Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Tripping the lights organic


By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: September 5, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT

If Universal Display is right, lightbulbs in the future won't come in boxes. They will be incorporated into the wallpaper.

The Ewing, N.J., company--along with General Electric, Osram Opto Semiconductors and others--is tinkering with the idea of transforming organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), thin sheets of plastic that emit light, into a source of room lighting.

OLEDs

Pioneer and Samsung Electronics already use OLEDs for screens on consumer electronics products. By increasing the size of the sheets and the brightness, researchers think the material could become an energy-efficient substitute for the hoary incandescent bulb. OLED lighting--organic because the films that emit light contain hydrogen and carbon atoms--could be incorporated into fabrics, furniture and other items.

"The dream is to get to the point where you can roll out OLEDs or stick them up like Post-it notes," said Janice Mahon, vice president of technical commercialization at Universal Display.

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