The present invention relates to solid-state electroluminescent (EL) devices, such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices, and more particularly to such devices that compensate for aging of the electroluminescent device components.
Electroluminescent (EL) devices have been known for some years and have been recently used in commercial display devices and lighting devices. Such devices employ both active-matrix and passive-matrix control schemes and can employ a plurality of subpixels. In an active-matrix control scheme, each subpixel contains an EL emitter and a drive transistor for driving current through the EL emitter. In some embodiments, such as displays, the subpixels are located in an illumination area of the EL device, are arranged in two-dimensional arrays with a row and a column address for each subpixel, and have respective data values associated with the subpixels. Subpixels of different colors, such as red, green, blue and white, are grouped to form pixels. In other embodiments, such as lamps, EL subpixels are located in the illumination area of the EL device and are connected in series electrically to emit light together. EL subpixels can have any size, e.g. from 0.120 mm2 to 1.0 mm2. EL devices can be made from various emitter technologies, including coatable-inorganic light-emitting diode, quantum-dot, and organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
EL devices pass current through thin films of organic material to generate light. The color of light emitted and the efficiency of the energy conversion from current to light are determined by the composition of the organic thin-film material. Different organic materials emit different colors of light. However, as the device is used, the organic materials in the device age and become less efficient at emitting light. This reduces the lifetime of the device. The differing organic materials can age at different rates, causing differential color aging and a device whose white point varies as the device is used. In addition, each individual pixel can age at a rate different from other pixels, resulting in device nonuniformity.
The rate at which the materials age is related to the amount of current that passes through the device and, hence, the amount of light that has been emitted from the device. Various techniques to compensate for this aging effect have been described. However, many of these techniques require circuitry in the illumination area to measure the characteristics of each EL emitter. This can reduce the aperture ratio, the ratio of EL emitter area to support circuitry area, requiring increased current density to maintain luminance, and therefore reducing lifetime. Furthermore, these techniques require time-consuming measurements of representative devices before production to determine typical aging profiles.
Hente et al, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0210847, describe an OLED illumination device (a solid-state light or SSL), using one or more additional EL emitter(s) located outside the illumination area to serve as a reference against which to compare measurements of each subpixel. This scheme does not use the reference area during an illumination process (when the lights are on) so that the reference is always available to represent the initial, un-aged condition of the EL device. However, this scheme requires a fixed device characteristic which must be determined at manufacturing time. Furthermore, this scheme measures voltage or capacitance, so it cannot directly sense a change in light output due to a change in EL emitter efficiency, or a change in chromaticity of the light emitted by the EL emitter.
Cok et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,321,348, teach an EL display with a reference pixel outside the illumination area whose voltage is measured to determine aging. In this scheme, while the EL display is active (i.e. producing light for a viewer or user, such as when a light or television is turned on), the reference pixel is driven e.g. with an estimated average of the data values. In this way the reference pixel represents the performance of the display. Compensation is then performed for the whole display based on a measured voltage of the reference pixel. However, this scheme does not compensate for nonuniformity due to differential aging of adjacent subpixels, and does not compensate for chromaticity shift.
Naugler, Jr. et al., in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0048951, teach a scheme for compensation which also relies on determining aging curves in the lab before production begins, and storing those aging curves in memory in each product. However, since this scheme uses curves taken before manufacturing, it cannot compensate for variations in those curves between individual panels, or for long-term shifts in the average characteristics of the displays manufactured due to aging of equipment, process changes, or material changes.
Cok et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,733, teach an EL display including one or more photosensors for detecting the output of subpixels in the illumination area. However, this scheme can reduce aperture ratio and reduce lifetime as described above.
There is a continuing need, therefore, for an improved method for compensating for aging of EL emitters in an EL device that can correct for differential aging, including chromaticity shifts, and for variations within and between manufacturing lots of EL devices, without reducing aperture ratio or lifetime, and without requiring extensive measurements before production begins.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electroluminescent (EL) device, comprising:
a) an illumination area having one or more primary EL emitters;
b) a reference area having a reference EL emitter;
c) a reference driver circuit for causing the reference EL emitter to emit light while the EL device is active;
d) a sensor for detecting light emitted by the reference EL emitter;
e) a measurement unit for detecting an aging-related electrical parameter of the reference EL emitter while it is emitting light; and
f) a controller for receiving an input signal for each primary EL emitter in the illumination area, forming a corrected input signal from each input signal using the detected light and the aging-related electrical parameter, and applying the corrected input signals to the respective primary EL emitters in the illumination area.
