, "OLED TVs represent greater technology innovation and set a new standard for TV sophistication." Currently, the significant cost to consumers for small screen OLED TVs presents a barrier to average consumers. The Sony EXL-1, an 11-inch OLED is priced in the neighborhood of $2500. LG and others have joined the OLED band-wagon.

A great deal can happen in the next couple of years which may influence the high cost of producing the OLED TVs. Prices have a way of adjusting to market conditions and fluctuating production costs.

   

• Ty1 - Oct 30, 2008
  • Rank: 2.8 / 5 (5)
  OLED FTW!
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• Bob_Kob - Oct 31, 2008
  • Rank: 3.8 / 5 (4)
  So itll be another 20 years before anything decent becomes cheap enough for the common man.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• nano999 - Oct 31, 2008
  • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
  Yeah! A new toy that only the rich (or those willing to go further into debt) can afford! I'm so excited to not be able to buy one.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• h0dges - Oct 31, 2008
  • Rank: 2.7 / 5 (3)
  What's the power consumption like on these things?
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• joefarah - Oct 31, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
  Want to impress? Take 4 of the 31" OLEDs and a custom square OLED display and build a "cube" of them that is easy to hang from the ceiling or sit as a coffee table. You'll sell a few of those for the board rooms.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• ShadowRam - Oct 31, 2008
  • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
  Much Lower than an LCD.
  
  I'm more excited that OLED's don't require polarization. And with a mix of LCD and OLED, and a pair of opposite polarized glasses, creating a 3D Image is easily possible.
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
• QubitTamer - Nov 04, 2008
  • Rank: not rated yet
  I would prefer to see this technology shrink to the point that contact lenses or even intra-ocular lenses can be made that have a very low power oled pixel matrix embedded in them. Then you don't need fixed displays hanging about, you can see video and graphics anywhere by 3D positional information... Imagine the possiblities of virtual 3D embedded visual information wherever you look and care to 'tune-in' to. No more need for GPS units, TVs, etc... you see the data / video feeds being emitted around you.
  
  Power comes from magnetic induction initially so the wearing of some kind of sunglasses with a rotating magnetic field would be needed...
  • report abuse
  • • Current rank
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5