IEC
New technology developments, including quantum dot, are prompting the need for standards and conformity assessment for screens. IEC has already published many key documents in this area.
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Screens are everywhere in our life, from our phones and tablets to our television sets. We spend more and more time scrolling, flipping from channel to channel or consulting our social media profiles. Children, especially, are affected so much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued specific guidelines which advise to replace prolonged restrained or sedentary screen time with more active play.
The importance of screens in our lives explains, in part, the constant drive for manufacturers to innovate and propose new screen techs. With liquid crystal display (LCD) tech in decline, the market for TV screens is dominated by OLED, QLED and mini LED (light-emitting diode) options. The key difference between LCD and organic LED technology is that OLEDs do not use a backlight layer to illuminate the screen pixels. Instead, OLED pixels emit light when power is applied to them. This means that OLED screens can be made about 30% thinner and lighter than LCD screens.
OLEDs are however more expensive to produce and have typically struggled to offer ultimate brightness while burn-in (a ghostly afterimage left on the screen following heavy use) remains an issue on older models. “In spite of developments in OLED technology, its luminance, lifetime and production costs have remained challenges for the industry,” explained Sweta Dash, founder of Dash-Insights, a display market research firm.
From mini LEDs to quantum dots
One response to these challenges and which could very well be one of the tech highlights of 2024, is phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) blue. As explained by Dash, phosphorescent materials are far more efficient at converting light and are currently used for the red and green colour emitters in OLED displays while fluorescent is the standard for blue emitters. The display industry has been waiting for more efficient blue phosphorescent materials and at least one company claims to have made a breakthrough in this regard with new red, green and blue PHOLED products on sale later this year.
Other attempts to boost the performance of OLED include the use of deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen, to make panels more heat and electricity resistant. According to the same company, its latest OLED displays, premiered at this year’s CES, can achieve 60% brighter images and 30% wider viewing angles than conventional OLEDs. “OLED technology is poised to resolve luminance and lifetime issues with advances in materials and manufacturing processes,” Dash expects. “If technology development combined with capacity expansion can reduce costs, it can drive strong demand growth in future years.”
Mini LED is a more affordable rival technology to OLED which is applied to LCD sets. It uses tiny LEDs to create smaller, more flexible dimming zones. This technology is also less susceptible to burn-in. For context, a giant mini LED TV screen with 10 000 nits of brightness has just been unveiled. A nit is a unit of measurement that relates to the brightness level of visible light (luminance) within a specific area and is typically used to measure screen brightness.
OLED faces most competition from QLED technology. The Q stands for quantum dot, a technology pioneered by one vendor but now used in several TV brands. Technology consultancy OMDIA has published data indicating that QLED screens are a growth driver in the premium TV market where their share will grow share from 50% in 2023 to 70% by 2026.
The quantum dots, also known as nanocrystals, are the tiny semiconductor particles that boost colour vibrancy and image control. The problem is that the quantum dots used in current QLED TVs rely on light from a backlight, in just the same way that an LCD layer does on standard LCD TVs. This limits the effectiveness of the semiconductor particles.
Self-emissive QLEDs could be the answer. These uses photoluminescent quantum dots with the ability to light up and turn off individual pixels rather than using a backlight. In theory, this would give screens using self-emissive QDs all the advantages of OLED but with greater vibrancy and in a form that can be manufactured at lower cost.
The IEC publishes most of the important standards relating to display screens. IEC Technical Committee 110 prepares standards for electronic displays, whether LED, OLED, holographic and more. The IEC 61747 series specifies the requirements for LCDs , while the IEC 62341 series does the same for OLED screens.
Market for foldable screens on the rise
Since their introduction a decade ago, folding screens have become a common sight with numerous manufacturers having released or previewed variously bending, curved or rollable products, including for phones, laptops, and even TVs. The prices of such devices have also tumbled as more vendors launch their own versions. It is strongly rumoured that one of the world’s largest tech companies is preparing its first foldable device though perhaps not until 2025.
All bendable displays are produced using substrates made of flexible plastic that can bend thousands of times without breaking. Some products are claimed to last through up to 200 000 folds. Not all flexible display devices fold. Devices with displays that roll up and disappear inside the device’s body include the OPPO X rollable phone and a OLED R rollable TV.
