IM3OLED project to develop multi-scale OLED modelling tool

The EU-funded IM3OLED (Integrated Multidisciplinary & Multiscale Modeling for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) project has officially been launched.

IM3OLED aims to help the OLED industry speed up development by creating new modelling software that allows a more systematic R&D process. This software toolset will predictively model OLEDs in 3D and at all length scales – from molecular to large-area devices. It will include molecular calculations, electrical and optical simulation, 1D-3D light extraction and scaling / integration effects.
An important aspect of software will be the inclusion of dynamic feedback loops, enabling developers to accurately predict how changes in one area of OLED development affect other areas. This will allow multiple OLED properties to be optimised simultaneously.
The overall device efficiency of an OLED depends on many factors:

• the properties of the light emitting molecules
• deposition on to the substrate
• integration into a device
• extracting the light from the active layer and the device
• heat management and more

It is further complicated as many of these factors are interlinked – e.g. how the device heats up in operation may affect the molecules’ ability to generate light and the way light travels through the device.
This makes it extremely difficult to predict how innovations in one area will affect performance in others, leading to a trial-and-error approach in R&D.

Stephan Harkema, project coordinator, said, “IM3OLED will develop, evaluate and validate a predictive multi-scale and multi-disciplinary modeling tool. Making such a tool available will accelerate progress of OLEDs for lighting applications and allow the European OLED industry to strengthen its leading position in this environmentally important, global market.”
IM3OLED brings together industrial and academic partners from across Europe and the Russian Federation and is coordinated by TNO/Holst Centre and by National Research Nuclear University MEPhI.
Industrial partners include OLED manufacturer Philips Electronics and specialist in simulation software SMEs Fluxim of Switzerland and Kintech of Russia.
Academic partners include leading computational physics and atomic / molecular modelling groups from the Zurich University of Applied Science (ZHAW) and Russian Academy of Sciences’ Photochemistry Center (PCC RAS).
Funded through the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7NMP Grant no 295368), the EU portion of the IM3OLED project will run for 30 months until late 2013.
www.im3oled.eu www.holstcentre.com www.mephi.ru