An advantage of this invention is an OLED device that accurately compensates for the aging of the organic materials in the device for each subpixel, by measuring electrical characteristics of the primary and reference EL emitters, even in the presence of manufacturing variations. By incorporating a plurality of reference EL emitters throughout the OLED device, spatial variations of the organic materials may be characterized, enabling accurate compensation throughout the OLED device. This invention can compensate for chromaticity shifts as well as for efficiency loss. It does not require pre-production measurements, and does not reduce aperture ratio or lifetime.
EL device 10 also includes a reference area 100 including reference EL emitter 51 that is constructed in the same way as the primary EL emitters 50. Reference EL emitter 51 is preferably identical to all primary EL emitters 50 in terms of size and composition. Reference driver circuit 15 causes reference EL emitter 51 to emit light, preferably by supplying a test current to it. Sensor 53 detects the light emitted by reference EL emitter 51, and measurement unit 170 detects an aging-related electrical parameter of reference EL emitter 51 while it is emitting light. The aging-related electrical parameter can be a current or a voltage. In this disclosure, “fade data” refers to the light detected by sensor 53 as reference EL emitter 51 ages, along with the time of operation of reference EL emitter 51 and the aging-related electrical parameter(s). Fade data is further discussed below with reference to
Reference area 100 is used to provide data on the degradation of the primary subpixels 60 in the illumination area 110. Reference EL emitter 51 is driven differently than the primary subpixels 60, and can preferably be driven at a higher current density than the highest-current-density primary subpixel 60. Data from reference EL emitter 51 does not directly correlate to the level of degradation of any primary subpixel 60. The characteristics of each primary subpixel 60 are measured and used with the data from reference EL emitter 51 to perform compensation.
EL device 10 includes controller 190, which can be implemented using a general-purpose processor or application-specific integrated circuit as known in the art. Controller 190 receives an input signal corresponding to each primary EL emitter 50 in the illumination area 110. Each input signal controls a respective emission level of the corresponding primary EL emitter. It also receives a signal corresponding to the measured light from sensor 53, and a signal corresponding to the measured aging-related electrical parameter from measurement unit 170. The controller 190 forms a corrected input signal corresponding to each input signal using the signals corresponding to the detected light and electrical parameter and applies the corrected input signals to the respective primary EL emitters in the illumination area 110 using the source driver 11 and gate driver 13 as known in the art.
The reference driver circuit 15 can cause the reference EL emitter 51 to emit light while EL device 10 is active, for example when a television employing EL device 10 is turned on by a user, or while EL device 10 is inactive, for example when the television is turned off. Measurements can be taken anytime EL device 10 is active, or when EL display 10 is inactive.
EL device 10 can also include timer 192, such as a battery-backed time-of-day clock and associated circuitry as known in the art, or a 555 or logic timer. The functions of timer 192 can also be performed by controller 190. Timer 192 runs while EL device 10 is active, and measurements of reference EL emitter 51 are taken at intervals determined by the timer. This advantageously reduces the amount of data to be collected, while maintaining high-quality compensation.
Turning to
EL device 10 also includes a second reference area 100c having reference EL emitter 51c, reference driver circuit 15c, sensor 53c and measurement unit 170c as described above. EL device 10 can include any number of reference areas 100; two are shown here for illustrative purposes.
A drive condition for each reference EL emitter 51 can be selected by the controller 190 or the respective reference driver circuit 15. The controller can provide control signals (dashed lines) to each reference driver circuit (e.g. 15a, 15b) to cause the reference driver circuit (15a, 15b) to drive the respective reference EL emitter (51a, 51b) in a selected condition. This is true whether there is one or more than one reference EL emitter 51. Alternatively, the reference driver circuit 15 can include a MOSFET with a fixed Vgs set by a resistive divider on the panel, so that the reference EL emitter 51 is driven at a selected current whenever power is applied to the EL device 10. This and other biasing techniques are known in the electronics art.
EL device 10 can also include a temperature measurement unit 58 for measuring a temperature parameter related to the temperature of the reference EL emitter 51a while the reference EL emitter 51a is emitting light. The controller then uses the measured temperature parameter to form the corrected input signals. The temperature measurement unit 58 can also measure the temperature of reference EL emitter 51b. One temperature measurement unit 58 can be provided for EL device 10, each reference area 100, or each reference EL subpixel 51.
