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Comment by phkahler | Hacker News Reader

>> Manufacturing OLEDs is vastly more complex than CRTs, which is essentially folding and welding sheet metal and glasblowing.

I recall an article from ~20 years ago where some researchers made an OLED display using an inkjet printer. I'm sure the consistency and reliability were not what you get out of modern manufacturing, but still...

I've been waiting for inkjet based printing of simple circuits and lighting but it's just not happening. Imagine printing light-up signs. c'mon Y-combinator we need this tech everywhere.

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Fun fact: OLEDs have radically shorter lifespans "in the field" than LED or LCD.

According to a paper from Samsung at IEEE IRPS three years ago, the best OLED screens only have about 2 years (600 hours) best case continuous use but that is extended by "screen savers" and estimates of only 25%-50% customer use in a 24 hour period to about 5 years (extend by not using)

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8720529

Part of the reason for this: low energy manufacturing materials/processes, by definition (physics), will have low energy failure mechanisms (which always means they will fail more quickly). This is about chemico-physical reaction activation energy. Anything ink-jet created or organic is a low energy process/material.

>>best OLED screens only have about 2 years (600 hours) best case continuous use

I don't have access to paper, but rough estimate is that there are ~17k hours in 2 years.

If screen has actually 2 years 24x7 continuous use (and I assume they use a semi-arbitrary brightness threshold or something?), I imagine for TVs that'll be an easy decade of real-world use, depending on usage patterns. For some phones maybe less. I'd be curious what the specs for LCD & LED are then.

Surely it’s not that low? The lamp in my projector (BenQ W1070) is rated for 5,000 hours, and that’s low enough that the manufacturer includes a lamp timer in the menu and sells user-swappable replacements. I’m on my third lamp.

If the whole display was expected to die in anything like this amount of time, I would anticipate widespread consumer outrage.

>> low energy manufacturing materials/processes, by definition (physics), will have low energy failure mechanisms

That is one of the most obvious-in-hindsight things I've learned lately. Thanks!

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