SmartXtend™ PMOLED drivers

Dialog Semiconductor’s DA8620 device is the latest generation of PMOLED drivers including SmartXtend technology for high resolution PMOLED panels.

The DA8620 is passive matrix organic light emitting diode (PMOLED) drivers supporting resolutions up to QVGA (up to 240RGB x 320). The DA8620 features SmartXtend technology that includes techniques including a unique multi-line addressing scheme, pre-charge schemes and accurate dynamic current matching. Using these techniques SmartXtend can reduce peak current and the average power consumption of the display. As such, SmartXtend enables PMOLED panels to be used as the high-resolution main display in mobile phones and other portable devices.

The DA8620 integrates all the important functions required for driving high resolution OLED panels. This includes a dynamic current matching that allows column to column current matching to an accuracy of 0.5%, providing excellent picture uniformity, which is a key attribute in RGB PMOLED panels as resolution and colour depth goes up.

An extended set of digital interfaces allows maximum flexibility in the application. The driver IC supports a variety of features interfaces including CPU 8 bits interfaces, I2C, or serial interfaces, as well as 18-bit RGB interface ideal to drive fast moving video data. With integrated oscillator, OTP programmable frame rate, and special ultra low standby mode, DA8620 can be optimised use in power sensitive handheld applications.

The DA8620 is shipped in bare die form with gold bumps that are suitable for mounting as chip-on-flex or chip-on-glass.

Overview

SmartXtend™ Extends OLED Life

OLED life time depends on the peak current in each OLED. Peak current is reduced by applying an unique multi-line addressing scheme that decomposes a picture into two components D = S + M2. The decomposition is lossless.

SmartXtend™ Extends Battery Life

SmartXtend reduces the number of pre-charge cycles in each frame. Pre-charge accounts for up to 50% of the total power budget of a PMOLED display. Reductions in peak current and display voltage also contribute power savings.

SmartXtend™ Extends PMOLED Market

Using the above techniques PMOLED panels up to QVGA resolution are feasible. This enables the use of PMOLEDs in the mobile main display market. OLEDs deliver higher contrast, brightness and better picture sharpness compared to TFT-LCD, STN-LCD and other display technologies.