Samsung conceptual e-passport uses AMOLED technology

Samsung Corporation has demonstrated a conceptual device which uses AMOLED technology. It’s a biometric passport (e-passport) that is used as a card with a built-in 2 inch QVGA resolution flexible display. Unlike the current ID cards where the photos depicted only the head of the owner, the new device allows people to show the video at all angles. The display will show much more detail and, even more important, make the ID much more difficult to falsify.

Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) is an emerging display technology, used in mobile devices like mobile phones. OLED describes a specific type of ultra thin, ultra bright display technology which doesn’t require a backlight and AMOLED refers to the technology behind the addressing of pixels. AMOLED technology continues to make progress towards low-power and low-cost large size for applications such as TV.

AMOLED displays provide the same video-rate performance as their passive-matrix OLED counterparts, but they consume significantly less power. This advantage makes AMOLEDs more suitablle for portable electronics, because the battery power consumption is an important factor there. It also finds its use as displays when the display size needs to be larger than couple of inches in diagonal.

In the normal of such a display is blank, resulting in its power reduced to zero. However, when the biometric identification card is close to the RFID scanner, it’s automatically turns itself on and shows the owner of the video card. This display has a contrast ratio 10K:1 and it is capable of displaying 260K colors.

Samsung representatives did not specify whether the biometric identification cards with AMOLED display are going to be made in mass production and when that might happen. However, there is no doubt that the governmental structure of many countries, relating to national security and the prevention of counterfeiting, this invention is going to raise a lot of interest.