Despite the successes of OLED applications, the research and development (R&D) processes still mainly rely on costly and labor-intensive experiment-driven trial-and-error approaches. OLED device manufacturers, chemical material suppliers and technology institutes are urgently looking for a breakthrough in their R&D approach, which should result in less development cycles and therefore in a significant reduction in time-to-market and increase in R&D cost effectiveness. In this talk, we will discuss the added value of predictive simulation software for OLEDs. With the help of predictive virtual experiments, we show how R&D time for OLED materials and devices can be effectively reduced by up to 40% and R&D cost effectiveness can be increased by up to 150%. Significant prototype- and experiment-based parts of the R&D process can be replaced by computer simulations. Additionally, experimentally inaccessible physical processes can be easily studied with only minimal effort required by the modeler. A wide range of possibilities for stack optimization then becomes available. At Simbeyond, we developed such predictive simulation software. With our Bumblebee software one can simulate the performance of OLED device stacks with complex 3D morphologies from the nanosecond up to its full lifetime. All relevant physical processes can be studied, including charge transport, exciton dynamics, loss processes and even degradation scenarios. Using Bumblebee, both the material and stack properties can be optimized simultaneously, thus revolutionizing OLED R&D. Simbeyond’s vision and progress towards achieving a complete end-to-end predictive device simulator from the molecule up to the device scale will also be presented. In Bumblebee, input parameters such as molecular energy levels or excitonic lifetimes are currently needed. In this future product, those input parameters will be accurately calculated using quantum chemistry simulations. Those properties will then be consistently scaled up all the way to the full device stack. This multiscale toolchain, which we are developing in collaboration with the Amsterdam-based company SCM, will enable efficient collaboration between chemical material suppliers and display manufacturers. This will ultimately reduce the number of OLED device development cycles and consequently increase R&D cost effectiveness.
Siebe van Mensfoort | Co-Founder and CEO, Simbeyond B.V.