Measurements of the reference EL emitter(s) (e.g. 51a, 51b) can advantageously be taken when EL device 10 is in thermal equilibrium. This advantageously reduces structured measurement noise due to localized heating of EL device 10. EL device 10 is likely in thermal equilibrium when activated after a period of inactivity. Controller 190 can also determine that EL device 10 is in thermal equilibrium using measurements from a plurality of temperature measurement units 58 disposed at various points around the EL device 10. If all measurements are within e.g. 5% of each other, the device is likely in thermal equilibrium. Controller 190 can also determine that EL device 10 is in thermal equilibrium by analyzing the input signals. If all input signals are within e.g. 5% of each other for a period of e.g. 1 minute, the device is likely in thermal equilibrium.
Measurements of reference EL emitter 51 are then taken while it emits light at the measurement level. This advantageously permits measurements to be taken at levels representative of those encountered by the primary EL emitters 50, reducing representation risk. It also advantageously permits rapid aging of the reference EL emitters so that aging data appropriate for use with any primary EL emitter 50 is available from a reference EL emitter 51.
In another embodiment, the reference driver circuit causes the reference EL emitter to emit light successively at a plurality of measurement levels, and respective measurements of the reference EL emitter are taken while it emits light at each measurement level. This advantageously provides data correlated with the variety of emission levels commanded by the input signals.
Each input signal 251, and each respective corrected input signal 252, corresponds to a single EL subpixel 60 and its primary EL emitter 50. Controller 190 produces each corrected input signal 252 using the aging-related electrical parameter of reference EL emitter 51 (
By using fade data measured in the reference area and aging-related electrical parameter measurements from each primary EL emitter 50 to form corrected input signal 252 for each primary EL emitter 50, corrected input signal 252 is adapted to compensate for the loss of efficiency, i.e. the reduction in light output for a given current, of each primary EL emitter 50 due to aging. Corrected input signals 252 correspond to higher currents through primary EL emitter 50 than input signals 251. The more a primary EL emitter 50 ages, and the lower its efficiency becomes, the higher the ratio will be of the current corresponding to corrected input signal 252 to the current corresponding to input signal 251.
As known in the art, the input signals 251 can be provided by a timing controller (not shown). The input signals 251 and the corrected input signals 252 can be digital or analog, and can be linear or nonlinear with respect to commanded luminance of primary EL emitter 50. If analog, they can be a voltage, a current, or a pulse-width modulated waveform. If digital, they can be e.g. 8-bit code values, 10-bit linear intensities, or pulse trains with varying duty cycles.
Two embodiments of EL subpixels 60 in the illumination area 110 (
The first electrode of readout transistor 80 is connected to the second electrode of drive transistor 70 and also to the first electrode of EL emitter 50. Readout line 30 is connected to the second electrode of readout transistor 80. Readout line 30 provides a readout voltage to detector 250, which measures the readout voltage to provide a status signal representative of characteristics of EL subpixel 60. Detector 250 can include an analog-to-digital converter.
Data from detector 250 is provided to controller 190 as described above. Controller 190 provides corrected input signal 252 (
The readout voltage measured by detector 250 can be equal to the voltage on the second electrode of readout transistor 80, or can be a function of that voltage. For example, the readout voltage measurement can be the voltage on the second electrode of readout transistor 80, minus the drain-source voltage of readout transistor 80. The digital data can be used as a status signal, or the status signal can be computed by controller 190 as will be described below. The status signal represents the characteristics of the drive transistor and EL emitter in the EL subpixel 60.
Source driver 155 can comprise a digital-to-analog converter or programmable voltage source, a programmable current source, or a pulse-width modulated voltage (“digital drive”) or current driver, or another type of source driver known in the art.
Current measuring unit 165c, which can include a resistor and sense amplifier (not shown), Hall-effect sensor, or other current-measuring circuits known in the art, measures the current through the EL emitter 50 and provides the current measurement to detector 250, which can include an analog-to-digital converter. Data from detector 250 is provided to controller 190 as described above. Controller 190 provides corrected input signal 252 (
Controller 190 can also provide predetermined data values to data line 35 during the measurement of EL subpixel 60. Current measuring unit 165c can be located on or off EL device 10. Current can be measured for a single subpixel or any number of subpixels simultaneously.
Two embodiments of reference areas 100 according to various embodiments of the present invention are shown in
The measured current is sent to processing unit 190 via measurement data line 97b. Processing unit 190 stores measurements taken over time in memory 195 and tracks changes in the measurements over time. The process of driving and measuring described above may be repeated at more than one level by adjusting the controlled current source 120 to sequentially provide a plurality of levels of current and taking corresponding voltage and light-output measurements while controlled current source 120 provides each successive level of current. This permits characterization of EL emitter 50 degradation under various drive conditions. Photodiode 55 can be integrated into the device backplane electronics, in which case it is located in reference area 100, or provided of the device backplane.
