Philips Organic Light is the new lighting technology of the 21st century: the light source (“lamp”) is an extremely thin glass body which emits light over the complete surface – giving it a dazzling visual effect. People appreciate the lightweight look and perceive the Organic Light as

innovative, high-end, “flying”a nd simply “elegant”.

The technology

Organic Light is a large area diffuse light source based on OLED technology. Unlike incandescent bulbs, which generate light by passing electricity through a wire, or fluorescent lamps, which pass current through a gas, OLED lighting works by passing electricity through one or more extremely thin layers of organic semiconductor material. This material is sandwiched between a negatively charged layer of aluminum, and a positively charged, transparent layer of indium

tin oxide. The whole “sandwich”is deposited on a sheet of glass or other transparent material, known as the “substrate”. When a forward voltage is applied to the sandwich layer, a current starts to flow through the organic film. This current is converted by the organic materials layer into emitted light. To protect the ultra-thin layers against degradation by water and oxygen as well as scratches, the device is hermetically sealed by a glass lid–the so called “encapsulation”o f the

1.8 mm thin light source. The physical principle of light generation is similar for LEDs and OLEDs; both are based

on semiconductor technology. Basically every color is feasible to be designed for an OLED –in cluding different shades of white. Within a few years, also color variable as well as transparent versions will be available.

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