OLED driver IC extends display lifetime, battery life

Leadis Technology Inc., a mixed-signal designer of color display driver ICs, has announced production volume shipments of the LDS518, a low-power single-chip area color OLED display driver IC with integrated controller.

The LDS518, according to Leadis, is a high-performance, integrated device with on-board 16Kbit display RAM, on-chip oscillator, and flexible frame frequency adjustment without the need for external components. The device allows programmable display features such as divided area display with flashing function per divided area, and two screensaver modes, which could extend the OLED display lifetime and the mobile device's battery life.

With a maximum display resolution of 128 x 64 and a 4-gray scale color, the LDS518 is touted to be a cost-effective, feature-rich solution optimized for MP3 players, mobile phone displays, printers and fax machines. The device supports five industry-standard host bus interfaces: 3-wire serial interface, 4-bit and 8-bit interface with 8080-series MPU, and 6800-series MPU.

Quoting DisplaySearch, Leadis' Vice President of Marketing Kevin Plouse said total OLED demand is forecasted to reach 84 million units in 2006. He added that Leadis was the first company to commercialize an OLED driver IC.