Referring to
The measured current is sent to processing unit 190 via measurement data line 97b. Processing unit 190 stores measurements taken over time in memory 195 and tracks changes in the measurements over time. The process of driving and measuring described above may be repeated at more than one level by adjusting the controlled current source 120 (
Fade data and compensation methods according to various embodiments of the present invention are shown in
where ΔVEL is the difference in voltage between its new value and its aged value. This relationship may be implemented as an equation or a lookup table. An example of function ƒ is shown as curve 710, which is a least-squares linear fit of the data of curves 720, 730, 740, 750 measured from reference EL emitter 51
(
where I/I0 is the normalized current relative to its new value (i.e. current at any given time, I, divided by the original current, I0). This relationship may take the form of an equation or a lookup table. An example of function ƒ is shown as curve 810, which is a least-squares linear fit of the data of curves 820, 830, 840 measured from reference EL emitter 51 over time.
Referring back to
Functions ƒ of Eq. 1 and Eq. 2 encode the relationship between voltage (or current) change and normalized efficiency change. These functions are measured on one or more reference EL emitter(s) 51. If more than one reference EL emitter is measured, function ƒ can be computed by averaging the results from all reference EL emitters 51, or by combining them in other ways known in the statistical art. For embodiments having multiple reference EL emitters 51 at different locations on EL device 10, illumination area 110 (
Referring to
CIEx=0.0973(E/E0)2−0.2114(E/E0)+0.429
CIEy=0.1427(E/E0)2−0.2793(E/E0)+0.4868
define a quadratic parametric fit of curve 900 for the x and y components, respectively. Cubic fits or other fits known in the art can also be used for curve 900 or its parametric representation.
Referring to
Sensor 53 can also include a tristimulus colorimeter, in which color filters 1210r, 1210g, 1210b allow only light matching the CIE 1931
Each color filter can be a colored photoresist (e.g. Fuji-Hunt Color Mosaic CBV blue color resist), or a photoresist (e.g. Rohm & Haas MEGAPOSIT SPR 955-CM general purpose photoresist) with a pigment (e.g. Clariant PY74 or BASF Palitol(R) Yellow L 0962 HD PY138 for yellow-transmitting pigments useful in green color filters, or a Toppan pigment). Each color filter has a transmission spectrum which can be represented using CIE 1931×, y chromaticity coordinates.
Controller 190 receives color data from sensor 53 for each photodiode 55r, 55g, 55b, and converts that data into chromaticity coordinates of reference EL emitter 51. For example, using red, green and blue color filters having chromaticities matching those of the sRGB standard (IEC 61966-2-1:1999+A1), namely (0.64, 0.33), (0.3, 0.6), (0.15, 0.06) respectively, linear (with respect to luminance) photodiode data R, G, B can be converted to CIE tristimulus values X, Y, Z, according to Eq. 3 (sRGB section 5.2, Eq. 7):
Chromaticity coordinates x, y are then calculated according to CIE 15:2004 (3rd ed.) Eq. 7.3, given as Eq. 4:
These chromaticity coordinates can be correlated to normalized efficiency, as on
By using fade data measured in the reference area and aging-related electrical parameter measurements from each primary EL emitter 50 when applying corrected input signal 252 (
A plurality of input signals 251, one for each primary EL emitter 50, is provided by image-processing electronics or other structures known in the art. As shown on
The corrected input signals 252 are supplied to respective primary EL emitters 50 in EL subpixels 60 (
Controller 190 uses the aging-related electrical parameter of reference EL emitter 51 (
In a preferred embodiment, the invention is employed in a device that includes Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) which are composed of small molecule or polymeric OLEDs as disclosed in but not limited to U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,292, by Tang et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,569, by VanSlyke et al. Many combinations and variations of organic light emitting materials can be used to fabricate such a device. Referring to
Transistors 70, 80 and 90 can be amorphous silicon (a-Si) transistors, low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) transistors, zinc oxide transistors, or other transistor types known in the art. They can be N-channel, P-channel, or any combination. The OLED can be a non-inverted structure (as shown) or an inverted structure in which EL emitter 50 is connected between first voltage source 140 and drive transistor 70.
The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Reference is made to commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/766,823, filed Jun. 22, 2007, entitled “OLED Display with Aging and Efficiency Compensations” by Levey et al (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0315788), and to commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/962,182, filed Dec. 21, 2007, entitled “Electroluminescent Display Compensated Analog Transistor Drive Signal” by Leon et al (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0160740), the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.