IIT Madras Establishes Research Hub for Advanced AMOLED Displays For Smartphones, Tablets and Watches

IIT Madras establishes the AMOLED Research Centre to drive India's mission of building a robust display manufacturing industry. Get details here

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched the ‘AMOLED Research Centre’ (ARC), a National Centre of Excellence dedicated to developing next-generation AMOLED displays for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and wearables. Funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Tata Sons, the ARC aims to bolster India’s efforts to establish a thriving display manufacturing industry.

The Centre brings together researchers from diverse fields to advance AMOLED display development. Equipped with a cutting-edge cleanroom featuring fabrication and characterization equipment, the facility was inaugurated by S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, in the presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras. The event also included Dr. Debdutta Ray, Principal Investigator (PI) of the AMOLED Research Centre, along with co-PIs Dr. G. Rajeswaran, Dr. Soumya Dutta, and Dr. G. Venkatesh from IIT Madras.

AMOLED Research Centre

Researchers at the AMOLED Research Centre (ARC) are developing an innovative patterning technique for AMOLED displays, designed to significantly reduce capital expenditure in display manufacturing. The Centre aims to pioneer technology that facilitates the establishment of modular display micro-factories, capable of supporting both current and next-generation production processes. Presently, the Centre focuses on small-sized displays commonly used in tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches, driving advancements in display technology tailored to these devices.

The AMOLED Research Centre (ARC) is located within the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras and features cleanrooms with 'Class 100' and 'Class 1000' ratings. The Centre's primary fabrication system is an OLED cluster, capable of growing multilayer OLEDs with precise control over growth parameters. It also includes a state-of-the-art pixel patterning system, developed by an IIT Madras team.

A key focus of the Centre is the next-generation ultrafast growth and patterning technique, which is central to its research. Additionally, the Centre is equipped with facilities to characterize devices, enabling the study of their optoelectronic properties. While the Centre’s primary objective is the development of AMOLED displays, it also conducts research on white OLEDs for lighting and television applications, as well as on organic photovoltaic devices.

Addressing the launch event S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, said, “I am pleased to inaugurate the AMOLED Research Centre at IIT-Madras. It is one of the National Centre of Excellence (CoE), supported / funded by the Government of India. The Centre is working to develop a technique to manufacture AMOLED displays which can be used in digital devices including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets etc. It is envisioned that the new method, which is based on the ‘economies-of-speed’, will enable a modular micro-factory concept of manufacture of these devices.”

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “The AMOLED Research Centre is a unique Centre in India which will develop next generation AMOLED displays. This Centre will support the nation's initiative to develop a semiconductor industry in India. The global AMOLED display business is currently worth around USD 15 billion and is expected to grow. The AMOLED Research Centre will innovate novel techniques to develop AMOLED displays for the Indian and global market.”

Elaborating on the need for such Research Centres in India, its Principal Investigator, Dr. Debdutta Ray, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “This is the only Centre in India that has the capability to develop smartphone-sized AMOLED displays. The Centre will work towards turnkey solutions, where we plan to develop/demonstrate/deploy micro-factories for smartphone displays.”

Dr. Debdutta Ray added, “The Centre is developing novel engineering techniques to utilize the concept of ‘economies-of-speed’ rather than the current model of ‘economies-of-scale’. The goal is to keep the unit fabrication times the same or better where the ‘economies-of-speed’ allow smaller mother-glass size during production. This will lead to a modular production system.”

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