LG Display Becomes First in the World to Successfully Verify Commercialization of Blue Phosphorescent OLED Panels

LG Display announced on May 1 that it has become the first in the world to successfully verify the performance of blue phosphorescent OLED panels for commercialization on a mass production line.

An illustration explaining the luminescence mechanisms of fluorescence and phosphorescence. Photo by LG Display

The way OLED panels emit light is largely divided into fluorescence and phosphorescence. Fluorescence is a simple method that emits light immediately when electricity is applied, but its luminous efficiency is limited to 25%. In contrast, phosphorescence stores energy for a short time after receiving electricity and then emits light. This method is more technologically challenging, but it achieves a luminous efficiency of 100%.

OLED panels that implement all three primary colors of light (red, green, and blue) using phosphorescence are referred to as the "dream OLED." However, blue has a short wavelength and requires a lot of energy, making it difficult to achieve phosphorescence. LG Display solved this issue with a "hybrid two-stack tandem" structure, stacking blue fluorescent material on the lower layer and blue phosphorescent material on the upper layer. This approach maintained the stability of conventional OLED panels while reducing power consumption by about 15%.

LG Display is the first company to succeed in the commercialization stage, which requires verifying performance, optical characteristics, and processability on an actual mass production line. The company also completed product verification in cooperation with Universal Display Corporation (UDC) of the United States.

LG Display has exclusively filed patents for its hybrid phosphorescent blue tandem technology in both South Korea and the United States. The company plans to unveil OLED panels using this technology at "SID 2025," the world's largest display event, to be held in the United States starting May 11 (local time). The panels on display will be small- and medium-sized, suitable for IT devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Yoon Sooyoung, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of LG Display, expressed high expectations, stating, "The successful commercialization verification of blue phosphorescent OLED, often called the final piece of the puzzle for the dream OLED, will serve as an innovative milestone toward next-generation OLED."