It is estimated that the foldable phone market will be worth over USD 54 billion by 2028, growing at 17,13% a year. Even if this represents only 1% of the total smartphone market, according to one report, it remains one of the last true areas of innovation left to handset makers. The IEC publishes the IEC 62715 series which deals with most of the standardization issues for flexible and foldable screens.
The switch over to wearables
A significant driver is the convergence of smartphones and wearable devices. As foldable phones become more compact and flexible, they can be transformed into wearable accessories like smartwatches or smart bracelets. This integration opens up new possibilities for convenience and functionality, appealing to consumers seeking multifunctional and versatile devices.
The innovation also bridges the gap between previously separate phone and tablet categories (or a laptop and a more portable tablet) with the compact design of a foldable phone meaning users have a flexible tablet that can slip into their pocket. Accessories such as companion keyboards and trackpads allow a traditional laptop experience for those not wishing to use their device in full-screen mode all the time.
Innovation will also come from stretchable, wearable, and even skin-embeddable displays. The latter is the subject of recent research into how light-emitting polymers might be used for flexible optoelectronics.
“Imagine a display that can be stretched to twice its original length without tearing,” explains Zhitao Zhang in a research paper published in Nature. “In the near future, our mobile phone could be very thin and closely attached to our arm, like our skin, and this new kind of display would be integrated with skin sensors to allow us to observe real-time health parameters and communicate with others.”
The IEC has set up a committee to prepare standards in the area of wearable electronic devices and technologies. It works together with TC 110 in a liaison group so as to ensure all areas are covered. For instance, it publishes IEC 63203‑406‑1 which measures the surface temperature of wrist-worn wearable electronic devices while in contact with the human skin.
Holographic displays create new opportunities
While challenges remain for OLED TV screens, there is a notable rise in the use of OLEDs for other applications, including augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) and automotive displays. These new areas are expected to boost OLED screen revenue by 8% in 2024, according to consultancy John Peddie Research.
Fuelled by advancements in AR/VR headsets, new 3D photo capabilities in the latest smartphones, and the prevalence of game engines, 3D imaging (or spatial computing) platforms are on the rise. At the same time, generative artificiaI intelligence (AI) tools are set to accelerate the creation of 3D content.
Spatial computing is an evolving 3D-centric form of computing that, at its core, uses AI, computer vision and extended reality to blend virtual experiences into the physical world that break free from screens and make all surfaces spatial interfaces.
“Two major trends are converging: 3D spatial platforms and generative AI,” observed Shawn Frayne, CEO of a Brooklyn-based company that has been developing holographic technology for a decade. It previously announced an 8K resolution holographic display, claimed as the world’s largest and a novel way to share holograms on the Internet. Later this year, it plans to launch what is billed as the “world's first portable holographic display”. The new screen is designed to offer users the opportunity to experience 3D visuals without needing to wear special glasses or headsets.
The product is designed for what the company calls “a new era of spatial photography” and comes with AI-powered software that will add depth to 2D stills by “imagining dozens of perspectives of that same photo” for viewing on the display. Like most autostereoscopic screens, this technology requires the viewer to look at the display from certain angles in order to see the 3D effect properly. Other holographic displays include face or eye tracking to beam the image optimally to the viewer, though this works less effectively with more than one viewer.
The latest VR/AR glasses also feature this capability and the headset generating the most buzz in this category is the Vision Pro set to launch this year. Users can create 3D videos and 3D stills using the dual cameras on the company’s latest smartphone. This content appears as regular 2D images on the phone or other devices but will playback as stereoscopic video/stills on the headset.
According to tech and gaming expert Cathy Hackl, we are witnessing the “post-smartphone future slowly taking shape”. It’s a future, she says, where a spatial computer in the form of a wearable, overtakes the smartphone in everything from navigation to personal assistants and how we access information and experiences.
Other tech companies are also gearing up their smart glasses and mixed reality headsets for launch. They think of it as a “platform shift” where AI will be the primary way humans interact with machines. The idea is that soon we will use smart glasses to view the world and AI software will interact with us to make sense of everything that we and our machine sees.
The IEC and ISO have set up a joint committee to pave the way for these AI-inspired technologies: SC 42 prepares standards in the area of artificial intelligence. Another JTC 1 subcommittee publishes documents which specify the requirements for AR and VR.
As with all emerging technologies moving forward, international standards are key to ensure systems interoperate, and work safely and efficiently together.
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