Dynamic Organic Light Inc.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: TECH STARTUP OF THE MONTH

INITIAL LIGHTBULB

Formerly chief chemist at microdisplay maker Displaytech in Longmont, Neil Gough, Ph.D., consulted in Asia for a year before returning to Colorado in 2003 to launch a company that's gunning for a breakthrough in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), devices in which the emissive layer is an organic compound.

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"I spent a good deal of my effort looking at the future of displays, and how they could be improved," Gough said of his time in Asia. "It was at that time that organic light-emitting diodes came into the fold, in terms of its capabilities, and at the same time the weaknesses it possessed."

OLED technology, which first hit the broad retail market in 2002 in cell-phone displays, holds the promise of vivid colors and low power consumption, said Gough.

"Those promises haven't been realized because of materials limitations," he noted. "As a consequence, OLED technology is really stuck in the realm of cell-phone displays, MP3 players--intermittent-use low-end, low-cost displays."

Dynamic Organic Light's mission is to help bring OLEDs onto the desktop and into the living room.

Founded as COLED Technologies, the company took on a new moniker in March. Gough serves as president, CEO, and chief scientist of the four-employee firm, which also has staff and operations at the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University in Tempe.

IN A NUTSHELL

Dynamic Organic Light has developed technology that makes for a more efficient OLED. "We're addressing one particular inefficiency of OLED technology, that of hole injection" said Gough. "It allows for more efficient extraction of electrons."

With the display industry searching for the Holy Grail in OLED technology, such a breakthrough could represent a quantum leap in commercially available display technology. However, producing blue light remains the sticking point in the research world. Explained Jason Brooks, Ph.D., a chemist with...