Lifetime Extension Method for Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays Using a Modified Stretched Exponential Decay Model

In this letter, we propose a compensation method for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) degradation occurring in a digital driving scheme for active-matrix OLED displays. The proposed method, in which we are the first to propose, employs the modified stretched exponential decay (SED) model to characterize the OLED degradation and compensates for the associated luminance decrease; the lifetime of an OLED panel can thereby be extended. The OLED panel is fabricated using low-temperature poly-Si thin-film transistors, and measured to verify the modified SED model and the proposed compensation method. The measurement results show that the luminance degradation with and without the proposed method is 0.3% and 6%, 4% and 17.8%, and 7.4% and 30.4%, for red, green, and blue OLEDs, respectively. This measurement is taken after 40 h of operation under a 350 cd/m² initial luminance. Accordingly, the proposed compensation method extends the lifetime of the OLED panel up to 72.5, 15.5, and 20.75 times longer in red, green, and blue OLEDs, respectively, compared with the conventional method.