Data Driver for TFT Displays With Uniform Column Current Output

SUMMARY

Advances in thin film transistor technology and improved performance of organic light emitting materials have catalyzed the development of display applications. However, variations in properties of the devices that from these panels yield noticeable display brightness non-uniformity due internal electronic circuits.

Lehigh University has developed new circuits to overcome this issue by reducing yield while they occupy a large area of the display. The external circuits, or data drivers, produce high levels of uniformity without increasing display complexity. Other advantages include reduction of sensitivity to device parameter variations, reduced number of transistors, increased aperture ratio. Experimental results have shown that non-uniformity was reduced from 70% to below 0.5% for two pixels driven with the standard technique.

Lehigh Tech ID# 122804-01

THE MARKET

The SSL market is predicted to be around $33 billion by, growing annually at over 10%.[1] This market is an umbrella market for LEDs, OLEDs, and PLEDs with OLEDs being around $1.25 million.[2] Additionally, 22% of the United States electricity is consumed by lighting, which costs consumers over $50 billion each year. Novel lighting technologies have the potential to reduce this consumption by up to six times less. This potential has led to increased market need, funding resources and science centers dedicated to advancing developments, such as the $46 million Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) for solid-state lighting science funded by the Department of Energy.[3]