Flexible AMOLED Display Prototype for Full-Color, Full-Motion Video Fabricated

The first full-color, flexible active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) display prototypes have been fabricated for thin, lightweight, bendable and unbreakable devices capable of displaying full-color full-motion video.

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University and Ewing, N.J.-based Universal Display Corp. have collaborated to develop the full-motion video displays for soldier-portable devices, funded by the US Army. The prototypes use the center’s bond/de-bond manufacturing process in combination with Universal Display’s full-color, top-emission phosphorescent organic LED (OLED) technology and materials. In addition, the displays use Universal Display’s patented, proprietary single-layer encapsulation technology to seal the OLEDs made on DuPont Teijin Films’ Teonex polyester film.

(Images: The Flexible Display Center)

Successful fabrication of the displays involved incorporating materials and technologies concurrently developed by several additional members of the FDC’s 30-member industrial consortium.

A key enabler for the flexible display is Universal Display’s recently introduced single-layer encapsulation technology, which was designed for plastic substrate systems and thin-film devices, including flexible OLED displays. The encapsulation layer provides an effective barrier that protects the thin-film device from environmental conditions such as moisture and oxygen, a safeguard that is critical for long-term performance.

“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, said Dr. 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 US 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.”

The new displays are in a 3.8-in. diagonal QVGA format and use Universal Display’s phosphorescent red, green and blue OLED materials, which have already been proved to reduce power consumption in numerous glass-based AMOLED products. They use active-matrix array of thin-film transistors fabricated on DuPont Teijin Films’ Teonex film that uses substrate handling and processing technologies developed at the FDC. Additionally, versions using transistors made with both low-temperature amorphous silicon and higher-performance indium-gallium-zinc oxide have been produced.

“The display industry is actively evaluating a variety of approaches to handling flexible plastic substrates in conventional manufacturing equipment, which is a critical step toward enabling the mass production of flexible displays,” said Nick Colaneri, director of the FDC. “The FDC’s bond/de-bond process with reusable 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 full-color display will take place until May 19 at the FDC booth at SID 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

For more information, visit: http://flexdisplay.asu.edu