Seiko Epson large OLED TVs

Japan's Seiko Epson on Tuesday announced it has discovered a way to produce large-panel organic light-emitting diode (OLED) HDTV sets. A new discovery in inkjet technology allows a more uniform deposition of organic material during the manufacturing of OLED panels, solving the issue of uneven layering in large screens. This breakthrough will allow Epson to make 37-inch and larger OLED HDTVs.

Compared to plasmas and LCDs, OLEDs offer a higher contrast ratio, wide viewing angle and fast response time, along with lower power requirements and thin construction. Their popularity is held back by the lack of a technology capable of reliably forming uniform organic layers on large substrates. Epson's proprietary Micro Piezo inkjet process has greater accuracy in organic material deposition than the current VTE technology. Very uniform layers that have less than 1 percent of volume error are made possible by fine control of the amount and flow of multi-size droplets of ink material on a substrate.

Epson will show a prototype 14-inch OLED display that has the equivalent resolution of a 37-inch 1080p HDTV at the 2009 Society for Information Display's expo slated for June 2nd. When Epson will make OLED TVs made using the new technology will make it to store shelves has not been announced. [via Akihabara]

By Electronista Staff