LIGHT EMITTING POLYMER
SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
Er. ANIL KUMAR MANWINDER SINGH
[Link]. ECE
07BTECE034
VI SEMESTER
INTRODUCTION
• Light emitting polymers or polymer based light
emitting diodes discovered by Friend et al in
1990
• It has been found superior than other displays
like, liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
• Though not commercialised yet, these have
proved to be a milestone in the filed of flat
panel displays
WHAT IS LEP ?
• LEP is a polymer that emits light when a voltage
is applied to it.
• The structure comprises a thin film semi
conducting polymer sandwiched between two
electrodes namely anode and cathode.
• When electrons and holes are injected from the
electrodes, the recombination of these charge
carriers takesplace, which leads to emission of
light that escape through glass substrate.
CONSTRUCTION
• Light-emitting devices consist of active/emitting layers sandwiched
between a cathode and an anode. Indium-tin oxides typically used for the
anode and aluminum or calcium for the cathode. Fig.2.1(a) shows the
structure of a simple single layer device with electrodes and an active
layer.
CHEMISTRY BEHIND LEP
• LEPs are constructed from a special class of
polymers called conjugated polymers. Plastic
materials with metallic and semiconductor
characteristics are called conjugated polymers.
• These polymers posses delocalised pi electrons
along the backbone, whose mobility shows
properties of semiconductors . Also this gives it
the ability to support positive and negative
charge carriers with high mobility along the
polymer chain.
BASIC STRUCTURE AND WORKING
• An LEP display solely consists of the polymer
material manufactured on a substrate of glass or
plastic and doesn’t require additional elements
like polarizers that are typical of LCDs. LEP emits
light as a function of its electrical operation
• The basic LEP consists of a stack of thin organic
polymer layers sandwiched between a transport
anode and a metallic cathode. Figure shows the
basic structure.
TYPES OF LEPs
1 Flexible organic LEPs
• They are built on flexible substrates instead of
glass substrates.
• These materials provide the ability to conform,
bend or roll a display into any shape.
2. Stacked organic LEPs
• They use pixel architecture and offers high-
definition display resolution and true-colour
quality for the next generations display
applications.
ADVANTAGES
• Require only 3.3 volts and have lifetime of
more then 30,000 hours
• Greater power efficiency than all other flat
panel displays
• No directional or blurring effects
• Can be viewed at any angle
• Glare free view up to 160 degree
LIMITATIONS
1. Aging of LEP
• One of the major barriers to the commercial development
of LEP is its useful lifetime.
• Even under ideal conditions, the light intensity gradually
decreases and some discrete regions become totally dark.
2. Space charge effect
• The effect of space charge on the voltage-current
characteristics and current-voltage characteristics
becomes more pronounced when the difference in the
electron hole mobilities is increased
• Consequences of space charge include lowering of the
electric fields near the contacts and therefore suppression
of the injected tunnel currents
APPLICATIONS
• Multi or full colour cell phone displays
• Full colour high-resolution personal digital
assistants(PDAs)
• Heads-up instrumentation for cars
• Lightweight wrist watches
• High definition televisions.
CONCLUSION
• LEPs are promising, low cost solutions for
today’s flat panel displays.
• Although not commercialised yet, these
replace bulky and heavy CRT displays in the
near future.
• However research is underway to improve the
efficiency and lifetime of the polymer displays.