Free from ultraviolet radiation and mercury, a new-generation of flat panel technology is also revolutionary for its high energy efficiency, super-wide screen and thin and light features, experts say.

Yet the short lifespan of the OLED - or organic light emitting display - compared with its liquid crystal cousin is widely recognized as a fatal defect.

But a research team founded by Tsinghua University and the mainland's first company capable of manufacturing OLED panels has developed a proprietary technology to lift the barrier.

Zhou Shaohua, intellectual property manager at Beijing-based Visionox, tells China Daily that the company has developed "a new structure that is key to our patented OLED technology".

"The invention obtains single color emission through a composite light emitting layer that prolongs the operational life of OLEDs by 20 times," Zhou said.

Though now used in small displays on cellphones and other devices, experiments show the technology provides a lifespan of up to 100,000 hours at a brightness of 1,000 candela per square meter (cdm), one of the best records in the global industry, Zhou said.

Current commercially produced high-definition screens have a luminance ranging from 450 to about 1,000 cdm.

As an innovative company integrating R&D with mass production, Visionox is cooperating with prestigious Tsinghua University to industrialize OLED technology.

The two have set up the first domestic OLED mass production line, which began operation in 2008 in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. The effort has also resulted in more than 250 patent applications.

They have also participated in formulating international and national OLED standards, Zhou noted.

The patented technology was awarded a first-class prize for electronic information science and technology in 2009 and a China Patent Award gold medal this year.

"Our products have been applied in cellphones, MP3, MP4, audio and other small devices," Zhou said.

"The technology was also used in extravehicular spacesuits worn by astronauts on the Shenzhou 7 spaceship, satisfying the strict requirements of the harsh outer space environment."

Visionox's OLED shipments now rank among the top five in the world, "but the company is not content with only production scale expansion", Zhou noted.

"It is just a start," Zhou said. "Our new goal now is to apply the OLED technology to large-sized devices such as monitors and color TV sets."

"We also make efforts in flexible displays and lighting applications," the department manager said.

(China Daily)