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Hot Topic: Quantum Dots - Not Coming To An Airplane Near You Soon!

But, How about in three years? Realistically, this story is more about the future of some tiny little structures called nanocrystals, or more specifically, Quantum Dots.

Lets begin at the beginning. Based on a tip, IFExpress met with Greg Moeller (Dir Bus Dev and Co-founder) and Seth Coe-Sullivan PhD. (CTO and Co-founder) of QDVision (www.qdvision.com), a technology startup based in MIT territory. Their stated goal is to exploit the future of quantum dots for the display industry and before we go any further, we should note that the emerging technology of quantum dots promises to redefine the world of displays, both on and off airplanes. As an early IP owner and developer, QDVision will undoubtedly be one of the big drivers behind the application of this technology. We suggest that you read the attached PDF White Paper as this is heady stuff. Unfortunately we cannot expect to do the science justice in a couple of paragraphs as our early attempt ran over 1000 words - don't worry, we canned that version - so here goes.

Quantum dots are vary small crystalline structures that give off colored light when excited by a applied voltage or other excitation sources. QD's are made by mixing exotic chemicals which determine the basic structure of dot itself. While the emitted dot color is related to something called quantum confinement, its size is the key to the emitted color. The QDVision display is built by using quantum dots as color pixels, and unlike LCD displays, do not filter a white backlight, but rather, they give off their own florescence when a low voltage is applied thru appropriate connections. Covering the full color spectrum beyond that of the color TV triangle, a one monolayer thickness of like dots is sufficient to provide an intense single color of light (See the photo). A display would be comprised of pixels formed by at least 3 colors or types of these dots and and driven by the same display electronics used today. The company tells us the manufacturing process will be more associated with printing than the world of deposited substrates. This means lower manufacturing cost, lighter more flexible displays, longer useful life, and resulting in more versatile applications. The QDVision folks noted that display solutions using QD's could be considered more like plastic overlays on seatbacks or on wall panels rather than the glass sandwiches in use now. This is a flexible paradigm shift in display technology!

While the promise of OLEDs seemed to take over the display market, difficulties in scaling and the basic science of using organics in displays with their associated manufacturing processes have been a challenge. QD's already have greater light output, better power efficiency and scale nicely. Further, mixing a batch of chemicals to make nanocrystals of almost unlimited color is very appealing to manufacturers. The concept of printing QD monolayers and masks also shifts the production concept from a science to a very well known technology.

Quantum Dot experimentation is not really new. Research was begun at MIT in the Chemistry Department in the late nineties by a Professor Bawendi and others. It a took some 10 years to produce results. We should also note that QDVision was not founded until 2004 as the future for display improvements developed from the earlier research. The subject is growing and the company featured here is one of many to evolve from the from this basic technology. We advise our readers to be aware of the upcoming wave of new products and applications of quantum dots and thus have included a number of links below that not only include references to the work of Dr. Bawendi and others but cover other aspects of quantum dots like solar cells, biotechnology and scientific instrumentation. You can contact the company via Greg or Seth at 617 926-0001.

• Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Devices for Displays (PDF, ~486k)
• http://qdvision.com/index.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_dot
• http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/faculty/bawendi.html
• Audio download http://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/nano_c01/bawendi/ (No Graphics Available)

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