(May 1, 2025) LG Display has announced a major technological milestone, becoming the first company to verify the commercialization-level performance of blue phosphorescent OLED panels on a mass production line. The breakthrough marks what many in the display industry consider the final step toward achieving the so-called “dream OLED,” a panel that utilizes phosphorescent materials for red, green, and blue light emission.
While red and green phosphorescent OLEDs have been widely used for over two decades, blue phosphorescence has remained elusive due to the color’s high energy demands and shorter wavelength, which have historically compromised both efficiency and material stability. Until now, blue OLEDs relied on fluorescence, which is simpler but significantly less efficient, operating at around 25% luminous efficiency compared to 100% efficiency from phosphorescence.
LG Display’s solution uses a hybrid two-stack Tandem OLED structure, placing a blue fluorescent layer on the lower stack and a blue phosphorescent layer on the upper. This design blends the stability of fluorescence with the power-saving benefits of phosphorescence, resulting in about 15% reduced power consumption while maintaining performance and lifespan in line with current OLED standards.
What makes this announcement particularly notable is that LG Display has successfully verified performance, optical characteristics, and processability of its new blue phosphorescent OLEDs using actual mass production equipment. In partnership with Universal Display Corporation (UDC), the company has completed the steps needed to prepare the technology for commercial deployment.
The blue phosphorescent technology will be on display at SID Display Week 2025, which kicks off May 11 in San Jose, California. LG Display plans to showcase a small-to-medium-sized panel featuring a hybrid Tandem OLED stack—intended for high-performance devices like smartphones, tablets, AI PCs, and AR/VR headsets, where power efficiency and image fidelity are increasingly critical.
“The successful commercialization of blue phosphorescence technology, which has been called the final piece of the ‘dream OLED’ puzzle, will become an innovative milestone towards the next generation of OLED,” said Soo-young Yoon, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. “We expect to secure a leading position in the future display market through blue phosphorescence technology.”
LG Display has filed patents for its hybrid blue phosphorescent OLED structure in both South Korea and the United States.
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