Tsinghua University partners with ITRI to launch the world's first “candlelight-like” OLED light source

　　OLED is regarded as the next-generation lighting source technology. The research team of Professor Zhou Zhuohui's laboratory at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of Tsinghua University has published the world's first “candlelight-like” OLED light source that does not need to burn hydrocarbons. Combined with ITRI, upstream material and equipment manufacturers, they are committed to promoting the launch of candlelight-like products.

　　Following Samsung, panel giants Innolux and AUO are also actively developing active-matrix AMOLED applications on display panels. In addition, some manufacturers are simultaneously investing in OLED lighting R&D to compete with well-known lighting brands such as Philips and Osram in the lighting market.

　　Zhou Zhuohui stated that they have currently mastered 10 key technologies and are successively applying for and obtaining patents. In addition, the laboratory has accumulated more than 40 OLED-related patents, and foreign patent agents and well-known domestic manufacturers have actively contacted them for patent purchases.

　　Compared with the increasingly mature LED technology on the market, Zhou Zhuohui said that although the former is more energy-saving, it is a point light source with concentrated and glaring light spots, which is not suitable for indoor lighting; OLED is a planar light that does not generate high heat and is soft. OLED is not only applied to displays, but can also serve as a lighting source. The cold-light characteristic of OLED can further solve the heat dissipation problem of LED lighting.

　　He stated that, instead of choosing white-light OLED, they would venture into the OLED niche market to identify two killer applications, including high color-rendering lighting and ultra-low color-temperature physiology-friendly lighting. He said that the candle-light-simulating OLED light source is humanity's first candle-light-simulating light source that uses electricity without burning hydrocarbons, and has been recognized and published by internationally renowned journals.

　　Humans have been using candles for 5,000 years. Besides lighting, candlelight is the light source with the least impact on melatonin secretion in the human body, and is also the most physiologically friendly light source. However, candles have their inconveniences. OLED's candle-light-simulating feature generates no heat, smoke, or fire, making it more convenient and energy-efficient than candles while creating a romantic atmosphere. If it can be mass-produced in the future, it could replace candles.

　　ITRI stated that the development of mass-production equipment for OLED-related evaporation deposition equipment is expected to enter the testing phase by the end of 2013.