Screens, as the core window through which users perceive the digital world, are entering a critical phase of evolution. As the AMOLED technology accelerates its penetration into medium- and large-sized applications such as laptops and vehicle devices, higher requirements are placed on the energy efficiency, lifespan, and color performance of screens. However, the core driver of this visual upgrade, organic luminescent materials, has long been dominated by foreign enterprises, so it became the primary bottleneck for China's display industry to break through.

Now, this situation has been changed. On December 7, Visionox announced, at the "Technology Development Forum on Fluorescence Sensitization and New OLED Materials" held at Tsinghua University, that the fourth-generation pTSF (phosphorescent assistant thermally activated delayed fluorescent) technology jointly developed with Tsinghua University has achieved mass production and commercial application. This marks a significant leap for China in the field of key OLED materials, transitioning from a long-term follower to an autonomous leader, and truly taking control over the "light" of screens.

Professor Duan Lian from Tsinghua University, the inventor of the pTSF technology,  stated, "The breakthrough in the pTSF technology has gained widespread attention in the industry and is expected to assist China's OLED industry in achieving leapfrog development."

Providing Solutions for the Industry:

Breaking Through the "trilemma" of OLED

In the field of OLED materials, it is a "trilemma" that has long perplexed the global industry to simultaneously achieve high efficiency, long lifespan, and high color purity. The first generation of fluorescent materials has low cost and high color purity, but suffers from low luminous efficiency. The second generation of phosphorescent materials, though highly efficient in luminous efficiency, relies on expensive metals and lacks sufficient color purity. The third generation of light-emitting materials is highly efficient and free of heavy metals, but falls short in terms of stability and color purity.

Visionox and Tsinghua University have developed the fourth-generation pTSF technology, choosing a new approach: the luminescence process of thermally activated sensitized fluorescent OLEDs can be regarded as an "energy relay race" in the microscopic level: the first stage is the "delayed fluorescence," which is to quickly convert and transmit energy to the next stage. The second stage, "the high color purity phosphor", takes on the task of receiving energy and emitting pure light. The issue is, the first stage sometimes goes forward, and sometimes backward, affecting rapid transfer and reducing overall luminous efficiency. The pTSF technology ingeniously introduces an assistant of "phosphorescent material," which is responsible for intercepting the backward movement in the first stage and constructing multiple parallel transfer channels. This enables energy to travel at nanosecond (one-billionth of a second) speed and reach the final "high color purity fluorescent athlete" with 100% lossless transmission. It solves the problem of OLED efficiency decline under high brightness conditions and significantly extends the lifespan of devices.

Due to its combination of high color purity and high stability from fluorescence, as well as the high efficiency of phosphorescence, along with a significant reduction in the use of expensive metals, the pTSF technology is regarded as the "optimal solution" offering the best of both worlds. It represents the fourth-generation solution surpassing existing technological routes.

From the Lab to the Production Line:

Accelerating Industrial Advancement

The true value of technology lies in bridging the industrial gap from prototype to product and to commodity. In the report "Exploration of Mass Production Application of Sensitized Fluorescence Technology", Dr. Shen Ying, General Manager of Visionox's Product Engineering Center, reviewed the process of collaborating with Tsinghua University to promote the industrialization of the pTSF technology.

In 2014, the pTSF technology was first proposed; in 2019, significant breakthroughs were made in green pTSF devices; in 2023, core processes were verified through pilot tests, confirming the feasibility of pTSF for production line applications; in 2024, full-process validation was conducted by introducing it into the production line; in 2025, achievements surged—the pTSF high-efficiency and wide color gamut prototype was globally launched at the SID Display Week, and mass production for commercial use was achieved in the fourth quarter, featuring it in high-end flagship products.

Throughout the process, challenges followed one after another. To translate a technology into mass production, it requires overcoming numerous hurdles such as equipment adaptation and process optimization. The first step is to assemble a material lineup that functions seamlessly together while meeting stringent demands for high efficiency, stability, and mass-production friendliness, achieved through precise co-deposition using the three-source evaporation method. From material properties to process parameters, numerous variables intertwine, where even the slightest deviation can lead to screen defects, imposing extremely high demands on process control.

Behind the rapid industrialization of the pTSF technology lies Visionox's application-oriented innovation development model, which spans from fundamental research to pilot production and mass production. Starting from the OLED project team at Tsinghua University, Visionox has dedicated itself to the OLED field for nearly 30 years, accumulating profound industrial expertise and technical capabilities covering materials, devices, and processes throughout the entire industry chain. This provides a crucial guarantee for advancing the implementation and scaling of the pTSF technology.

(Experts and scholars visited Visionox's innovative exhibits such as pTSF)

During the discussion session, multiple industry experts commented that the pTSF technology is a successful paradigm of integrating industry, academia, and research, serving as a typical example that "deserves both academic shelf space and commercial viability." Tsinghua University proposed technological principles from "0 to 1." As a leading innovator, Visionox started from fundamental research, deeply participated, and led the entire process from pilot-scale validation for "1 to N," production process development, and market introduction, accelerating the conversion of cutting-edge technologies into market-ready products.

New Answer from China's Screen Industry:

Redefining Experiences, Industries, and Supply Chains

This breakthrough innovation, therefore, enhances the users' experience. The data have shown that screens equipped with high-efficiency pTSF devices reduce power consumption by over 12% and extend lifespan by 15%. Wide-color-gamut pTSF devices can expand the color gamut from the conventional DCI-P3 standard to the broader Adobe and BT.2020 standards, achieving professional design-level color accuracy, while reducing power consumption by over 6% and extending lifespan by 20%. This means screens in consumers' hands last longer, have more authentic colors, and are more durable.

For the OLED industry, it has, on one hand, filled critical gaps, rewriting the long-standing industrial landscape where core materials were dominated by foreign players. Chinese enterprises have mastered complete independent intellectual property rights from principles and materials to devices and processes, building comprehensive and multidimensional patent barriers. On the other hand, with breakthrough performance in luminous efficiency, service lifetime, and color purity, the pTSF technology provides technical support for OLED to penetrate vehicle-mounted displays, IT displays, and other medium- and large-sized applications that demand higher brightness and durability. This expands the industry's growth potential and helps "Chinese screens" gain a greater voice in the global high-end display market.

For the supply chain, the industrialization of the pTSF technology has effectively driven the collaborative R&D and validation of domestic upstream industries such as evaporation equipment and organic materials. This represents an overall enhancement of the local display supply chain and strengthens the resilience and security of China's emerging display industry.

From the original innovation in the lab to the breakthroughs in mass production processes, and then to the collaborative upgrading of the industrial chain, the mass production journey of the pTSF technology fully demonstrates the efficient synergy between "from 0 to 1" and "from 1 to N". This is not only a vivid example of deep integration between industry, academia, and research,yielding new quality productive forces, but also signifies that China's display industry has built the initiative to define future competitive advantages in the core link of materials. Since then, the field of AMOLED core materials has entered the AMOLED+ era led by China.