Flexible Display Screens Ready For Mass Production

According to scientists in Taiwan, media platforms of all kinds are about to undergo a flexible revolution.

Flexible screen technology is coming, maybe even to the traditional broadsheet newspaper.

Video and 3D images embedded in the page is the next big thing from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute, the country’s top industrial research headquarters.

The cross-discipline technology makes it possible for a more portable, light-weight display device that can replace glass panels on e-books and tablet PCs in the next two years.

[Chen Janglin, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Vice President]:

„So when we look at the flexible display, we have many things in mind, especially we have this vision, in the future, the mobile life style, you don’t want your display carried everywhere and become heavy, become difficult to store or difficult to carry. In the meantime you don’t want to drop it because it is going to break, and if it is flexible display I think we would help address those issues about portability and the mobility of your future life style.“

When designing a soft substrate to replace glass panels, the plastic materials often used could not withstand the high temperature of approximately 200 to 300 degrees Celsius.

To overcome the heat endurance problem, a clear glass solution, or silica, is added to the solution to decrease thermal expansion and at the same time increase transparency.

This process also makes the substrate highly transparent so that the display is very clear, not yellow and cloudy.

One last challenge remains for the scientists; to protect the panel from moisture and oxygen that could disrupt electronics performance.

The technology was developed over ten years with more than US$100 million. It’s now being transferred to local company Au Optronics Corp for mass production.

Foto: NTD