5.1: Invited Paper: History and Status of Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) Technology for Vehicular Applications

With the drive to convey much more information in today's vehicles to both driver and passenger, organic light emitting device (OLED) technology has begun to capture the attention of automotive systems designers and engineers. OLED displays are bright, emissive devices that offer excellent color gamut, wide viewing angle and high contrast. Passive matrix (PM) monochrome and multi-color OLEDs have been introduced in products including an automotive audio console and cellular telephone. In the near future, full-color, high-resolution active matrix (AM) OLEDs with excellent power efficiency, particularly through the use of new high-efficiency phosphorescent materials, will also be available. Finally, continued progress toward meeting more rigorous requirements, for thermal stability and extended lifetimes, including those of the automotive environment, are foreseen. Moreover, recent technological advances such as display flexibility and transparency have created exciting new ways to integrate OLEDs into vehicles. In this paper, we discuss the status of OLED technology, highlighting some of the key features and performance measures that are most important to the automotive designer and engineer.