Video: OLED technology explained using a pickle and an Igor

Say bub, do you care to know what all that OLED jazz is about? We'll bet you do, but you don't wanna read some dry polysyllabic academic paper written by five guys during their time away from the lab. What you want is a sharp demonstration, preferably by an MIT professor, that goes straight to the point of what an Organic Light Emitting Diode is. Igor, roll in the pickle, please. Okay, he's not an Igor, his name is Vladimir Bulovic, but he does a terrific job of explaining how the passing of electric current excites organic molecules into creating those luscious ultra-bright colors we lust after that can fit inside ridiculously small spaces. Slide past the break to see the vid in full, and yes, it's just as weird as you think it'll be.

[Via OLED Display]

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[scstsut Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:27AM]

Poll: How many megapickles is your computer screen?

[simbr Posted Oct 2nd 2009 7:16PM]

No idea, but my camera has 7.2. Must be a dwarf variety.

[Wwhat Posted Oct 3rd 2009 7:35PM]

The tiny cocktail pickles are more expensive than the regular ones, so now we know why those OLED screens are so expensive, pickles increase in price as they reduce in size rapidly.

[man1c Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:41AM]

deep fried pickle

[Xepol Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:46AM]

Organic LEDs are not about being "efficient". They are all about DYING.

Yup, that's right. OLED organic molecules burn out/away.

First, the blue goes away some time between 41 days to a maximum of 5 years depending on how recent the OLED technology is and how much you use it.

The problem is so bad that some adopters have to turn their display off 99% of the time. IE: The Optimus Maximum keyboard. Why? Because they're closer to the start curve where their blue only lasts about 1000 hours.

So why would anyone want to build anything explicitly designed to self destruct? Simple, so you have to buy a new one. The manufacturers will only invest enough money to extend life time to what THEY think you should have. Gone are the days of having a 20 year old TV that still works.

It will be more like paying more than full price to license the usage of a device for a period of time (which may be shorter than they promise). After that, pay again or do with out.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:04PM]

Scientist 1: "Hey, we got this OLED to last for 100,000 hours."
Scientist 2: "What? DECREASE IT'S LIFE!"

^ That, is "explicitly designed to self destruct"

Your comment, however, is 50% bullshit.

[jon Posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:38PM]

"Yup, that's right. OLED organic molecules burn out/away."


Yup, cause we all know that CRTs, LCDs and PDPs don't burn out over time. *roll eyes*



I love how there's always one misinformed, gasbag who has to pipe up in every thread about OLEDs.

[ttsgeb Posted Oct 2nd 2009 2:37PM]

No, they're about looking good in a small amount of space. Everything degrades through use, you should accept that when you buy something. CRT's and LCD's have simmilar problems, they're just much more mature technologies so one made today with simmilar standards would last longer.

[nutjob Posted Oct 2nd 2009 4:39PM]

Thanks for keeping us up to date with 5 year old technology. OLED blues are around 30,000-60,000 hours these days and improving constantly.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:47AM]

I reported this to greenpeace

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 2nd 2009 11:54AM]

"That's the tastiest crunch I've ever watched! Vlassic!"

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:28PM]

They should have used a Ball Park frank. Plenty of sodium to light up when the organic molecules are excited and you can eat them after they "plump up".

[grifmx Posted Oct 2nd 2009 12:50PM]

didn't you know, there is nothing organic in hotdogs - just glue, sawdust, and pork fat.

[Michael Pollard Posted Oct 2nd 2009 1:16PM]

And glue, sawdust, and pork fat are made out of... carbon-based organic molecules?

[savagemike Posted Oct 2nd 2009 3:04PM]

Already saw Alton Brown do it ... AB rocks !

[blackspaces Posted Oct 2nd 2009 4:42PM]

good video

[eruh Posted Oct 2nd 2009 10:11PM]

Is he going to eat that pickle

[Tyba Posted Oct 3rd 2009 5:39AM]

This was my submission to the Science Fair in 6th Grade. I won first place!

[oOblik Posted Oct 3rd 2009 5:56PM]

Mr. Vladimir Bulovic tells us about his excited pickle....

[Wwhat Posted Oct 3rd 2009 7:32PM]

When seen like this it's actually odd how much trouble they had to get blue, since electricity has no issues getting some blue light out naturally, most gasses emit blue so it's just getting them solid you'd think.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 4th 2009 9:14PM]

Thanks for posting that. Good Video.

[Nicnac Posted Oct 5th 2009 5:45PM]

and if you and your OLED screen get stranded, you can eat the veggie slices between the plastic layers...