Research on inorganic electroluminescence - present status

In this paper, we discuss the present status of electroluminescence (EL) of inorganic materials. From 1970's, the main research was made on multicolor and fullcolor EL. Finally blue inorganic EL of BaAl2S4:Eu was developed, resulting in fullcolor EL-TV using "color by blue (R)" by iFire Technology. Very recently, a new ultra bright inorganic EL of dc driven at lower than 10 V has been developed. These three findings will stimulate the researches on inorganic EL, which slowed down and were not active in the past two decades. Some new findings are expected. (c) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.