OLEDWorks, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University, has announced a new significant advancement in OLED lighting technology: high aspect ratio OLEDs designed to significantly improve device lifetime and efficiency without altering OLED formulations or manufacturing processes.
OLED lighting has long faced a critical challenge—meeting high luminance requirements while maintaining sufficient operational stability and reliability. Traditionally, OLED lifetime decreases as luminance increases, creating a tradeoff that limits adoption in general lighting. The new approach addresses this by fabricating OLEDs on substrates with sub-millimetre, high aspect ratio surface textures. This design increases the active OLED area per panel, reducing the local current density needed to achieve a given luminance.
Key results
- 2.7× longer lifetime: Blue fluorescent OLEDs built on high aspect ratio substrates demonstrated a 2.7-fold increase in operating lifetime compared to planar controls.
- Up to 40% higher light extraction efficiency: Corrugated substrates scatter trapped light, significantly boosting external quantum efficiency beyond conventional planar designs.
- Compatibility with existing manufacturing: The technique uses standard vacuum thermal evaporation and can integrate with tandem OLED stacks, offering a scalable solution for commercial production.
“This innovation tackles one of the most persistent barriers to OLED lighting adoption,” said Profs. Chris Giebink and Max Shtein, the lead researchers at the University of Michigan. “By reducing current density through geometric design, we unlock both efficiency and reliability gains without changing the OLED chemistry.”
Dr Marina Kondakova, Director of R&D, Lighting at OLEDWorks, added, “High aspect ratio OLEDs represent a practical solution to a longstanding challenge in solid-state lighting. This approach can be implemented on existing production lines, accelerating the path to market for more durable, energy-efficient OLED products.”
The research team validated the concept using green phosphorescent and blue fluorescent OLEDs, achieving uniform layer deposition on corrugated substrates with area enhancement factors up to 1.4×. Beyond performance improvements, the approach leverages commercially available textured films and is compatible with thin-film encapsulation strategies, paving the way for integration into existing and future OLED products.
Why it matters
High aspect ratio OLEDs offer a practical path to meet DOE targets for solid-state lighting by combining improved lifetime, enhanced optical outcoupling, and manufacturability. This advancement positions OLED technology to compete more effectively in high-luminance applications such as architectural and automotive lighting.
The full study, High Aspect Ratio Organic Light-Emitting Diodes, is now published in Nature Communications and available here.