On February 13, a joint research, between KAIST Department of Electrical Engineering and Korea University School of Electrical Engineering, on the development of an applicable manufacturing process for plasmon effect display color filters was announced. This research paved a breakthrough for mass-producing plasmon color filters that can be soon utilized to raise energy efficiency of electronic display devices.

Color filters are critical components of electronic display devices, such as liquid crystal displays and organic light emitting diode displays (more commonly known by their acronym names LCD and OLED, respectively), and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensors in digital cameras. Conventional dye-based color filters can only transmit light at a rate of 20% to 30%. However, research reports that plasmon color filters show a transmittance of 40%, which can double the current display device's energy efficiency.

The recent research also shows that it is possible to produce plasmon filters that are up to 2.5 cm wide. Before this, researchers were only able to make filters at a micrometer scale, which were too small to be applicable. Through laser interference lithography, nano-sized pore patterns were etched to a film surface. The researchers were able to control the range of the plasmon effect to produce red, green, and blue color filters by changing the pore size.

The plasmon effect refers to the propagation of electron oscillations called surface plasmons, which exist on surfaces of metallic materials. When the surface of a metal is excited by either a photon or an electron at a specific condition, propagating electromagnetic waves become coupled with surface plasmons to expand onto the surface. These guided oscillations of electrons and electromagnetic waves can be manipulated to show different colors by modifying specific properties, such as changing the nano-structure of the surface.

Co-headed by Ph.D. candidate Yun-Seon Do from KAIST Department of Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. candidate Jung-Ho Park from Korea University School of Electrical Engineering, the research was published and selected as the cover for the February issue of Advanced Optical Materials. Researcher Yun-Seon Do stated, "By simplifying the design and production process, the color filter technology our research team developed will replace the dye-based color filters."