EWING, N.J. & PALO ALTO, Calif., June 23 -- Universal Display Corp., a developer of organic light-emitting device (OLED) technologies for flat panel displays, lighting and other opto-electronic applications, and Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a subsidiary of Xerox Corp., announced today a collaboration to develop poly-silicon (poly-Si) thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane technology on metal foil. The backplanes will integrate Universal Display's high-efficiency phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED), flexible OLED (FOLED) and top-emitting OLED (TOLED) technologies.
Universal Display said that while OLED displays today require the use of transparent rigid substrates, such as glass, the combination of its TOLED and FOLED technologies enable the novel use of a thin, flexible metallic substrate as an alternative to glass.
"Along with providing added ruggedness for demanding military and consumer applications, the use of metallic substrates -- which can withstand the high processing temperatures used in TFT manufacturing -- will accelerate the development of flexible TFT backplanes, currently a limiting factor for the commercialization of flexible active-matrix displays (AMOLEDs)," the company said. It added that its TOLED technology can enhance visual display performance by increasing the effective aperture area of the display in comparison to conventional bottom-emitting AMOLEDs.
The fabrication of the poly-Si TFT arrays at PARC builds on its experience in developing novel TFT backplane technology for displays and image sensors, based on amorphous silicon, poly-silicon and polymer semiconductors. The PARC poly-Si technology has recently been demonstrated in image sensor arrays containing pixel amplifiers and shift registers.
"The collaboration with PARC further solidifies our world-class group of commercial, academic and government partners," said Steven Abramson, president and COO of Universal Display. "The development of OLEDs on metallic substrates opens up a broader realm of futuristic applications."
The collaboration is funded, in part, by Universal Display's recently announced contract with L-3 Display Communications Systems under an Air Force Research Laboratory program to develop next-generation mobile communications technology. PARC is also participating as a subcontractor to Universal Display under a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract from the US Army Communication Electronics Research and Development Engineering Center, in Ft. Monmouth, N.J., that Universal Display announced late last year.
For more information, visit: www.universaldisplay.com