QD Vision, an MIT spinoff, has announced a display technology based on quantum dots, which can be easier to manufacture than OLEDs and it is even brighter and more energy-efficient.

Quantum dots are nanometer-sized semiconducting crystals that can shine a bright, spectrally pure color when exposed to either light (photoluminescence) or electrical current (electroluminescence).

QD Vision's first product, a quantum dot optic that warms the normally harsh glow produced by LED lamps, relies on photoluminescence; the quantum dots emit color when light from the LEDs excites them.

Aside from QD Vision, Silicon Valley-based Nanosys, also worked with quantum dots, expecting to have its own product available in early 2011. Nanosys adds a strip of quantum dots to a LCD backlight to improve color quality and energy efficiency.

Likely, QD Vision is developing a similar product.

According to Seth Coe-Sullivan, QD Vision's chief technology officer, the target is the OLED market. "Small OLED displays are getting very good market traction,but there are still some unresolved challenges with OLEDs, and we see QLEDs as a way to solve them."

In his opinion, the main benefit of QLEDs over OLEDs is in manufacturing. "There's been lots of proposals for manufacturing OLEDs at a larger scale, but none of them have worked out."