Generally speaking, OLED technology can be divided into active driving backplane (AMOLED), passive driving backplane (PMOLED), and integrated driving backplane (silicon-based OLED) according to different backplane driving methods. Among them, AMOLED displays have better quality and faster response speed, mainly targeting medium to large-sized displays with large production scales, including smartphone screens, tablet screens, and televisions. PMOLED has the characteristics of high brightness and low production cost, so it is mostly used in diversified customized product markets, mainly focusing on small and medium-sized display screens, such as medical and health, home applications, consumer electronics, car industrial control, security products, etc. Silicon based OLED is a cutting-edge display technology with high resolution and small size. It is applied to micro display panels, suitable for near eye display scenes, and can be used in electronic viewfinders, head mounted displays, etc. The specific comparison of the three technologies is as follows:
AMOLED technology uses independent thin-film transistor circuits to control each pixel, and through bonded external driver ICs, achieves continuous and independent pixel emission. AMOLED adopts an active driving method, with no duty cycle problem, and is not limited by the number of scanning electrodes, making it easy to achieve high-resolution, wide color gamut, and flexible display. The evaporation and packaging processes in AMOLED technology are complex, and the overall production cost is high, requiring large-scale investment. The main downstream application areas of AMOLED include mobile phones, wearable devices, car displays, laptops, televisions, etc.
PMOLED technology uses a matrix structure consisting of cathode and anode, where a horizontal group of display pixels share the same electrode and a vertical group of display pixels share another electrode with the same property. With the help of a bonded external driver IC, the pixels in the array are illuminated row by row or column by column in a scanning manner, and each pixel instantly emits high brightness light in short pulse mode. The production process of PMOLED technology is mature and can effectively reduce manufacturing costs. Currently, product sizes are within 5 inches, mostly concentrated in 3 inches and below. The main application areas of PMOLED include medical and health, home applications, consumer electronics, automotive industrial control, wearable products, security products, etc.
Silicon based OLED displays are made by integrating OLED devices onto single crystal silicon integrated circuit chips that have integrated video signal processing and pixel driver arrays. Unlike PMOLED and AMOLED display panels, which do not require external display driver chips through bonding links, the driving functions are integrated onto the silicon-based back board, thereby saving a lot of space. In addition to the general excellent characteristics of OLED devices, silicon-based OLEDs also have features such as small size, light weight, high resolution, and high contrast. Due to its complex process and high production cost, silicon-based OLEDs are currently mainly used in near eye display systems such as electronic viewfinders and head mounted display devices.