Samsung creates the first full-color display with quantum dots

Researchers at Samsung have announced that they’ve made the first full color display that uses quantum dots. Quantum-dot displays promise to be brighter, cheaper, and more energy-efficient than power-hungry liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) or Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens which has a limited lifespan. Samsung's 4-inch diagonal display is controlled using an active matrix, which means each of its color quantum-dot pixels is turned on and off with a thin-film transistor. Samsung makes a thin layer of quantum dots that they then carefully peel off before finally stamping it onto an array of thin film transistors made out of hafnium-indium-zinc oxide. By using their stamping technique over and over, the researchers can create a repeated pattern of red, green, and blue stripes. The prototype has subpixels that are about 50 micrometers wide and 100 micrometers long, small enough for use in cell-phone screens. However, The quantum-dot displays are still at least 3 years away hitting the market. The best quantum-dot devices are not yet as power-efficient as OLEDs. Right now, the prototypes begin losing brightness after 10,000 hours of use.

As a reminder, back in November 2010, LG announced that they’re teaming up with QD Vision to research highly-efficient, high-performance active matrix displays based on electroluminescent quantum dot LED (QLED) nanotechnology.