Heike Riel receives 2005 Applied Physics Award

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Bern, 14 July 2005 — Heike Riel of IBM Research - Zurich has received the 2005 Applied Physics Award of the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) for her outstanding scientific achievements in the field of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) for display technologies. The SPS Applied Physics Award is sponsored by the Unaxis company.

The SPS award recognizes Heike Riel's excellent contributions to establishing OLEDs as a competitive technology for flat-panel displays. The breakthrough of this technology occurred in 2003 with the successful demonstration of a 20-inch full-color display driven by an active matrix of amorphous-Si thin-film transistors (a-Si-TFT, AMOLED) developed at IBM Research in collaboration with International Display Technology (IDTech) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). AMOLED displays, which feature low power consumption and low-cost fabrication, are expected to become the leading challenger to active-matrix LCDs, which currently dominate the flat-panel display market.

Heike Riel's key contributions to the field of AMOLED technology include the development of highly efficient, long-term stable OLEDs with excellent red, green, and blue color coordinates. She developed a novel OLED architecture with improved light outcoupling, tailorable viewing angle and high contrast ratio.

Heike Riel has been employed at IBM Research - Zurich since 1997. Her current research interests are in the field of nanoscale devices based on inorganic nanowires and single molecules, as well as their potential applications as post-CMOS technologies. After completing an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, she studied physics at the University of Erlangen, Germany, and received a PhD from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, for her work on the optimization of multilayer organic light-emitting devices.

Every year, the Swiss Physical Society award recognizes young physicists working in Switzerland or Swiss physicists abroad for outstanding scientific contributions to the fields of general physics, applied physics, or condensed-matter physics. This year, in recognition of the International Year of Physics, the SPS prize has also been extended to include researchers in aerospace physics. Each prize is endowed with 5000 Swiss francs.

About the Swiss Physical Society

The Swiss Physical Society (SPS) is a nationwide organization of physicists working in or associated with Switzerland. The society's objective is to represent the interests of the physics community in Switzerland and to promote public awareness of the increasingly important role played by physics in today's high-tech world. With nearly 1200 members, the SPS is the largest organization of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT).