A team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology, which specialises in developing lasers for applications such as cutting, welding and surface treatment, have used the devices to create better-conducting semiconductors for use in organic LED lights.
The reason why the luminaires typically do not offer great uniformity is because the indium tin oxide layer is not a strong conductor, meaning current cannot always reach the centre of the panel as well as it reaches the edges.
Now the team, led by project manager Christian Vedder, has established a technique which uses a mask to allow only very narrow strips of the indium tin oxide to be reached.
Conducting metal strips are melted through these slits using lasers, leaving a grid of very fine conductors on the surface of the layer that allows for better conductance and uniform light output.
