Scientists create the world’s smallest OLEDs — at nanoscale

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in making organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that are drastically smaller than ever before — on the scale of just 100 nanometres, roughly a hundred times smaller than a typical human cell.  

These “nano-OLEDs” shrink the size of each light-emitting pixel to about 100–200 nm. That’s about 50 times smaller than the previous state-of-the-art. By doing so, pixel density becomes roughly 2,500 times greater than before. 

The team achieved this using advanced nanofabrication: they pattern organic semiconductor materials through ultra-thin, resilient silicon-nitride membranes — circumventing the limitations of standard manufacturing masks. 

With such tiny, ultra-dense pixels, displays could become far more detailed than today’s screens. For example, this could enable ultra-sharp displays in devices worn close to the eye (like AR/VR glasses), or incredibly high-resolution micro-screens. Because each pixel can be smaller than the wavelength of visible light, nearby nano-OLEDs can interact optically — enabling novel behaviors such as controlled light direction, polarization, or even producing effects not possible with traditional pixels. 

Such capabilities make the technology promising not only for next-gen displays, but also for high-resolution microscopy, precise optical sensors, on-chip photonics, and maybe even future compact lasers.