DisplaySearch Characterizes The AMOLED Display In The Sony XEL-1 TV And Calculates Video Lifetime To Be ~17,000 Hours

[The following is a release from DisplaySearch]

May 19, 2008

DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research and consulting, released a new report on characterization of the AMOLED in the Sony XEL-1 TV. The characterization includes a description of the sub-pixel architecture, micro cavity, the compensation circuits, and the top emission OLED device and includes measurements of lifetime by color and image, power consumption differential aging, burn-in, contrast ratio and luminance. In “TV Images to Dazzle the Jaded” on May 1, the technology editor of the NY Times described a little experiment: At a cooperative Best Buy store, I did a little test. I set the XEL-1 up next to state-of-the-art plasmas and LCD sets—all hooked up to the same video signal for easy comparison—and recorded the reactions of shoppers and employees. Their adjectives for this picture included “astonishing,” “astounding,” “incredible” (twice) and “amazing” (five times). They were right. The XEL-1’s picture is so colorful, vibrant, rich, lifelike and high in contrast, you catch your breath. It’s like looking out a window. With the glass missing. The consumers love the display, but how good is it? DisplaySearch takes the mystery out of the design and the performance over time. The architecture is described as well as the organic material, including thicknesses. The RGB architecture is very sensitive to the image and has a 5,000 hour lifetime for white and a 17,000 hour lifetime for the typical video image, well below the published specifications of Sony. Moreover the panel suffers from differential aging: After 1,000 hours the blue luminance degraded by 12%, the red by 7% and the green by 8%. Other key findings in the report include • The sub-pixel architecture includes two TFTs and two capacitors. • The pixel architecture does not use a common support layer, as the materials and thickness are different. • The microcavity structure results in multiple reflection interference. • The brightness is severely reduced in high ambient conditions. • The black levels are less than 0.01 cd/m², lower than any other display (PDP or LCD) currently on the market. • The top emission design includes a color filter and a circular polarizer. • The cathode is semi transparent. • The design includes a unique approach to cooling the OLED. The results demonstrate that the Sony display is significantly inferior in many ways to the current AMOLED designs. Consumers who are amazed by their first experience with OLED TVs can only expect significantly improved performance in the future.

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