New Breakthrough Promises Low Cost OLED Displays

For years PC users could be found chomping at the bit over Art Lebedev Studio's oft delayed Optimus Maximus OLED keyboard, and for those patient enough to stay excited through the numerous setbacks and vaporware accusations, the end result was an input device that now sells for over $1,800. Ouch. Such is the price we pay as early adopters of new devices, but if the technology behind a joint collaboration between the U.S. Display Consortium and Plextronics comes to fruition, expect to see more affordable OLED gadgets in the very near future.

The USDC has a history of funding Plextronics, having handed them $1.8 million back in early 2007 to work on increasing the lifetime and efficiency of OLED displays, and the two seem intent on bringing OLEDs into the mainstream. That mission moves one step forward today, as the two announced the completion of a $590,000 project aimed at producing a new hole injection layer (HIL) technology that the two companies hope will lead to lower cost OLED displays."Entrepreneurial companies like Plextronics are creating new technologies capable of commercial-scale performance and manufacturability," said Michael Ciesinski, USDC's CEO. Let's hope they're successful, and that the next OLED peripheral doesn't require a payment plan.

Image Credit: Art Lebedev Studio