Researchers have developed the world’s smallest light-emitting pixel to date. The breakthrough comes from physicists at Julius-Maximilians-Universität in Würzburg, Germany, who have developed the new organic LED (OLED), and it’s a big step towards the development of ultra-compact displays.

SciTechDaily broke the news, pointing out that this breakthrough could help overcome current limitations for tiny displays, particularly in areas such as smart glasses or other wearable technology. The research could lead to a 1920 x 1080 resolution that fits on a display as small as just one square millimeter.

World’s smallest OLED pixel, just as bright as current displays

“With the help of a metallic contact that allows current injection into an organic light-emitting diode while simultaneously amplifying and emitting the generated light, we have created a pixel for orange light on an area measuring just 300 by 300 nanometers. This pixel is just as bright as a conventional OLED pixel with normal dimensions of 5 by 5 micrometers,”

Bert Hecht, Professor of Experimental Physics, University of Würzburg

Given the dimensions above for a single pixel of orange light, it’s possible in theory that a 1080p display or projector could fit onto a display that is just 1mm x 1mm. To put the “300 by 300 nanometers” measurement into perspective, a nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter.

The self-emmissive nature of OLED means no backlighting is required, another reason why this panel type ideal for small form factors; it is already widely adopted by smartphone manufacturers. The researchers’ next step is to improve efficiency and stability, by working on increasing the color gamut. The “present level” of efficiency is just one percent, which can safely be deemed way too power hungry for what it’s worth right now.

The best OLED TVs and OLED monitor right now tend to feature a high-fidelty 4K display (or higher for ultrawides); 8K OLED TVs are also a reality, though proper 8K adoption is still some years away. OLED technology is already good enough for our living rooms or home office, so this increased fidelity breakthrough is much more relevant for ultra-small displays.

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Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.