AMOLED Display Technology and Applications

Summary

This chapter examines active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. By definition, an active‐matrix display has one or more switching elements in each pixel, whereas a passive‐matrix display has no switching elements. The chapter gives an overview of the electro‐optical behavior of OLEDs and the basics of AMOLED pixels, and reviews the thin‐film transistor (TFT) technologies that make flexible AMOLED displays possible. It reviews the more advanced architectures used for AMOLED displays and describes how different approaches may be appropriate for small versus large flexible AMOLED displays. The chapter discusses substrate and barrier coating technologies concerned with flexible displays, and provides a discussion on how display flexibility is characterized. Several reliability studies of flexible AMOLED displays under multiple bending cycles have been reported. The rapid successful commercialization of flexible AMOLED display technology since 2013 is a strong indicator of its future importance.