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The
Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University and Universal
Display Corporation this week announced that they have successfully
fabricated the first full-color, flexible active matrix organic light
emitting diode (AMOLED) display prototypes using the Center’s
bond/de-bond manufacturing process, in combination with Universal
Display’s full-color, top-emission phosphorescent OLED technology and
materials. The displays also use Universal Display’s patented,
proprietary single-layer encapsulation technology to seal the OLEDs made
on DuPont Teijin Films Teonex polyester film. Successful fabrication of
the displays involved incorporating materials and technologies
concurrently developed by several additional members of the FDC’s
30-member industrial consortium.
Funded
by the U.S. Army, the FDC is developing the full-color, flexible OLED
displays for use in thin, lightweight, bendable and unbreakable devices
capable of displaying full-color full-motion video. The lower power
consumption of Universal Display’s phosphorescent OLEDs compared to
other full-color video display technologies is an important advantage
for ultralight soldier-portable devices, and a range of OLED display
products based on this technology are already in the marketplace.
A
key enabler of the flexible displays announced today is Universal
Display’s recently introduced single-layer encapsulation technology that
was designed for plastic substrate systems and thin-film devices,
including flexible OLED displays. The encapsulation layer provides an
effective barrier to protect thin film devices from environmental
conditions, such as moisture and oxygen, which is critical for the
long-term performance of OLED displays. Using environmentally benign and
non-toxic materials in a potentially low-cost process, the barrier film
technology has demonstrated its suitability for high-performance,
flexible plastic substrate systems in these new AMOLED displays.
“Demonstrating
the first flexible color phosphorescent AMOLED display that integrates
Universal Display’s encapsulation technology with the FDC’s bond/de-bond
manufacturing process represents a tremendous step forward in the
advancement of flexible OLED displays,” says Mike Hack, general manager
OLED Lighting and Custom Displays, vice president of Universal Display
and a member of the FDC Board of Governors. “In addition to working
toward the targets set by the U.S. Department of Defense, flexible OLEDs
have the potential to open up a vast array of product opportunities in
the commercial and consumer sectors in the foreseeable future.”
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The
displays are in a 3.8-inch diagonal QVGA format (320×240 pixels) and
use Universal Display’s phosphorescent red, green and blue OLED
materials, which have already been proven to significantly reduce power
consumption in numerous glass-based AMOLED products. The displays use an
active matrix array of thin film transistors fabricated on DuPont
Teijin Films Teonex film using substrate handling and processing
technologies developed at the FDC. Versions using transistors made with
both low-temperature amorphous silicon and higher performance
indium-gallium-zinc-oxide have been produced.
“The
combined effort with Universal Display and our other industry partners
to successfully produce flexible, full-color AMOLED displays validates
our bond/de-bond manufacturing technology,” says Nick Colaneri, Director
of the FDC. “The display industry is actively evaluating a variety of
approaches to handling flexible plastic substrates in conventional
manufacturing equipment, which is a critical step towards enabling the
mass production of flexible displays. The FDC’s bond/de-bond process
with re-usable carriers adds minimal incremental cost, allows the use of
a variety of high-performance plastic substrate materials, and has been
proven up to Gen II scale at the FDC’s pilot line, making it a leading
candidate production technique as flexible electronics continue to
evolve.”
Demonstrations
of the new full-color display will take place at the FDC booth #1409 at
SID from May 17 to 19, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los
Angeles. Please visit Universal Display at booth #1212 to learn more
about its novel thin film encapsulation and other flexible OLED
technologies.
SOURCE: Arizona State University
